Showing posts with label Head & Heart Together. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Head & Heart Together. Show all posts

2020/10/08

웰컴 투 지구별 - YES24

웰컴 투 지구별 - YES24



웰컴 투 지구별

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소득공제

웰컴 투 지구별

로버트 슈워츠 저 / 황근하 역 | 샨티 | 2008년 06월 16일 | 

원제 : Courageous Souls



리뷰 총점8.0 정보 더 보기/감추기 회원리뷰(6건) | 판매지수 6,153 판매지수란? 

베스트 세계종교 2위 | 종교 top20 2주



출간일 2008년 06월 16일

쪽수, 무게, 크기 349쪽 | 536g | 148*210*30mm



책소개

장애를 가지고 태어난 사람, 암과 같은 난치병에 걸린 사람, 알코올 중독에 빠진 사람, 사랑하는 이를 갑자기 잃은 사람, 사업 실패로 졸지에 노숙자가 된 사람, 끔찍한 사고로 큰 상처를 입은 사람…… 왜 우리는 이처럼 원치 않는 시련을 겪어야 하는 걸까? 왜 착한 사람한테 더 큰 고통과 아픔이 따르는 걸까? 전생에 큰 잘못을 저질러 정말로 그 업보를 받는 걸까?



이 책은, 우리가 태어나기 전 삶의 힘든 시련들을 미리 계획했다고 말한다. 그 시련들이 내가 계획한 것임을 알 때 삶의 고통은 크게 줄어든다. “만일 내가 정말 태어나기 전에 이 경험을 계획한 것이라면 어떨까? 나는 왜 그랬을까?” 이렇게 질문을 던지는 것만으로도 삶의 시련에 새로운 의미가 생기고, 자기 발견의 여정이 시작될 수 있다. 나아가 내가 그 시련들을 무슨 이유로 계획했는지까지 알 수 있다면 그 시련으로부터 배움을 끌어내고 남을 도우는 데까지 나아갈 수 있을 것이다. 두려워하고 분노하고 억울해하고 남을 탓하고 자기연민에 빠지는 것이 아니라 영적 성장에 집중하게 될 것이다. 심지어 그 시련에 감사한 마음까지 들지도 모를 일이다. 이 책에는 그와 같은 아픔과 시련이 태어나기 전 스스로 계획한 것임을 채널러의 도움으로 알아가는 보통 사람 10명의 흥미로운 이야기가 펼쳐진다.

---

목차

프롤로그

서문



1. 태어나기 전에 삶을 계획하다



2. 병을 앓기로 계획하다

존의 이야기 - 에이즈와 자기존중

도리스의 이야기 - 유방암과 판단 내려놓기



3. 장애아의 부모가 되기를 계획하다

제니퍼의 이야기 - 자폐증과 진실한 소통



4. 장애를 갖고 살기를 계획하다

페넬로페의 이야기 - 청각장애와 연민

밥의 이야기 - 시각 장애와 감정적 독립



5. 중독 또는 중독자 돌보기를 계획하다

샤론의 이야기 - 약물 중독 아들과 돌봄

팻의 이야기 - 알코올 중독과 영적성장



6. 사랑하는 이와의 사별을 계획하다

발러리의 이야기 - 사별과 공감



7. 사고당할 것을 계획하다

제이슨의 이야기 - 사지 마비와 자유로운 사고

크리스티나의 이야기 - 폭발 사고와 의식의 확장



8. 결론



에필로그

부록 1- 용감한 영혼들

부록 2 - 영매와 채널

감사의 말

역자 후기

접어보기

저자 소개

저자 : 로버트 슈워츠

2003년, 자신의 문제로 치유를 받던 저자는 채널러의 도움으로 비물질적 존재들과 놀라운 대화들을 나누게 된다. 그 존재들은 자신이 살면서 해온 일들은 물론 자신의 생각과 감정까지 다 알고 있었다. 비물질적 존재들은 저자가 지금까지 겪은 수많은 어려움들이 실은 태어나기 전 영혼의 단계에서 스스로 계획한 것들이라고 들려준다. 그는 이와 같은 전생 계획에 대해 알고 난 뒤 커다란 치유를 경험하고, 자신이 겪어온 삶의 시련들이 사랑의 실현이라는 더욱 깊은 목적에서 나온 것임을 깨닫게 된다. 이후 저자는 3년에 걸쳐 수많은 사람들을 만나며 채널러와 비물질적 존재들의 도움을 받아 그들의 전생 계획을 수집하기 시작한다. 그 과정에서 저자는 우리가 몸을 입고 살아가는 동안 얼마나 원대한 영혼적 비전을 실천하고 있는지 아주 구체적으로 깨닫고 우주적 차원의 진리가 사랑의 원리에 따라 얼마나 섬세하게 작동하는지 이해하며 감사하게 된다. 저자의 이메일 주소: CourageousSouls@yahoo.com

접어보기

역자 : 황근하

성균관대 철학과를 졸업하고 전문번역가로 활동하고 있다. 옮긴 책으로는 《세상에서 가장 아름다운 용서》 《사우스 마운틴 이야기》 《당신도 동물과 대화할 수 있다》 《라 트라비아타 살인사건》 《세상에서 가장 맛있게 와인을 즐기는 방법》 《나를 미치게 하는 너》 등이 있다.

만든 이 코멘트

저자, 역자, 편집자를 위한 공간입니다. 독자들에게 전하고 싶은 말씀을 남겨주세요.

코멘트 쓰기

접수된 글은 확인을 거쳐 이 곳에 게재됩니다.

독자 분들의 리뷰는 리뷰 쓰기를, 책에 대한 문의는 1:1 문의를 이용해 주세요.

출판사 리뷰

불의의 폭발 사고로 인생이 뒤바뀌어버린 젊은 여성 크리스티나는 그 사고를 통해 결코 용서할 수 없을 것 같던 사람일지라도 용서하는 법을 배우고 타인의 고통에 공감하는 법을 배웠다. 또 자신은 눈에 보이는 몸 그 이상의 존재이며, 세상 역시 눈에 보이는 것이 전부가 아님을 알게 되었다. 반평생을 알코올 중독자로 살며 아내와 자녀들에게 깊은 상처를 안겨줬던 팻은 그 상처와 낭비의 시간을 보내고 나서야 자신을 그토록 괴롭힌 고독감이 기실은 그가 결코 한 순간도 홀로가 아니었음을 깨닫게 하기 위한 바탕이었음을 알게 되었다. 날 때부터 청각 장애와 시각 장애를 갖고 있었던 페넬로페와 밥은 장애로 겪은 외로움과 고통을 통해서 사람들 사이에 경계를 허물고 진정으로 공감하는 능력을 갖게 되었다. 자신의 몸에 수치심과 혐오감을 느꼈던 도리스는 유방암으로 양쪽 가슴을 모두 도려낸 뒤에야 자신에 대한 수치심과 혐오감을 버리는 것은 물론 다른 사람들에 대해서도 옳으니 그르니 하는 판단을 내려놓고 깊은 내적 평화에 이를 수 있었다. 동성애적 성 정체성 때문에 어린 시절부터 주위의 따가운 눈총을 받아온 존은 오늘날 어떤 질병보다도 부끄럽게 여겨지는 에이즈에 걸림으로써 세상 사람들에게 눈에 보이는 것만으로 사람을 판단하지 않을 기회 그리고 관용과 연민을 생생하게 표현할 기회를 주었다. 또 자폐 등의 장애를 가진 아이가 세 자녀 중 둘이나 되는 제니퍼는 세상과의 소통에서 느끼던 두려움을 극복하고 자기 확신 속에 질서 있는 삶을 유지하고 삶에 진지하게 집중하는 능력을 키울 수 있었다.

저자는 “우리는 자신의 성장을 위해 시련을 계획한다. 영혼의 존재인 우리는 윤회를 거듭하며 그 사이에 많은 것을 배우지만, 배움은 물질계에서 구체적으로 경험할 때 더욱 깊이 각인된다. 영혼의 세계에서 배우는 것은 교실에서 배우는 것과 같지만, 이 지구의 삶에서 배우는 것은 배운 것을 적용하고 시험할 수 있는 실습과 같다. 그리하여 앎은 깊어지며, 이는 영혼에게 더없이 중요한 경험이 된다”고 말한다.

그러나 이생에서의 삶, 그것도 고통스러운 삶을 태어나기 전 계획했다는 말은 충격적으로 들릴 수 있다. 전생 계획이니 채널링이니 하는 개념도 낯설고 기이하게 여겨질 것이다. 하지만 이러한 개념을 독자들에게 납득시키는 것은 이 책의 주된 목적이 아니다. 다만 저자는 이런 관점이 있을 수도 있다고 가능성을 열어두고 마음으로 이 책을 읽기를 당부한다. “만일 그 말이 맞다면 어떻게 되는 걸까? 내가 정말 태어나기 전에 이 경험을 계획한 것이라면? 나는 왜 그랬을까?” 하고 질문을 던져보는 것만으로도 삶의 시련에 새로운 의미가 생기고 자기 발견의 여정이 시작될 수 있다. 실제로 성장이란 우리가 어떤 경험을 계획했는지 여부와 상관없이 그 경험 자체에서 오는 것이기 때문이다.

