Into the Wardrobe

I have read most of Lewis's fiction (multiple times), and some of his shorter thesis, but have been very lazy and not read much biogrphically.

At a recent discussion in my office a co-worker that doesn't seem to know much about Lewis other than what I will share momentarily and that they made a movie based on "The Lion the Wich and the Wardrobe" said; "Lewis turned back to the Athiestic views of his youth before he died". He heard this on Television. I haven't seen anything in these forums that supports the theory.

I would be very sad to hear that it is true, but would rather be well informed than just believe what I wish to be true.

Can anyone shed some light on this subject?

Regards,
Bryan

His letters and the biographies (at least the ones I've read) are excellent evidence.

The notion that he renounced Christianity sometimes arises out of reading the first part of "A Grief Observed" in which, mourning the death of his wife, he asks some hard questions about the character of God. But by the end of the book, it is clear that his faith is intact. Unfortunately, the film Shadowlands picks up on the hard questions without explicitly showing that he did keep his faith.

bapple03,

I'll add my own affirmation of what Leslie has already shared with you. And, in addition to the letters and biographies (and these are outstanding suggestions), I also would cite his writings, as Lewis wrote regularly up through the end of his life -- books, articles, essays, in addition to the personal letters. I'd mention, especially, Letters to Malcolm: Cheifly on Prayer, among his very last. This would utterly dispell the notion about which you wrote.

I suggest reading a good biography. The two best, in my opinion, are:

Jack: A Life of C.S. Lewis, by George Sayer [my own first pick]; and also,

C.S. Lewis: A Biography, by Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper [also very good].

For that matter, even A. N. Wilson's biography of Lewis, less sympathetic (and many of us here would say, less accurate), provides no support to the idea of a later abandonment of faith.

To be sure, as Leslie pointed out, A Grief Observed makes clear that Lewis did certainly experience very real struggle in faith, but this is another matter. (I know of no authentic faith in which there is no struggle.)

Regards,

Adam Linton

I appreciate your input (Leslie & Adam Linton). I will start with A Grief Observed and then move on to C.S. Lewis: A Biography. I own them both already.. (I told you I had been lazy, and I wasn't kidding).

Losing an anchor like Lewis would deal a serious blow to my faith. I'm glad I can still hold on.

I recently read "Letters to Malcolm," a book mostly written after his wife's death, and his faith is very strong and evident throughout it. And I remember a chapter in Brian Sibley's book "Through the Shadowlands" that discussed this and evidenced clearly Lewis' continued faith. Several quotes he shared were very touching and inspiring; I highly recommend that book as well.

[/quote]Rusmeister,

Out of curiousity, how is it that you became an Orthodox Christian because of Lewis? I am also Orthodox (Greek) and was interested.[/quote]

Well, on reading Lewis , I realized I needed to stop playing around with agnosticism (which is simply laziness and "what I want" spelled backwards) :shocked: and return to Christianity. I had been raised (fund.) Baptist and had already seen fallacies in that. My wife was already Russian Orthodox and it was eminently logical, the more so because I had, in a secular men's group, learned the value of ceremony and tradition, something that we had mostly sneered at (Baptist attitudes towards Catholic ceremony, for example). I worked out what my objections were, examined them, went to speak to a priest about the ones I couldn't resolve (especially confession before a priest), and realized that I had been creating my own barriers , and subsequently became Orthodox!