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How did a brilliant young man who considered himself too smart for Christianity become the 20th century’s greatest advocate for it?
C.S. Lewis is widely considered one of the sharpest minds — and pens — of the last century. After becoming Christianity’s “most reluctant convert,” he turned his imagination to the task of expounding the faith for an age that dismissed it as stuffy and foolish.
Here’s how this philosophical giant turns critics into converts…
Surprised by Joy
Lewis’s approach to Christianity begins by understanding the nature of longing. Before his conversion, Lewis felt a profound spiritual longing — a feeling he intuited that all of humanity shares. Though this longing pointed him towards the most beautiful and sublime things the world has to offer (like music, art, and romance), he could not find anything that completely fulfilled it.
This longing, which Lewis termed “joy,” shook his atheist presuppositions. As he would later write:
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
Lewis writes that this painful longing is responsible for many of humanity’s problems. It is meant to guide us to the love of God, who is the only one who can ultimately fulfill it. But when we run away from God, it drives us to become addicted to substitutes that temporarily soothe its urgency — substitutes that range from sexual encounters to substance use, and even aesthetic and intellectual pleasures.
Mythic Christianity
Throughout his life, pagan myths captured Lewis’s imagination. Unable to accept the idea that these noble stories were false while Christianity — which had been presented to him as prosaic and bland — was true, Lewis abandoned religion for atheism.
But he slowly began to realize that the common patterns between pagan myths and Christian stories were no accident. In fact, he came to believe that the universal patterns which emerged in classical mythology pointed to, and were fulfilled by, Christ.
In a time when a rather fossilized version of Christianity was failing to connect with the modern era, Lewis devised stories — and sometimes disturbing ones — to reveal the rich, engaging elements of Christianity that had been largely forgotten in the religious culture of his time.
A Matter of Infinite Importance
“Christ,” wrote Lewis, “if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
Once Lewis accepted Christianity as the world’s defining truth, he realized that it left no aspect of life untouched. For him, there was no casual or cultural Christianity — Christ’s presence in one’s life was urgent, personal, and absolutely demanding.
Christianity also transformed his experience of the external world. With Christ as the center of all truth, Lewis discovered that all of his passions — including philosophy, art, history, literature, friendship, and more — also led him closer to Christ.
From Modern to Universal
C.S. Lewis began his career as the archetypal modern man. Educated and naturally intelligent, he outsmarted the vague religion of his childhood and dismissed religious beliefs as outdated and foolish.
But when he discovered a Christianity that was both mythically satisfying and intellectually sound, Lewis was transformed. No longer a stereotypical man of his time, he became a voice of ancient Christendom speaking to the age of information, industrialism, and cynicism.
With hard-hitting logic, accessible writing, and a luminous imagination, Lewis’s legacy lives on in the Christians who credit their conversion to his works. Beyond the transmission of faith, he’s an icon for all who seek to bring the riches of the past into the struggles of the present.
For those who care about preserving goodness, truth, and beauty in the modern era, C.S. Lewis’s writings are a treasure trove of wisdom, hope, and encouragement.
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