접어보기

추천평

“흥미진진하고 중요한 책” ―자넷 보이어



“삶을 들여다보는 새로운 접근법” ―케이티



“고통스런 삶의 시련들에 힘있게 대처하게 해주는 책” ―신시아 수 라슨



“영적 치유에 관심 있는 모든 이의 필독서” ―K. 앤더슨



“매우 독특한 방식으로 치유를 돕는 놀라운 책” ―헬런 카도나



“삶의 비밀스런 진실을 드러낸 책” ―레벨 42 fan



“생각을 위한 양식, 감동과 위안을 주는 책” ―엘 프린시플



“저자에게 퓰리처 상을!” ―애비드 리더



“삶에 대한 경이로운 가르침” ―C. 케네디



“고통과 비극, 상실을 이해하고 싶은 사람에게 강력히 추천” ―밥 올슨



“우리 시대에 가장 중요한 책 중의 하나” ―다이언 개리스



“읽을수록 빨려 들어가는 책” ―H. 프리맨



“판단하기를 멈추고 생각의 변화를 원한다면, 이 책을 읽어라” ―뎁 C.



“자신에게 뭔가 해주고 싶다면, 당장 이 책을 사라.” ―K. 루써포드



“왜 좋지 않은 일들이 착한 사람들에게 일어나는지 알고 싶다면 이 책을 읽어라.” ―베스 도나휴



“이 책을 읽고 나는 비로소 행복해질 수 있었다.” ―재리 홀랜드 벅



“이 책보다 쉽고 깊은 책을 보지 못했다.” ―제니퍼 빙클리





리뷰 총점8.0/ 10.0



전체 리뷰 (6)



내.인생 최고의 책으로 꼽고 싶을 만큼 고마운 책 감사합니디

내용 평점5점   편집/디자인 평점5점 | YES마니아 : 골드 indo37 | 2018-09-02

원문주소 : http://blog.yes24.com/document/10651968



나의 세계관을 확장 시켜준 고마운 책..

세계관이 아니고 인생관 우주관인가 ㅎㅎ

여튼 너무나 감사하다 이리 이책을 만나게 됨이...

일년만에 리뷰를 쓰는데 이책을 읽기전의 나와 그 후의 나는 너무 달라 생경하기도 한데 넘 좋다 행복하다 나를 온잔히 바라볼 수 있게 된 큰 점 하나를 찍어준 책... 내게 올 때가 되어 뚜벅뚜벅 걸어와 준 이책에 감사하다

나 자신을 온전하게 진심으로 이해하는데 큰 도움을 받았다... 우주가 내게 준 선물..

이 리뷰가 도움이 되었나요? 공감0 댓글 0접어보기

구매 포토리뷰

오래된 책이지만 구매했습니다.

내용 평점4점   편집/디자인 평점4점 | aias | 2017-10-31

원문주소 : http://blog.yes24.com/document/9956020



오래된 책이지만 어머니가 다른 책을 읽다가 책 옆에 있는 광고를 보고 구입해달라고 하셔서 구입했어요. 이런

종류의 책은 많은데, 조금 옛날 스타일의 문장과 글자의 분위기가 있고 문체가 장황한 편이라 읽으면서 조금 피로하기도 했습니다.

전반적으로 내용에 동의가 되기는 하는데 한 가지 아쉬웠던 점은 작가가 본인 스스로 깊은 명상이나 계시 등에 의해서 깨달음을 얻은 것이 아니라 고민을 많이 하다가 영매와 이야기를 하고나서부터 영과 관련된 책들을 많이 읽어보고나서 책을 쓰게 되었다는 말에 같은 인간이구나 하는 약간의 실망감은 들었어요. 물론 그것이 오히려 솔직하게 말을 한 것이고 오히려 사기꾼들은 그런 식으로 말을 하지 않겠다는 생각은 했습니다.









이 리뷰가 도움이 되었나요? 공감0 댓글 0접어보기

웰컴 투 지구별

내용 평점5점   편집/디자인 평점5점 | pury1104 | 2017-04-23

원문주소 : http://blog.yes24.com/document/9470742



기쁨의 파동





물잔에 떨어진 잉크 한 방울처럼

우리 각자는 세상 전체의 색조를 바꿀 수 있다.

비록 산꼭대기에서 혼자 살고 있는 사람이라

할지라도 기쁨의 느낌을 만들어냄으로써

다른 이들이 기쁨을 느끼는데

도움이 되는 파동을 보낸다.





- 로버트 슈워츠의《웰컴 투 지구별》중에서 -





* 모든 물질은

저마다 고유의 파동이 있습니다.

납과 철, 돌과 수정의 파동이 다릅니다.

사람도 저마다 다른 특유의 파동이 있습니다.

나타나면 갑자기 방안이 싸늘해지는 사람도 있고,

온 방안이 훈훈해지는 사람도 있습니다.

한 사람이 내는 작은 기쁨의 파동이

세상을 기쁘게 합니다.

(2012년 9월21일자 앙코르메일)



오늘도 많이 웃으세요.





이 리뷰가 도움이 되었나요? 공감0 댓글 0접어보기

웰컴투 지구별

내용 평점4점   편집/디자인 평점4점 | 보리수 | 2015-08-26

원문주소 : http://blog.yes24.com/document/8173005



전생 계획이란 태어나기 이전, 영원한 영혼 상태의 우리가 지금의 생을 위해 짜놓은 계획을 말하는데, 그 계획에서 우리는 언제 어디서 누구의 자녀로 태어날지, 어떤 학교를 다니고, 살면서 어떤 사람들을 만날지 미리 정한다고 한다. 물론 그 안에는 삶의 어떤 시련을 겪을지도 들어있다. 그렇다면 대체 왜 그토록 고통스러워 보이는 시련을 계획하는 것일까? 바로 그 고통을 겪지 않으면 결코 얻을 수 없는 깨달음을 위해서이다. 그리고 그 깨달음을 통해 우리 영혼이 더 높은 존재로 성장하기 때문이다. p.348



거리를 지나가거나, 어떤 상황에 부딪혔을 때 어디선가 본 것 같고, 친숙한 느낌을 받을 때가 있었다. 한번도 본 적 없는, 꿈 속에서 본 것들이 눈앞에 나타날 때도 있었다. 정말 묘한 느낌이었다. 책에 의하면 이런 데자뷰(기시감)는 전생 계획의 기억들인 경우가 많다고 한다. 하나하나 사소한 것 까지 태어나기 이전 삶을 계획한다니 놀랍지 아니한가?



무엇을 깨닫고자 삶을 미리 계획하고 설계하고 흘러간다는 것을 느끼게 되면 이 생을 소중하고 감사하게, 의미있게 살아가야겠다는 생각이 든다. 

이 책은 전생계획에 대해서만 나와 있을 뿐 생에 또다른 영향을 미치는 카르마와 인간의 자유의지에 대한 내용은 빠져있어 아쉽지만, 한 번쯤 읽어 볼만한 책이다. 



오늘도 사랑하고 감사하고 용서하며 살아가자. 

더 고차원적인 영혼의 성숙을 위해...



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시련을 겪는 영혼을 힐링으로 안내하는 지침서

내용 평점3점   편집/디자인 평점3점 | 스타블로거 : 수퍼스타 눈초 | 2013-06-08

원문주소 : http://blog.yes24.com/document/7278753



자신이 죽을 운명이라는 사실을 전해 들었을 때 사람들은 보통, 자신이 잘못 들었을 것이라고 부정하는 단계, 왜 자신의 운명에 분노하는 단계, 그래도 운명을 피할 길은 없는지 타협하는 단계, 피할 수 없는 운명에 절망하는 단계, 그리고 마지막으로 자신에게 주어진 운명을 담담하게 받아들이는 수용의 단계에 이르게 된다고 합니다. 이와 같은 변화는 죽음을 맞는 사람들에만 적용되는 것이 아니라 사랑하는 사람을 잃은 사람에서도 볼 수 있다고 하는데(상실수업; http://blog.yes24.com/document/2346003), 마찬가지로 살면서 부딪히는 장애, 병, 불의의 사고와 같이 절망스러운 상황도 마찬가지의 과정을 통하여 극복할 수 있을 것 같습니다. 물론 이와 같은 시련에 맞서지 못하고 삶을 접어 그를 사랑하는 사람들을 안타깝게 하기도 합니다.







<웰컴 투 지구별>은 살아가면서 부딪히는 시련을 극복한 사람들에 관한 이야기를 담고 있습니다. 에이즈, 유방암을 앓게 된 환자, 장애아를 가진 어머니와 장애를 가진 환자, 약물중독인 아들을 가진 어머니와 딸, 사랑하는 이와 사별한 사람, 그리고 생각도 못한 사고로 평생 장애우로 살아가는 사람들이 자신에 닥친 시련을 극복한 사람들의 이야기를 담고 있습니다. 정확하게 말씀드리면 이들은 모두 태어나기 전에 이미 시련을 겪기로 예정된 삶을 시작했다고 주장하고 있습니다. 영적성숙을 얻기 위하여 시련을 당하는 삶을 선택하였다는 것인데, 심지어는 시련을 안기는 사람 역시 영혼들의 사전협의를 통하여 역할을 담당하기로 동의하였다는 주장이고 보면 솔직하게 공감하기는 쉽지 않습니다. 다만 현재 시련을 당하고 자신의 시련을 수용하지 못하고 있는 사람들에게 도움이 될 수 있다면 그것으로도 충분하겠다 싶기는 합니다.







