Clives Staples Lewis has endeared himself to the Christian world like few others in recent memory. From popular theology to children’s fiction, Lewis mastered a range of genres and styles. Yet, through them all, we meet the same warm heart and sparkling intellect. And with a little help and the right approach, you can get to know Lewis the man – not just the writer – quite well through his works.
The place to start is the biographies of Lewis. In Surprised by Joy, we find an autobiography of his early life up to and including his conversion. A great complement to this self-description are two recent, insightful works that tell the story of C.S. Lewis. One is by Harry Lee Poe, which focuses on Lewis’ childhood and early life, and the other comes from the pen of Alister McGrath, one of the contemporary church’s great historians (see below).
After you’ve studied these three books, it’s time to dig into Lewis’ works to learn how he thought and what he valued (and struggled with). Some – such as A Grief Observed ¬– are much like a personal journal in their basic outlook, thereby directly revealing the inner workings of Lewis’ personality. But if you know what you’re looking for, you’ll find the same to be true of the other books discussed here. As you read through the works listed below and listen to their insights, you’ll see not just great literature but a great soul as well.
An easy-to-read, 20-minute summary of each book can be found on HolyReads.com. Check out our collection of hundreds of Christian bestsellers and spiritual classics in written, audiobook, and video formats. Get up to speed with Holy Reads.
Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by C.S. Lewis
In the story of his life, the reader won’t find explicit advice on how to be a Christian. Lewis, instead, gives us the story of his own life and conversion, asking us to learn along the way and humbly listen. We find in the story of Lewis and the many smaller stories the inner life of an inspirational figure and encouragement for our own stories.
Lewis’ story spans his early childhood to his conversion. He weaves the story with a few different themes, following the books he read, people he knew, intellectual experiences, and above all, his pursuit of joy. We follow Lewis’ literary interests as he moves from fantasy to romanticism, to the homely tales of Jane Austen, to Christian authors. At first, Lewis loves the Christian authors in spite of their Christianity, and then he loves them for it.
Lewis makes friends with a variety of Christians, including the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien, who slowly move him toward theism and Christianity. He talks of an early prayer life, which he loses and then regains on his knees in 1929, as a rebellious convert who is upset at his own conversion.
Lewis chases joy from fantasy worlds through social structures until finally joy leads him beyond itself to God and then Christ.
Becoming C.S. Lewis: A Biography of Young Jack Lewis (1898-1918) by Harry Lee Poe
There is more to Clive Staples Lewis than most people know. Specifically, what happened during his younger years played a large role in making him the man so many revere. His influences during this time of his life, which eventually worked their way into his books, are worth a closer look.
He attended a variety of educational institutions and also received tailored tutoring that shaped him significantly. It was during this time that he figured out how to be a friend, who he looked up to, and what place spirituality had in his life. Books were such a vast part of his life that they strongly influenced his thinking as well as his incredible passion for a certain kind of story. To understand the grown-up Jack Lewis, we must dig into his youth to see the influences that made him who he was.
C.S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet by Alister McGrath
Many readers today are familiar with the writings of C.S. Lewis. He championed Christian apologetics and philosophical problems with a depth and wit that few if any have been able to equal. But Lewis was also the author of remarkable children’s books that have shaped readers young and old for generations.
What few readers know, however, is the man behind the writings. Traumatized by the loss of his mother at a young age and by an emotionally distant father, Lewis’ childhood was far from ideal. Similar issues (such as his service in WWI) plagued his early adult life. But through it all, Lewis rediscovered Christ and, with Him, the joy that made life worth living.
A unique value of this biography by McGrath is exquisitely careful research that overturns many misconceptions by Lewis scholars and even redates Lewis’ conversion to a different period from the timing Lewis gives in his autobiography. It’s an audacious but convincing argument by McGrath.
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
Late in life, C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) married and fell in love (in that order!) with Helen Joy Davidman, who was ill at the time and died shortly afterward. Lewis narrates his deep loss as well as the difficult questions it raises for him. Lewis originally wrote these reflections in his journal only for himself but became aware that his struggles might be helpful to others.
These sometimes-raw questions and doubts might be surprising for those who know Lewis as a confident Christian apologist. One sees in these reflections that Lewis’ confidence, however, does not wane but takes a different form: bringing his own agony and grief before God.
Yet the death of Lewis’s wife opened up an unknown abyss of grief. In this work, Lewis is not afraid to show his deep sadness with all of its attending doubts and questions. As Lewis himself believed, we sometimes move closer to God even when the trail takes us the long way around.
Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer by C.S. Lewis
What is prayer? Many would respond that it is conversation with God. Yet all too often this conversation seems one-sided. Who has not heard or thought at some point, “God did not answer my prayer”? But prayer, faithfully practiced, brings with it a whole way of seeing the world as shot through with the glory of God.
Even in ordinary life, our pleasures can be “patches of Godlight.” Such a view may seem far-fetched in the humdrum of our daily lives. This is why prayer is a duty. We are to pray whether we feel like it or not. God has surprising ways of appearing when we least expect it. This is prayer’s delight.
And we do not pray by ourselves. God prays through us. We are not, of course, robots but participants in divine intercession. As such, we also pray with the great communion of saints. Prayer need not be only extemporaneous. The “ready-made” prayers of the saints can be ours as well. Such prayers can ground us in solid doctrine and train us in how to pray.
Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis
Most Christians around the world read the Psalms weekly and even daily. Yes, we might be puzzled by the anguished cries of lament, the curses uttered against one’s enemies, or the deep expressions of anger.
But should we regard the parts of the Psalms that seem objectionable as simply typical of the Old Testament?
Jesus Himself knew and prayed the Psalms, and through Christ, we can see in the Psalms a “second meaning.” This meaning does not replace the earlier one but relies on it. The God who rained down manna (Psalm 68:8) is the same who pours out the Spirit at Pentecost.
The fullest context for praying the Psalms is the gathered community. God has given us these prayers so that we might enter more fully into the joy of life with God. The Psalms – in both their breadth and depth – help us live faithfully today by showing us a full-orbed vision of spirituality.
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
What are the four loves? Affection, Friendship, Eros, and Charity. Each is love in its own right.
English has only one word for love. Thus we might say, “I love ice cream,” and “I love my mother.” This singular usage can diminish our understanding of love and prevent us from seeing the range and depth of both human and divine love. To consider love as affection, friendship, eros, and charity – as Scripture does – is to engage in an amazing journey not only of love’s nature but of its many distortions and challenges.
The Four Loves is especially relevant in our contemporary context as Christians engage in questions surrounding the nature of marriage and erotic love, what constitutes genuine friendship, how Christians are to befriend the world, and other pertinent questions. This work also indirectly allows us a view into Lewis’ own inner workings and affections.
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Two opposing attitudes about the devil dominate the modern landscape. On the one hand are those who simply disregard his existence. On the other are those who are overly obsessed with the demonic. Both of these are errors. In reality, we are tempted daily to turn away from the fullness of life in Christ and to be what John Wesley referred to as “the almost Christian.”
Such temptations are seldom large and startling. They are rather subtle and disguised. “Did God really say …?” (Gen 3:1). From this crafty perspective, better than rejecting the faith outright is to live a diminished form of Christianity that is no different than the world. Yet God calls us to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. This means that we are to teach and learn how we can easily succumb to various temptations. In so doing, we can trust that God provides the grace to overcome these and so to live lives reflecting the divine light rather than demonic darkness.
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis engages the deep convictions of the faith that most Christians across denominations share in common. “Mere” means not bare or simply but the basic ground. To read his arguments is to gain a profound knowledge of key Christian beliefs: the Trinity, Jesus as fully divine and fully human, and creation.
Lewis reveals how Christian morality is able to explain the Law of Nature and the sense of right and wrong all cultures have recognized. Behind this principle is the Creator, who has designed the world and imbued it with meaning.
Christian virtues teach us to love our neighbor and our Maker. Our transformation is not limited to outward acts but includes both the heart and the mind. Christian behavior cannot be separate from doctrine about the Trinity, Jesus Christ, evil, or creation. For it is the newness we find in Christ that stands at the heart of the Christian way of life. Once we surrender ourselves to God, He renovates us step by step until we are entirely changed into His image perfectly.
Lewis threads these convictions into a rich and persuasive account of the Christian moral life. His vivid use of stories and analogies throughout the study will leave the reader transformed and often shows how Lewis himself wrestled with doubts.
The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis
These addresses and essays all reflect the conviction that Christians are not to shy away from the challenges of the day. Is heaven – as typically depicted with paths of gold – real? Does heaven as a form of reward not turn Christianity into a selfish affair as some object? How can modern Christians really practice forgiveness in light of egregious sins? Given our scientific world, how do we make sense of the spiritual?
To think with C.S. Lewis about the great topics of the day is a unique and transforming experience. Lewis engages these and other questions from a deep sense that Christians, when faithful, know and live in the real world. Any other “world” is a mere shadow.
