24 Comments

An excellent article about Jack! Glad to see there are other Lewis enthusiasts on substack! His ability to communicate truth in so many ways made him one of the best writers of the 20th century.

Expand full comment

Thanks! I couldn't agree more. Nice to make your acquaintance!

Expand full comment

Wonderful post, brother. You know that I am with you in having Lewis as my mentor.

A few other “Lewis studies” books that are worthwhile:

**Harry Lee Poe’s three volume biography of Lewis. I am about to finish volume 3.

**Chad Walsh’s “Apostle to the Skeptics”

**Walter Hooper’s “C. S. Lewis: A Complete Guide to His Life & Works”

**Michael Ward’s “Planet Narnia”

**Christiana Hale’s “Deeper Heaven” (a study on the Ransom Trilogy)

**Jason Baxter’s “The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis”

Also, I haven’t read it yet (because it isn’t out) but I can’t wait to read Simon Horobin’s “C. S. Lewis’s Oxford”

Expand full comment

I apologize if I am repeating stuff you already know. I'm new to Substack and STGB.

I came to comment that you already have one significant step up on Lewis because you're not ashamed of reformation truths. But that led me to think about how John Piper explained how he could find Lewis a primary helpful influence in his own thinking and development, while acknowledging the several areas where he didn't "agree" with Lewis. Maybe you already are familiar with it, or maybe you don't care. Like I said, I'm new and unfamiliar with your writing. If I'm allowed, I'll leave a link here to Piper's talk from a February 2, 2010 conference. As is his pattern, he's quite thorough and detailed.

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/lessons-from-an-inconsolable-soul

Expand full comment

The greatest thinker of the 20th Century, possibly ever, IMHO. A must read for anyone who claims to know how to think or wants to learn. Love the man.

Expand full comment

Thanks for this article.

Our uncle Jack was a very generous person too. That is a good goal for this list.

Expand full comment

Thanks for the great article!

Expand full comment

Thanks for enjoying it.

Expand full comment

Love this article , and like you C.S. Is by far my favorite author. He continues to provide a doorway to Narnia just when I need it!

Expand full comment

Indeed he does!

Expand full comment

I love him so much I named my son after him!!

Expand full comment

Clive or Jack?

Expand full comment

Jack Lewis. I wasn’t brave enough for “Clive.”

Expand full comment

Now you can just have another boy with a name ready to go! 🤣

Expand full comment

😂

Expand full comment

Thank you is not enough for your insightful thoughts, but it is enough in Him.

Expand full comment

Rene Girard. He had a similar experience converting as an adult and running into resistance in academic circles. I think he was the most important Christian thinker to immediately follow Lewis in the ‘60s

Expand full comment

Jack is one of my very favorite authors, indeed very favorite people, because he and I traveled along parallal paths, to a degree. I was raised in strong religion, left it at age 20, became a spiritual seeker, and then suddenly began feeling the inexplicable call of Christ, the steady pace of the hound of heaven. I read Lewis in my "seeking" phase and was already a fan of his by the time I knelt before the bishop and entered the Church --- the sect I was raised in rejects the Trinity, so I consider this my conversion to Christianity -- but I have grown fonder and fonder of him with every passing year. I re-read two of his books every year (Screwtape Letters at Advent, Surprised by Joy during Lent), frequently re-read his other works off-schedule (I've read The Four Loves five times now), and have consumed his biographies and letters, and through them joined him and the fellows at the pub, or gone on walks with him and Warnie.

Expand full comment

Fantastic! Praise God for your story brother!

Expand full comment

Quite possibly the best short essay on C.S. Lewis I've ever read - and for the last 25 years I've read everything by and about C.S. Lewis that I've come across. Posting this to my Notes.

Expand full comment

That’s a very generous appraisal, but I thank you for it!

Expand full comment

After I finished college I set out to read every book by CS Lewis. I've never regretted it. Even now decades later I'm drawn to many of the lessons I learned from reading his work. I don't consider myself religious anymore, but still connect with so much of his writing. The only other writer I've done such a deep dive with is Steinbeck. I'd recommend that deep dive to anyone as well.

Expand full comment

I’ve only ever read what most people have read by Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men. I may get around to more eventually. I own East of Eden.

Expand full comment

I ended my deep dive with East of Eden and couldn't have been happier. I still think it's my favorite novel of all time. I read it Journal of A Novel at the same time, which is notes to his best friend/editor as he wrote East of Eden. HIGHLY recommend if you haven't read it. The big picture I took away after reading all his books is that while he has a very serious vein, Steinbeck also had a hilarious sense of humor and was not nearly so serious as I'd taken him to be from highschool readings of Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath. He had a ton of wit and charming sense of humor too. Most definitely one of my favorite writers of all time. But I also still have a lot of reading to do in life...

Expand full comment