이 책에서는 영혼과 영매 그리고 채널러라는 존재를 다루고 있습니다. 영혼들은 저자가 특정하지 않은 방에 모여 환생하게 되는 영혼의 삶을 계획하는데 참여한다고 합니다. 현세에서 부모, 자녀의 역할을 각각 맡게 되는데 심지어는 환생하는 영혼을 현세에서 살해하기도 한다는 것입니다. 영매와 채널러는 다양한 존재들과 소통하는데 그 안에는 길잡이 영혼도 포함된다는 것입니다. 길잡이 영혼은 대부분 육체의 윤회를 수차례 이상 경험한, 고도로 진화된 비물질적 존재로, 이러한 윤회를 통하여 얻은 깊은 지혜로 물질계에서 일반영혼들의 길잡이 역할을 한다는 것입니다.







영혼에 대한 저자의 인식이 어디에 바탕을 두고 있는지 모호하기는 합니다. 영혼이 불멸의 존재가 될 때까지 다시 태어나며 꼭 인간으로 태어나지 않을 수도 있다고 하는 것을 보면 불교의 윤회사상의 영향을 받고 있는 것으로 보입니다. 하지만 영매 코비가 장애인 아들을 돌보는 제니퍼에 관한 세션을 시작하면서 드리는 다음과 같은 기도를 보면 기독교와도 관련이 있는 것 같기도 합니다. “우주의 어머니이자 아버지이신 하느님, 오늘 이들과 함께 일할 수 있는 귀한 시간을 마련해주시니 고맙습니다. 당신의 조건 없는 사랑과 보호하심, 긍휼히 여기심, 그리고 지혜와 진실의 빛으로 저희를 감싸주소서. 진실을 말하고 진실만을 듣게 하여주소서. (…) 그리스도의 이름으로 이 일이 이루어지게 하소서 아멘.(96쪽)”







뿐만 아니라 끈이 중심점에 연결되어 있는 여러 개의 차원에서 환생이 이루어지고 있다는 주장은 우주생성에 관한 끈이론을 연상케 합니다. 영혼이 정신이나 몸이 겪는데 영향을 미치기도 한다는데, 점성학에서는 한 사람의 성격과 소질, 신체적 특성을 별자리를 보고 파악하기도 하고, 한 사람에서 다음 세대로 이어지는 세포정보, 즉 DNA의 전달이라고 하는 점에 이르면 현대 종교와 과학을 아우르는 독특한 이론이다 싶습니다.







생전에 계획된 삶은 경우에 따라서 현세에서 부딪히는 상황에 따라서 새로운 계획으로 변경되기도 한다고 합니다. 이런 경우에는 시련을 겪는 영혼을 돌보는 길잡이 영혼을 비롯하여 관련된 영혼들이 삶의 계획을 새롭게 세우게 된다고 합니다. 시련을 겪는 사람들이 때로는 ‘왜 이런 일이 내게 일어나는가 화를 내는 경우도 있다고 합니다. 화는 에너지라고 합니다. 그 에너지를 자신을 향해 내뿜지 말고, 스스로를 단련하고 시각화해서 앞으로 나아가도록 사용할 것을 권하고 있습니다. 그럴 때 진정한 영혼의 성장이 일어난다는 것입니다. 시련이란 영혼이 자기 주변의 아름다움이 드러나도록 하기 위해 선택한 삶인 것입니다.

---



Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?

by Robert Schwartz (Goodreads Author)



 4.20  ·   Rating details ·  249 ratings  ·  36 reviews

Please note that as of March 24, 2009, Courageous Souls is out of print. 

It has been reissued under the new title, Your Soul's Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born (ISBN 9781583942727).



Courageous Souls explores the premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we re born for purposes of spiritual growth. The book contains ten true stories of people who planned physical illness, having handicapped children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, losing a loved one, and severe accidents.



Because very different life challenges are often planned for similar reasons, readers who have not faced these specific challenges will nevertheless see themselves - and their motivations as a soul - in these stories.



As readers come to realize that they themselves planned their lives, suffering that once seemed purposeless becomes imbued with deep meaning. Wisdom may be acquired in a more conscious manner; feelings of anger, guilt, blame, and victimization are healed and replaced by acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and peace. (less)

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Paperback, 328 pages

Published December 16th 2006 by Whispering Winds Press (first published 2006)

Original TitleCourageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?

ISBN0977679454 (ISBN13: 9780977679454)

Edition LanguageEnglish

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Anime coraggiose: come programmiamo le nostre vite prima di nascere 

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Храбри души: Сами ли избираме предизвикателствата в живота, преди да се преродим? 

Odważne dusze. Czy planujemy swoje życie przed przyjściem na świat? 

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 Average rating4.20  ·  Rating details ·  249 ratings  ·  36 reviews



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John Wiswell

Sep 16, 2007John Wiswell rated it liked it

Recommends it for: New Age readers, people interested in supernaturalism

Recommended to John by: Robert Schwartz

Despite the title, this book does not explore or answer the question of if we plan our lives before birth. In the introduction Schwartz plainly admits he will not pursue a logical argument for the belief structure, but rather asks readers to merely entertain the possibility. His goals are clearly to encourage emotional healing and help people mentally get past physically impassable challenges rather than to justify supernaturalism - which is fine, but goes against the title. The lack of arguments for the veracity of psychics and mediums, or the possibility of angels and non-theistic predestination will probably drive skeptics mad, or lead them to dismiss it immediately. I don’t recommend this book to them. It certainly didn't convert me, but if you're interested alternative value systems and beliefs systems and can keep an open mind, it may be worth a look.



Rather than make the case for it, Schwartz goes straight to the healing messages of the work. Even total non-believers should find the stories of struggles with homosexuality in homophobic cultures, cancer, AIDS and the loss of children to be provocative, and the path of emotional healing to be at least interesting, if not helpful. Beyond the metaphysics, Mr. Schwartz has written a book about forgiveness and coming to terms with many grave problems. In essence, most of the great evils in most lives were designed so that people could learn and grow as individuals, giving the psyche a sense of the greater experiences (including traumatic ones), and so while they are very painful, you do not have to grieve over them or loathe the world, and you can come to terms with it and simply experience things. Many of the resolutions and spiritual explanations seemed too pat or strange to me, but the stories of lives made it compelling.



There is one dangerous aspect to his idea. People could easily come to emotionally think they are to blame for problems that are otherwise out of their control, for their own pain and for any trouble they cause others – especially in what they cause others, which is not the focus of this book. Someone suffering from survivor’s guilt could easily spiral into even deeper depression if she came to believe she designed the scenario that killed others, regardless of Mr. Schwartz’s assertion that the souls of those others agreed to the life plan. A disabled boy who already feels bad about inconveniencing his father with all his daily needs could feel worse for coming to believe he designed the scenario. Mr. Schwartz’s book is careful to try to explain its way around such problems, but I fear many people would fall to such emotional and intuitive reactions that would be enormously self-destructive and contrary to Mr. Schwartz’s hope of a healing message. He could easily write a second book about just those sorts of people. Interpretations of the unrepentant would be particularly interesting, even if those sorts of people would be the least likely to submit to his belief system. (less)

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Ebookwormy1

May 29, 2008Ebookwormy1 rated it did not like it

Shelves: non-fiction, 2-caution

I read this book at the request of a friend who said "it was the best summary i've ever encountered about what I truly believe about life." Well, I should clarify, I started this book. I read all the intro, and the intro chapter and the first study and then I picked from interesting chapters going forward. In the end, there are many things my friend and I disagree on, but we agree that we like to discuss them.



I agree with this book that our lives are planned, that there is meaning/ growth/ purpose in suffering, and there is a spiritual dimension to life. However, I think God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, the Holy Spirit and the Bible are at the center of this, not a self-directed pre-birth reincarnation process.



Speaking of reincarnation, I do not agree in reincarnation at all. It's just too risky. Everything points to having only one time around. I figure if I'm wrong I get a 999 life bonus (accepting my friend's theory that we have about 1000 times around), but if you live your life thinking you have all sorts of other opportunities and you are wrong, suddenly you are out 999 lives.



I do not agree that seeing a medium is necessary in order to make sense out of life and it's challenges. I think seeing a medium is dangerous. The tone, content and terminology of this book made me feel like i was reading "Screwtape Letters" (CS Lewis), but this book was serious, deadly serious, in my opinion. I think there is a reason the Bible prohibits consultation with mediums. Of course, there is always the reasonable argument that many of them are frauds, so what's the harm. My question is: why waste your time and money. And for those that are not frauds, how do we know the power they are tapping is good? No mediums for me.



In the end, there were twoish (i say twoish because my second one has three points!) major stumbling blocks for me. 1) Sin. I believe in it. I see it in myself and others. It's a problem. Not only does this book fail to recognize it, it asserts those who do evil things have chosen a "noble" path that others might suffer and be enlightened by their actions (therefore, terrorists, child molesters, murderers, etc are "noble" because of what they contribute to the reincarnation process). That's not nobility, at least not one I can affirm.



2) In the end, I find religious/ spiritual systems focused on meditation/ seeking an inner spiritual guide to be focused entirely on the self. This is utterly distasteful to me for three reasons. First of all, it's a matter of AUTHORITY. I don't think I have the knowledge/ authority in myself to determine why we are here, what we are to be doing, and what happens when it is all over. I'm not comfortable with that kind of authority. But this system of belief encourages people to assume that authority. It's true, I'm trusting in an all-powerful God, who created us, humbled himself to reach down into humanity to reveal Himself, wrote a book, protected that book through centuries and is using that book to speak to and transform my life today. But the authority rests with Him, not with me. I have merely chosen to submit myself to Him and trust Him to get done what I cannot (taking care of that sin problem, for example). I have chosen to humble myself instead of seeking my own answers and explanations.



Secondly, it's a matter of ACCESSIBILITY. These spiritual philosophies involve much meditation, consultation of mediums and shedding of the cares and concerns of the world, etc. This basically mean that most people on the planet (those that have to struggle to survive) are exempt from salvation as they have neither the luxury of time for this intense inner focus nor the resources for the training/ medium consultation/ monastic life. I don't think that is right. I think salvation is available to everyone through Jesus Christ, and it may be a difficult thing (after all, Jesus had to come here and die), but it's accessible to everyone.



Thirdly, it's a matter of SERVICE. Jesus stated the entire teaching of the Old Testament can be summarized in two commands: Love God and Love Others. I've already mentioned a bit about love God. This philosophy negates the need to love others. It teaches they have "chosen" to be poor, addicted, abused, oppressed, in order to learn and teach others. Therefore, there is no need to feel an obligation to help them. Rather we should honor their difficult road as noble and good. I find that wholly unsatisfactory. Biblical Christianity mobilizes us to reach out to others and seek to lighten their load, in order that we might be more like Christ, who lightened our load by paying the penalty for our sin. In fact, Jesus paid for our sin that we might be willing to sacrifice ourselves for others.



Reading this book reaffirmed my commitment to Biblical Christianity, as well as highlighted how beneficial Christianity is to society. I'm not saying we should set up a theocracy. What I am saying is that a nation in which most people (freely, not under coercion) chose to follow Jesus will have a much better thing going on than if the majority of people chose to follow the philosophy presented here. (less)

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BLEEPING Herald Newsletter

Sep 02, 2008BLEEPING Herald Newsletter rated it it was amazing

Book By Robert Schwartz



Review by Tedi Elliott



Once I heard a group of people talking about a tragic, fatal accident, in which a small child had been killed when a garage door closed on him. They were trying to come to terms with why such inexplicable things happen in life and spoke of how horrible it was and how heartbreaking this must be for all those close to the child. Someone wondered why God would allow such an awful thing to happen. I wondered why too, and started in on a thought process that went a little something like this:



First, I pictured an uncaring, disinterested God, (long, white beard… sitting on a cloud) randomly picking out accidents and tragedies and illnesses for whoever happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even worse, what if God actually punishes people this way? What if there is no God? Are these simply the natural consequences of living life on Earth? Is it just that accidents happen? Do we all have to be constantly on guard at all times to avoid these disasters? How could I possibly cope if something so horrible happened to me?



In his excellent first book, Courageous Souls, Robert Schwartz plants the seed of a very compelling idea on how and why our great life challenges come about: that we, ourselves, make intricate plans before we are born into the physical plane, about the kinds of experiences we want to have in order to assist our growth on the soul level. In making our plans, we have lots of help from our spirit guides and various discarnate beings. These beings love us a great deal and act in our best interest in all things. In fact, love is the basis for this entire idea.



What we come here to learn (or remember) is that we are love, that we are never disconnected from each other, and that we are eternal. We agree in advance to have these challenging life experiences and nothing is forced on us or decided for us by anyone else. Although specific plans are made, free will always remains available to us during our lives so that when choices present themselves, we may opt to continue with our plans or not....

to read the rest of this review, check out http://www.bleepingherald.com/aug2008... (less)

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Dulcinea Contreras

Oct 11, 2010Dulcinea Contreras rated it it was amazing

"Each human has made a spiritual plan prior to arriving in one's current earthly experience according to Robert in this unique book. He delves deep into the perspectives of the human experience, including suffering, questions life and its meaning, and suggests that challenges are opportunities that reflect to us our feelings about ourselves. The ultimate message encompasses several eternal truths, including earth is temporary, we are eternal beings and not just a physical body, and reiterates that this planet is one huge classroom to learn and grow. This book has meaningfully captured that life lessons are eternal gifts of wisdom for our higher, spiritual selves, so begin today to embrace the love in life's offerings." ~Dulcinea Contreras, 2008 (less)

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Lori Aberle

Oct 14, 2008Lori Aberle rated it it was amazing

Excellent, excellent, excellent!!!



Robert Schwartz investigates past lives and the possibility that our eternal souls actually PLAN not only our incarnations and who we are likely to meet, but also the challenges we face throughout our lives.



This book gives some amazing insight to the reality of "heaven" or whatever else you want to call the world between lives. Read this with an open mind.

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Grady

Nov 28, 2008Grady rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: sensitive readers

Pondering the Possibilities Outside the Box



Robert Schwartz is an eloquent spokesman for his explorations in the realm few of us have even considered, much less explored fully: the concept of pre-birth planning as a convention of souls who make decisions about incarnation - place, time, circumstances, and challenges - that will heighten the overall improvement of not only their repeated growth in the process of rebirth but also the gift to the betterment of mankind.



Schwartz' manner of writing i ...more

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Robert

Jul 12, 2007Robert rated it it was amazing  ·  (Review from the author)

Shelves: booksiwrote

Please note that I am the author of this book. For those interested in spirituality, I am posting below a review of my book from the June 2007 issue of New Age Retailer magazine.





New Age Retailer magazine

June 2007 issue

Pre-Birth Contracts | Spiritism

Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?

Robert Schwartz

$14.95 QP, 9780977679454, 327 pages, 5.5" x 8", Whispering Winds Press, 800/742-0148, www.courageoussouls.com



The serene cover of Courageous Souls belies the punch with which Robert Schwartz communicates the results of his research into pre-birth planning. Working with four experienced channelers, he asked 10 people, each facing different challenges (AIDS, blindness, addiction, or death of a loved one), to delve into the reasons why they agreed, before birth, to put themselves in such difficult situations. Each entry begins with an interview in which the person’s story is told from his or her point-of-view. Information via a medium is used to provide insight and sometimes actual pre-birth conversations about the goals or life lessons desired, contributing past-life factors, and the people who contracted to play major roles in the person’s present incarnation. Moving us away from the idea of karma as punishment, Schwartz introduces the idea of learning through contrast, for instance, a soul wishing to fully experience her or his compassionate side might choose to be born into a family that lacks compassion.



In addition to the considerable wisdom provided from the spirit side, Schwartz writes a summary at the end of each chapter in which he adds some of his own insight garnered during years of metaphysical study. Overall, it is one of the best books of this kind I have come across.



Courageous Souls will trigger interest in both past lives and spirit-guide contact. Display alongside books by best-selling authors such as Brian Weiss, M.D., and Doreen Virtue Ph.D., or with Ruth Montgomery’s works, A Search for the Truth, A World Beyond, and Companions Along the Way.



Anna Jedrziewski, Spirit Connection New York, New York, N.Y.



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Bellatrix

Aug 26, 2015Bellatrix rated it really liked it

(Book read in polish.)

Very interesting point of view, something to consider for everybody, who seeks the answers about the world, soul mates and free will.

A book for people interested in New Age and it requires an open mind.



A couple of months ago, I found myself interested in topics of soul, soul-mates. On the internet I found some theories about souls and learned new concepts: Twin-Flames and Twin Groups. There are many books and articles about it, but I just didn't find the answers, I was looking for.

I actually took time to write this questions on the paper: What is Soul-Mate? What are Soul Groups? Because I knew from my own experience, that Universe, God, always answers the questions, if you ask them.



Actually, I first "met" Robert Schwartz through his various YouTube interviews and was hooked. He did a good job at advertising his book: he did not reveal all stories from his book! I realised, I wanted to know them all. But I remembered one of the stories he was telling on the interview - about a woman, that lost a husband and son. I was right, the book was translated to polish and I looked at it in a book store some years before. I wasn't concerned with the matters of souls then, but now I just ordered the book.



The book really answers my questions about Souls. It just resonates with my beliefs. My book is already reserved by my mother and then by a friend. I like books, that become alive through lending. This is such a book.



On a side note: Maybe it is the matter of polish translation, but the man, that I heard on YouTube and the one, whose word I read, somehow don't sound as the same man. Maybe it is just me. It does not really have an impact on my reading experience, so... :) (less)

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Michele Harrod

Jul 05, 2010Michele Harrod rated it it was amazing

I adored this book - it made me look at the many things I see as 'sad' or as 'terrible' in an entirely new way. And at people that I had seen as antagonists, as perhaps my greatest 'soul mates'. This offers a wonderful perspective on our lives, and why we have chosen the paths we have - and when you think of it all as choices, it takes on an entirely new Vista. I'm hoping there is more to come from Robert Schwartz!

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Pattik

Sep 24, 2008Pattik rated it it was amazing

made a significant change in my thinking

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Nikki

Oct 13, 2008Nikki rated it it was amazing

Fantastic book! This compassionate book delivers a bevy of much needed messages.

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Audrey

Jan 30, 2012Audrey rated it it was amazing

Loved it. I found it fascinating. IF you are interested in knowing more about who you really are and why you are in this particular incarnation. Read the book. Easy to read and clear information

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J.P. Cawood

Nov 15, 2017J.P. Cawood rated it it was amazing

I really enjoyed reading the case studies in this book. I fully support the premise of the book and liked getting detailed information on individual's life challenges and how they overcame them. This book is great for anyone going through any type of struggle because there are enough different examples where you can draw parallels to your own life journey. Since reading it, I bought a copy for my sister and plan to borrow my copy to other family and friends you I think will enjoy it.

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Fiona Nachtschatten

Feb 23, 2019Fiona Nachtschatten rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition

I was absolutely overwhelmed of the book and could cope so much better with life issues after I've read it. It turned my view upside down and I can recommend it to everybody who wants to change his aswell.

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Barb

Sep 26, 2020Barb rated it it was amazing

This book is life-changing. Not for everyone, but if we are open to the possibility that the ideas presented could be true, our spirituality takes on a deeper dimension, and this crazy world makes more sense.

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Nadia Giannakopoulou

Jan 24, 2017Nadia Giannakopoulou rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

A life-changing book!!! Just amazing, read it many years ago...It 's based on a whole unique theory. For whoever is intrigued by it: read it with an open mind!

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Jacqueline

Feb 08, 2020Jacqueline rated it did not like it

I found this book a little depressing and discouraging.

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Lori

Aug 23, 2009Lori rated it it was ok

Shelves: reincarnation

Courageous Souls was my latest foray into the topic of past lives and the realm beyond this mortal coil. I would like to give it 2 1/2 half stars, really. And I think it may have earned 3 if I had not read Michael Newton's Destiny of Souls first. Newton's books set the bar for me on this subject.



The idea that we choose our life pathways and challenges ahead of time certainly turns existence on its ear. Imagine opting to live a life filled with the pain, fear and uncertainty of grave illness, physical disability, substance abuse and addiction, and other traumas? The fact that many people DO live with these conditions is certainly not extraordinary. But the idea that anyone would ever wish to experience such hardships is revolutionary.



However, the idea is that souls want to grow. They want to take on a myriad of roles and experiences and learn about all perspectives. If you think of a course of multiple lifetimes where you are man and woman, saint and sinner, parent and child it does stretch your ability to see the condition of life outside the constraints of what you know in the present moment.



The premise is intriguing. However, I gravitate toward books on this topic with a somewhat dryer and more academic feel. The introduction of mediums and channelling makes me wonder too much about chicanery and telling troubled people what they may need to hear to surmount the pain and disappointments in their current situation.



Some of the stories of people who have suffered major traumas and have come through them with an enlightened and comforted soul are inspiring. I am just a bit too prickly of a reader. I liked Newton's unadorned presentation better.



Still, this would appeal to readers who are as fascinated by the idea of reincarnation as I am. (less)

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Anna

Nov 04, 2012Anna rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition

Shelves: esoterics, owned-paperbook

I liked the concept of the book which is something I've believed since some time, and reading books like this only makes me believe it more. Indeed, pre-birth planning and reincarnations make more sense and seem more logical than any other spiritual/religious explanation of why things are the way the are - at least, to me. This particular book is not exactly entertaining (after all, the subject itself is far from being so) and it took me a long time to read (also, I think it could be made shorter). And I would not recommend it those who are non-believers or just willing to get introduced to the subject of reincarnation. But for anyone who has been doing some reading and self-discovery and wants to learn more, I think it's an excellent one.



Also, there's a hidden bonus - next time you start complaining about whatever it is you dislike about your life, you may remind yourself it was your own choice and there was a reason behind it :) (less)

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Clark

Dec 09, 2010Clark rated it liked it

The premise of the novel is a sort of trans-mortal continuous existence: we lived before life, we will live after life. The assumption is that we can gain insight into previous (pre-mortal) experiences through meditation or other mystical methodologies. The book is definitively new-age mysticism but echoes Christianity in many respects (though it is not religious, per se). Most of the book is an elaboration of the simple premise encapsulated in the title--we face challenges in mortality because we selected those challenges in pre-mortality to help our eternal spiritual growth. (less)

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Noah Lenzie

May 06, 2013Noah Lenzie rated it really liked it

Wiser for the experience

For any of us who have been through difficult times but come out the other end wiser for the experience this book can bring confirmation and solace. As the author says this book explores the premise that our journeys in this life are preplanned by our soul. This is a beautiful and touching account of soul lessons by a team of mediums that Robert has lovingly put together in order to raise our understanding and inspire.

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Sandy

Jul 22, 2008Sandy rated it liked it

Recommended to Sandy by: Taff Price

I thought it was an interesting perspective but again hard to imagine that someone would purposefully choose such a hard life. Perhaps, after more reading on this subject, I will re-read and be more accepting of this concept.

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Terry

Aug 23, 2015Terry rated it really liked it

This is a very interesting book if you can keep your mind open. Some things really resonated with me while other things were more difficult to absorb. I think this book can help people who are facing challenges in life, see things differently and therein lies a miracle.

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C. S. Lewis - Wikipedia

C. S. Lewis - Wikipedia



C. S. Lewis

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C. S. Lewis
Monochrome head-and-left-shoulder photo portrait of 50-year-old Lewis
Lewis, age 48
BornClive Staples Lewis
29 November 1898
Belfast, Ireland
Died22 November 1963 (aged 64)
Oxford, England
Pen nameClive Hamilton, N. W. Clerk
OccupationNovelist, scholar, broadcaster
Alma materUniversity College, Oxford
GenreChristian apologetics, fantasy, science fiction, children's literature
Notable worksThe Chronicles of Narnia
Mere Christianity
The Allegory of Love
The Screwtape Letters
The Space Trilogy
Till We Have Faces
Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
Spouse
(m. 1956; died 1960)
Children2 step-sons; including Douglas Gresham
RelativesWarren Lewis
(brother)
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge University (Magdalene College, 1954–1963). He is best known for his works of fiction, especially The Screwtape LettersThe Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere ChristianityMiracles, and The Problem of Pain.
Lewis and fellow novelist J. R. R. Tolkien were close friends. They both served on the English faculty at Oxford University and were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the Inklings.[1] According to Lewis's 1955 memoir Surprised by Joy, he was baptised in the Church of Ireland, but fell away from his faith during adolescence. Lewis returned to Anglicanism at the age of 32, owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends, and he became an "ordinary layman of the Church of England".[2] Lewis's faith profoundly affected his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim.
Lewis wrote more than 30 books[3] which have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. The books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia have sold the most and have been popularised on stage, TV, radio, and cinema. His philosophical writings are widely cited by Christian apologists from many denominations.
In 1956, Lewis married American writer Joy Davidman; she died of cancer four years later at the age of 45. Lewis died on 22 November 1963 from kidney failure, one week before his 65th birthday. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis was honoured with a memorial in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Biography

Childhood

Little Lea, home of the Lewis family from 1905 to 1930
Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, on 29 November 1898.[4] His father was Albert James Lewis (1863–1929), a solicitor whose father Richard had come to Ireland from Wales during the mid-19th century. His mother was Florence Augusta Lewis, née Hamilton (1862–1908), known as Flora, the daughter of Thomas Hamilton, a Church of Ireland priest, and great granddaughter of both Bishop Hugh Hamilton and John Staples. He had an elder brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis (known as "Warnie").[5][6] He was baptised on 29 January 1899 by his maternal grandfather in St Mark's Church, Dundela.[7]
When his dog Jacksie was killed by a car, the four-year old Lewis adopted the name Jacksie. At first, he would answer to no other name, but later accepted Jack, the name by which he was known to friends and family for the rest of his life.[8] When he was seven, his family moved into "Little Lea", the family home of his childhood, in the Strandtown area of East Belfast.[9]
As a boy, Lewis was fascinated with anthropomorphic animals; he fell in love with Beatrix Potter's stories and often wrote and illustrated his own animal stories. He and his brother Warnie created the world of Boxen, inhabited and run by animals. Lewis loved to read; his father's house was filled with books, and he felt that finding a book to read was as easy as walking into a field and "finding a new blade of grass".[10]
The New House is almost a major character in my story.
I am the product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms,
upstair indoor silences, attics explored in solitude,
distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes,
and the noise of wind under the tiles. Also, of endless books.
Lewis was schooled by private tutors until age nine when his mother died in 1908 from cancer. His father then sent him to live and study at Wynyard School in Watford, Hertfordshire. Lewis's brother had enrolled there three years previously. The school was closed not long afterward due to a lack of pupils; the headmaster Robert "Oldie" Capron was soon after committed to a psychiatric hospital. Lewis then attended Campbell College in the east of Belfast about a mile from his home, but left after a few months due to respiratory problems. He was then sent to the health-resort town of Malvern, Worcestershire, where he attended the preparatory school Cherbourg House, which Lewis calls "Chartres" in his autobiography. It was during this time that Lewis abandoned his childhood Christian faith and became an atheist, becoming interested in mythology and the occult.[11] In September 1913, Lewis enrolled at Malvern College, where he remained until the following June. He found the school socially competitive.[12] After leaving Malvern, he studied privately with William T. Kirkpatrick, his father's old tutor and former headmaster of Lurgan College.[13]
As a teenager, Lewis was wonder-struck by the songs and legends of what he called Northernness, the ancient literature of Scandinavia preserved in the Icelandic sagas.[14] These legends intensified an inner longing that he would later call "joy". He also grew to love nature; its beauty reminded him of the stories of the North, and the stories of the North reminded him of the beauties of nature. His teenage writings moved away from the tales of Boxen, and he began using different art forms, such as epic poetry and opera, to try to capture his new-found interest in Norse mythology and the natural world. Studying with Kirkpatrick ("The Great Knock", as Lewis afterward called him) instilled in him a love of Greek literature and mythology and sharpened his debate and reasoning skills. In 1916, Lewis was awarded a scholarship at University College, Oxford.[15]

"My Irish life"

Plaque on a park-bench in Bangor, County Down
Lewis experienced a certain cultural shock on first arriving in England: "No Englishman will be able to understand my first impressions of England," Lewis wrote in Surprised by Joy. "The strange English accents with which I was surrounded seemed like the voices of demons. But what was worst was the English landscape ... I have made up the quarrel since; but at that moment I conceived a hatred for England which took many years to heal."[16]
From boyhood, Lewis had immersed himself in Norse and Greek mythology, and later in Irish mythology and literature. He also expressed an interest in the Irish language,[17][18] though there is not much evidence that he laboured to learn it. He developed a particular fondness for W. B. Yeats, in part because of Yeats's use of Ireland's Celtic heritage in poetry. In a letter to a friend, Lewis wrote, "I have here discovered an author exactly after my own heart, whom I am sure you would delight in, W. B. Yeats. He writes plays and poems of rare spirit and beauty about our old Irish mythology."[19]
In 1921, Lewis met Yeats twice, since Yeats had moved to Oxford.[20] Lewis was surprised to find his English peers indifferent to Yeats and the Celtic Revival movement, and wrote: "I am often surprised to find how utterly ignored Yeats is among the men I have met: perhaps his appeal is purely Irish – if so, then thank the gods that I am Irish."[21][22] Early in his career, Lewis considered sending his work to the major Dublin publishers, writing: "If I do ever send my stuff to a publisher, I think I shall try Maunsel, those Dublin people, and so tack myself definitely onto the Irish school."[19] After his conversion to Christianity, his interests gravitated towards Christian theology and away from pagan Celtic mysticism.[23]
Lewis occasionally expressed a somewhat tongue-in-cheek chauvinism toward the English. Describing an encounter with a fellow Irishman, he wrote: "Like all Irish people who meet in England, we ended by criticisms on the invincible flippancy and dullness of the Anglo-Saxon race. After all, there is no doubt, ami, that the Irish are the only people: with all their faults, I would not gladly live or die among another folk."[24] Throughout his life, he sought out the company of other Irish people living in England[25] and visited Northern Ireland regularly. In 1958 he spent his honeymoon there at the Old Inn, Crawfordsburn,[26] which he called "my Irish life".[27]
Various critics have suggested that it was Lewis's dismay over the sectarian conflict in his native Belfast which led him to eventually adopt such an ecumenical brand of Christianity.[28] As one critic has said, Lewis "repeatedly extolled the virtues of all branches of the Christian faith, emphasising a need for unity among Christians around what the Catholic writer G. K. Chesterton called 'Mere Christianity', the core doctrinal beliefs that all denominations share".[29] On the other hand, Paul Stevens of the University of Toronto has written that "Lewis' mere Christianity masked many of the political prejudices of an old-fashioned Ulster Protestant, a native of middle-class Belfast for whom British withdrawal from Northern Ireland even in the 1950s and 1960s was unthinkable."[30]

First World War and Oxford University

Lewis entered Oxford in the 1917 summer term, studying at University College, and shortly after, he joined the Officers' Training Corps at the university as his "most promising route into the army".[31] From there, he was drafted into a Cadet Battalion for training.[31][32] After his training, he was commissioned into the Third Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry of the British Army as a Second Lieutenant. Within months of entering Oxford, the British Army shipped him to France to fight in the First World War.[13]
On his 19th birthday (29 November 1917) he arrived at the front line in the Somme Valley in France, where he experienced trench warfare for the first time.[31][32][33] On 15 April 1918, Lewis was wounded and two of his colleagues were killed by a British shell falling short of its target.[33][page needed] He suffered from depression and homesickness during his convalescence and, upon his recovery in October, he was assigned to duty in Andover, England. He was demobilised in December 1918 and soon restarted his studies.[34] In a later letter, Lewis cited that his experience of the horror of war, along with the loss of his mother and his unhappiness in school, were the bases of his pessimism and atheism.[35]
After Lewis returned to Oxford University, he received a First in Honour Moderations (Greek and Latin literature) in 1920, a First in Greats (Philosophy and Ancient History) in 1922, and a First in English in 1923. In 1924 he became a philosophy tutor at University College and, in 1925, was elected a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Magdalen College, where he served for 29 years until 1954.[36]

Janie Moore

During his army training, Lewis shared a room with another cadet, Edward Courtnay Francis "Paddy" Moore (1898–1918). Maureen Moore, Paddy's sister, said that the two made a mutual pact[37] that if either died during the war, the survivor would take care of both of their families. Paddy was killed in action in 1918 and Lewis kept his promise. Paddy had earlier introduced Lewis to his mother, Janie King Moore, and a friendship quickly sprang up between Lewis, who was 18 when they met, and Janie, who was 45. The friendship with Moore was particularly important to Lewis while he was recovering from his wounds in hospital, as his father did not visit him.
Lewis lived with and cared for Moore until she was hospitalised in the late 1940s. He routinely introduced her as his mother, referred to her as such in letters, and developed a deeply affectionate friendship with her. Lewis's own mother had died when he was a child, and his father was distant, demanding, and eccentric.
Speculation regarding their relationship resurfaced with the 1990 publication of A. N. Wilson's biography of Lewis. Wilson (who never met Lewis) attempted to make a case for their having been lovers for a time. Wilson's biography was not the first to address the question of Lewis's relationship with Moore. George Sayer knew Lewis for 29 years, and he had sought to shed light on the relationship during the period of 14 years prior to Lewis's conversion to Christianity. In his biography Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis, he wrote:
Were they lovers? Owen Barfield, who knew Jack well in the 1920s, once said that he thought the likelihood was "fifty-fifty". Although she was twenty-six years older than Jack, she was still a handsome woman, and he was certainly infatuated with her. But it seems very odd, if they were lovers, that he would call her "mother". We know, too, that they did not share the same bedroom. It seems most likely that he was bound to her by the promise he had given to Paddy and that his promise was reinforced by his love for her as his second mother.[38]
Later Sayer changed his mind. In the introduction to the 1997 edition of his biography of Lewis he wrote:
I have had to alter my opinion of Lewis's relationship with Mrs. Moore. In chapter eight of this book I wrote that I was uncertain about whether they were lovers. Now after conversations with Mrs. Moore's daughter, Maureen, and a consideration of the way in which their bedrooms were arranged at The Kilns, I am quite certain that they were.[39]
However, the romantic nature of the relationship is doubted by other writers; for example, Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski write in The Fellowship that
When—or whether—Lewis commenced an affair with Mrs. Moore remains unclear.[40]
Lewis spoke well of Mrs. Moore throughout his life, saying to his friend George Sayer, "She was generous and taught me to be generous, too." In December 1917, Lewis wrote in a letter to his childhood friend Arthur Greeves that Janie and Greeves were "the two people who matter most to me in the world".
In 1930, Lewis moved into The Kilns with his brother Warnie, Mrs. Moore, and her daughter Maureen. The Kilns was a house in the district of Headington Quarry on the outskirts of Oxford, now part of the suburb of Risinghurst. They all contributed financially to the purchase of the house, which passed to Maureen, who by then was Dame Maureen Dunbar, when Warren died in 1973.
Moore suffered from dementia in her later years and was eventually moved into a nursing home, where she died in 1951. Lewis visited her every day in this home until her death.

Return to Christianity

Lewis was raised in a religious family that attended the Church of Ireland. He became an atheist at age 15, though he later described his young self as being paradoxically "very angry with God for not existing" and "equally angry with him for creating a world".[41] His early separation from Christianity began when he started to view his religion as a chore and a duty; around this time, he also gained an interest in the occult, as his studies expanded to include such topics.[42] Lewis quoted Lucretius (De rerum natura, 5.198–9) as having one of the strongest arguments for atheism:[43]
Nequaquam nobis divinitus esse paratam
Naturam rerum; tanta stat praedita culpa
which he translated poetically as follows:
Had God designed the world, it would not be
A world so frail and faulty as we see.
(This is a highly poetic, rather than a literal translation. A more literal translation, by William Ellery Leonard,[44] reads: "That in no wise the nature of all things / For us was fashioned by a power divine – / So great the faults it stands encumbered with.")
Lewis's interest in the works of George MacDonald was part of what turned him from atheism. This can be seen particularly well through this passage in Lewis's The Great Divorce, chapter nine, when the semi-autobiographical main character meets MacDonald in Heaven:
... I tried, trembling, to tell this man all that his writings had done for me. I tried to tell how a certain frosty afternoon at Leatherhead Station when I had first bought a copy of Phantastes (being then about sixteen years old) had been to me what the first sight of Beatrice had been to Dante: Here begins the new life. I started to confess how long that Life had delayed in the region of imagination merely: how slowly and reluctantly I had come to admit that his Christendom had more than an accidental connexion with it, how hard I had tried not to see the true name of the quality which first met me in his books is Holiness.[45]
He eventually returned to Christianity, having been influenced by arguments with his Oxford colleague and Christian friend J. R. R. Tolkien, whom he seems to have met for the first time on 11 May 1926, and the book The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton. Lewis vigorously resisted conversion, noting that he was brought into Christianity like a prodigal, "kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape".[46] He described his last struggle in Surprised by Joy:
You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen [College, Oxford], night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.[47]
After his conversion to theism in 1929, Lewis converted to Christianity in 1931, following a long discussion during a late-night walk along Addison's Walk with his close friends Tolkien and Hugo Dyson. He records making a specific commitment to Christian belief while on his way to the zoo with his brother. He became a member of the Church of England – somewhat to the disappointment of Tolkien, who had hoped that he would join the Catholic Church.[48][page needed][incomplete short citation]
Lewis was a committed Anglican who upheld a largely orthodox Anglican theology, though in his apologetic writings, he made an effort to avoid espousing any one denomination. In his later writings, some believe that he proposed ideas such as purification of venial sins after death in purgatory (The Great Divorce and Letters to Malcolm) and mortal sin (The Screwtape Letters), which are generally considered to be Roman Catholic teachings, although they are also widely held in Anglicanism (particularly in high church Anglo-Catholic circles). Regardless, Lewis considered himself an entirely orthodox Anglican to the end of his life, reflecting that he had initially attended church only to receive communion and had been repelled by the hymns and the poor quality of the sermons. He later came to consider himself honoured by worshipping with men of faith who came in shabby clothes and work boots and who sang all the verses to all the hymns.[49] In 1935, Lewis and his brother Warren donated a stained glass window in memory of their parents to their childhood church of St. Mark's, Dundela, Belfast.[50]

Second World War

After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the Lewises took child evacuees from London and other cities into The Kilns.[51] Lewis was only 40 when the war started, and he tried to re-enter military service, offering to instruct cadets; but his offer was not accepted. He rejected the recruiting office's suggestion of writing columns for the Ministry of Information in the press, as he did not want to "write lies"[52] to deceive the enemy. He later served in the local Home Guard in Oxford.[52]
From 1941 to 1943, Lewis spoke on religious programmes broadcast by the BBC from London while the city was under periodic air raids.[53] These broadcasts were appreciated by civilians and servicemen at that stage. For example, Air Chief Marshal Sir Donald Hardman wrote:
"The war, the whole of life, everything tended to seem pointless. We needed, many of us, a key to the meaning of the universe. Lewis provided just that."[54]
The broadcasts were anthologised in Mere Christianity. From 1941, he was occupied at his summer holiday weekends visiting R.A.F. stations to speak on his faith, invited by the R.A.F.'s Chaplain-in-Chief Maurice Edwards.[55]
It was also during the same wartime period that Lewis was invited to become first President of the Oxford Socratic Club in January 1942,[56] a position that he enthusiastically held until he resigned on appointment to Cambridge University in 1954.[57]

Honour declined

Lewis was named on the last list of honours by George VI in December 1951 as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) but declined so as to avoid association with any political issues.[58][59]

Chair at Cambridge University

In 1954, Lewis accepted the newly founded chair of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he finished his career. He maintained a strong attachment to the city of Oxford, keeping a home there and returning on weekends until his death in 1963.

Joy Davidman

She was my daughter and my mother, my pupil and my teacher, my subject and my sovereign; and always, holding all these in solution, my trusty comrade, friend, shipmate, fellow-soldier. My mistress; but at the same time all that any man friend (and I have good ones) has ever been to me. Perhaps more.
C. S. Lewis[60]
In later life, Lewis corresponded with Joy Davidman Gresham, an American writer of Jewish background, a former Communist, and a convert from atheism to Christianity. She was separated from her alcoholic and abusive husband, novelist William L. Gresham, and came to England with her two sons, David and Douglas.[61] Lewis at first regarded her as an agreeable intellectual companion and personal friend, and it was on this level that he agreed to enter into a civil marriage contract with her so that she could continue to live in the UK.[62] The civil marriage took place at the register office, 42 St Giles', Oxford, on 23 April 1956.[63][64] Lewis's brother Warren wrote: "For Jack the attraction was at first undoubtedly intellectual. Joy was the only woman whom he had met ... who had a brain which matched his own in suppleness, in width of interest, and in analytical grasp, and above all in humour and a sense of fun."[61] After complaining of a painful hip, she was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer, and the relationship developed to the point that they sought a Christian marriage. Since she was divorced, this was not straightforward in the Church of England at the time, but a friend, the Rev. Peter Bide, performed the ceremony at her bed in the Churchill Hospital on 21 March 1957.[65]
Gresham's cancer soon went into remission, and the couple lived together as a family with Warren Lewis until 1960, when her cancer recurred and she died on 13 July. Earlier that year, the couple took a brief holiday in Greece and the Aegean; Lewis was fond of walking but not of travel, and this marked his only crossing of the English Channel after 1918. Lewis's book A Grief Observed describes his experience of bereavement in such a raw and personal fashion that he originally released it under the pseudonym N. W. Clerk to keep readers from associating the book with him. Ironically, many friends recommended the book to Lewis as a method for dealing with his own grief. After Lewis's death, his authorship was made public by Faber's, with the permission of the executors.[66]
Lewis continued to raise Gresham's two sons after her death. Douglas Gresham is a Christian like Lewis and his mother,[67] while David Gresham turned to his mother's ancestral faith, becoming Orthodox Jewish in his beliefs. His mother's writings had featured the Jews in an unsympathetic manner, particularly one "shohet" (ritual slaughterer). David informed Lewis that he was going to become a ritual slaughterer to present this type of Jewish religious functionary to the world in a more favourable light. In a 2005 interview, Douglas Gresham acknowledged that he and his brother were not close, but he did say that they are in email contact.[68] Douglas remains involved in the affairs of the Lewis estate.[citation needed]

Illness and death

In early June 1961, Lewis began suffering from nephritis, which resulted in blood poisoning. His illness caused him to miss the autumn term at Cambridge, though his health gradually began improving in 1962 and he returned that April. His health continued to improve and, according to his friend George Sayer, Lewis was fully himself by early 1963. On 15 July that year, he fell ill and was admitted to the hospital; he suffered a heart attack at 5:00 pm the next day and lapsed into a coma, unexpectedly waking the following day at 2:00 pm. After he was discharged from the hospital, Lewis returned to the Kilns, though he was too ill to return to work. As a result, he resigned from his post at Cambridge in August.
Lewis's condition continued to decline, and he was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure in mid-November. He collapsed in his bedroom at 5:30 pm on 22 November, exactly one week before his 65th birthday, and died a few minutes later.[69] He is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity ChurchHeadington, Oxford.[70] His brother Warren died on 9 April 1973 and was buried in the same grave.[71]
Media coverage of Lewis's death was almost completely overshadowed by news of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on the same day (approximately 55 minutes following Lewis's collapse), as did the death of English writer Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World.[72] This coincidence was the inspiration for Peter Kreeft's book Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, & Aldous Huxley.[73] Lewis is commemorated on 22 November in the church calendar of the Episcopal Church.[74]

Career

Scholar

Magdalen College, Oxford
Lewis began his academic career as an undergraduate student at Oxford University, where he won a triple first, the highest honours in three areas of study.[75] He was then elected a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he worked for nearly thirty years, from 1925 to 1954.[76] In 1954, he was awarded the newly founded chair of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, and was elected a fellow of Magdalene College.[76] Concerning his appointed academic field, he argued that there was no such thing as an English Renaissance.[77][78] Much of his scholarly work concentrated on the later Middle Ages, especially its use of allegory. His The Allegory of Love (1936) helped reinvigorate the serious study of late medieval narratives such as the Roman de la Rose.[79]
Lewis was commissioned to write the volume English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama) for the Oxford History of English Literature.[77] His book "A Preface to Paradise Lost"[80] is still cited as a criticism of that work. His last academic workThe Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature (1964), is a summary of the medieval world view, a reference to the "discarded image" of the cosmos.[81]
The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford where the Inklings met on Tuesday mornings in 1939
Lewis was a prolific writer, and his circle of literary friends became an informal discussion society known as the "Inklings", including J. R. R. TolkienNevill CoghillLord David CecilCharles WilliamsOwen Barfield, and his brother Warren Lewis. Glyer points to December 1929 as the Inklings' beginning date.[82] Lewis's friendship with Coghill and Tolkien grew during their time as members of the Kolbítar, an Old Norse reading group that Tolkien founded and which ended around the time of the inception of the Inklings.[83] At Oxford, he was the tutor of poet John Betjeman, critic Kenneth Tynan, mystic Bede Griffiths, novelist Roger Lancelyn Green and Sufi scholar Martin Lings, among many other undergraduates. Curiously, the religious and conservative Betjeman detested Lewis, whereas the anti-establishment Tynan retained a lifelong admiration for him.[84][page needed]
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Of Tolkien, Lewis writes in Surprised by Joy:
When I began teaching for the English Faculty, I made two other friends, both Christians (these queer people seemed now to pop up on every side) who were later to give me much help in getting over the last stile. They were HVV Dyson ... and JRR Tolkien. Friendship with the latter marked the breakdown of two old prejudices. At my first coming into the world I had been (implicitly) warned never to trust a Papist, and at my first coming into the English Faculty (explicitly) never to trust a philologist. Tolkien was both.[85]

Novelist

In addition to his scholarly work, Lewis wrote several popular novels, including the science fiction Space Trilogy for adults and the Narnia fantasies for children. Most deal implicitly with Christian themes such as sin, humanity's fall from grace, and redemption.[86][87]
His first novel after becoming a Christian was The Pilgrim's Regress (1933), which depicted his experience with Christianity in the style of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. The book was poorly received by critics at the time,[23] although David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of Lewis's contemporaries at Oxford, gave him much-valued encouragement. Asked by Lloyd-Jones when he would write another book, Lewis replied, "When I understand the meaning of prayer."[88][page needed]
The Space Trilogy (also called the Cosmic Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy) dealt with what Lewis saw as the dehumanising trends in contemporary science fiction. The first book, Out of the Silent Planet, was apparently written following a conversation with his friend J.R.R. Tolkien about these trends. Lewis agreed to write a "space travel" story and Tolkien a "time travel" one, but Tolkien never completed "The Lost Road", linking his Middle-earth to the modern world. Lewis's main character Elwin Ransom is based in part on Tolkien, a fact to which Tolkien alludes in his letters.[89]
The second novel, Perelandra, depicts a new Garden of Eden on the planet Venus, a new Adam and Eve, and a new "serpent figure" to tempt Eve. The story can be seen as an account of what might have happened if the terrestrial Adam had defeated the serpent and avoided the Fall of Man, with Ransom intervening in the novel to "ransom" the new Adam and Eve from the deceptions of the enemy. The third novel, That Hideous Strength, develops the theme of nihilistic science threatening traditional human values, embodied in Arthurian legend.[citation needed]
Many ideas in the trilogy, particularly opposition to dehumanisation as portrayed in the third book, are presented more formally in The Abolition of Man, based on a series of lectures by Lewis at Durham University in 1943. Lewis stayed in Durham, where he says he was overwhelmed by the magnificence of the cathedralThat Hideous Strength is in fact set in the environs of "Edgestow" university, a small English university like Durham, though Lewis disclaims any other resemblance between the two.[90][page needed]
Walter Hooper, Lewis's literary executor, discovered a fragment of another science-fiction novel apparently written by Lewis called The Dark Tower. Ransom appears in the story but it is not clear whether the book was intended as part of the same series of novels. The manuscript was eventually published in 1977, though Lewis scholar Kathryn Lindskoog doubts its authenticity.[91]
The Mountains of Mourne inspired Lewis to write The Chronicles of Narnia. About them, Lewis wrote "I have seen landscapes ... which, under a particular light, make me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge."[92]
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children and is considered a classic of children's literature. Written between 1949 and 1954 and illustrated by Pauline Baynes, the series is Lewis's most popular work, having sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages (Kelly 2006) (Guthmann 2005). It has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage and cinema.[93]
The books contain Christian ideas intended to be easily accessible to young readers. In addition to Christian themes, Lewis also borrows characters from Greek and Roman mythology, as well as traditional British and Irish fairy tales.[94][95]

Other works

Lewis wrote several works on Heaven and Hell. One of these, The Great Divorce, is a short novella in which a few residents of Hell take a bus ride to Heaven, where they are met by people who dwell there. The proposition is that they can stay if they choose, in which case they can call the place where they had come from "Purgatory", instead of "Hell", but many find it not to their taste. The title is a reference to William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, a concept that Lewis found a "disastrous error". This work deliberately echoes two other more famous works with a similar theme: the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, and Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.
Another short work, The Screwtape Letters, consists of letters of advice from senior demon Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood on the best ways to tempt a particular human and secure his damnation.[96] Lewis's last novel was Till We Have Faces, which he thought of as his most mature and masterly work of fiction but which was never a popular success. It is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche from the unusual perspective of Psyche's sister. It is deeply concerned with religious ideas, but the setting is entirely pagan, and the connections with specific Christian beliefs are left implicit.[97]
Before Lewis's conversion to Christianity, he published two books: Spirits in Bondage, a collection of poems, and Dymer, a single narrative poem. Both were published under the pen name Clive Hamilton. Other narrative poems have since been published posthumously, including LauncelotThe Nameless Isle, and The Queen of Drum.[98]
He also wrote The Four Loves, which rhetorically explains four categories of love: friendshiperosaffection, and charity.[99]
In 2009, a partial draft was discovered of Language and Human Nature, which Lewis had begun co-writing with J. R. R. Tolkien, but which was never completed.[100]

Christian apologist

Lewis is also regarded by many as one of the most influential Christian apologists of his time, in addition to his career as an English professor and an author of fiction. Mere Christianity was voted best book of the 20th century by Christianity Today in 2000.[101] He has been called "The Apostle to the Skeptics" due to his approach to religious belief as a sceptic, and his following conversion.[102]
Lewis was very interested in presenting an argument from reason against metaphysical naturalism and for the existence of GodMere ChristianityThe Problem of Pain, and Miracles were all concerned, to one degree or another, with refuting popular objections to Christianity, such as the question, "How could a good God allow pain to exist in the world?" He also became a popular lecturer and broadcaster, and some of his writing originated as scripts for radio talks or lectures (including much of Mere Christianity).[103][page needed]
According to George Sayer, losing a 1948 debate with Elizabeth Anscombe, also a Christian, led Lewis to re-evaluate his role as an apologist, and his future works concentrated on devotional literature and children's books.[104] Anscombe had a completely different recollection of the debate's outcome and its emotional effect on Lewis.[104] Victor Reppert also disputes Sayer, listing some of Lewis's post-1948 apologetic publications, including the second and revised edition of his Miracles in 1960, in which Lewis addressed Anscombe's criticism.[105] Noteworthy too is Roger Teichman's suggestion in The Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe that the intellectual impact of Anscombe's paper on Lewis's philosophical self-confidence should not be over-rated: "... it seems unlikely that he felt as irretrievably crushed as some of his acquaintances have made out; the episode is probably an inflated legend, in the same category as the affair of Wittgenstein's Poker. Certainly, Anscombe herself believed that Lewis's argument, though flawed, was getting at something very important; she thought that this came out more in the improved version of it that Lewis presented in a subsequent edition of Miracles – though that version also had 'much to criticize in it'."[106]
Lewis wrote an autobiography titled Surprised by Joy, which places special emphasis on his own conversion.[13] He also wrote many essays and public speeches on Christian belief, many of which were collected in God in the Dock and The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses.[107][108]
His most famous works, the Chronicles of Narnia, contain many strong Christian messages and are often considered allegory. Lewis, an expert on the subject of allegory, maintained that the books were not allegory, and preferred to call the Christian aspects of them "suppositional". As Lewis wrote in a letter to a Mrs. Hook in December 1958:
If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity in the same way in which Giant Despair [a character in The Pilgrim's Progress] represents despair, he would be an allegorical figure. In reality, he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, 'What might Christ become like, if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?' This is not allegory at all.[109]

"Trilemma"

In a much-cited passage from Mere Christianity, Lewis challenged the view that Jesus was a great moral teacher but not God. He argued that Jesus made several implicit claims to divinity, which would logically exclude that claim:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.[110]
Although this argument is sometimes called "Lewis's trilemma", Lewis did not invent it but rather developed and popularised it. It has also been used by Christian apologist Josh McDowell in his book More Than a Carpenter.[111] It has been widely repeated in Christian apologetic literature, but largely ignored by professional theologians and biblical scholars.[112]
Lewis's Christian apologetics, and this argument in particular, have been criticised. Philosopher John Beversluis described Lewis's arguments as "textually careless and theologically unreliable",[113] and this particular argument as logically unsound and an example of a false dilemma.[114] Theologian John Hick argues that New Testament scholars do not now support the view that Jesus claimed to be God.[115] New Testament scholar N. T. Wright criticises Lewis for failing to recognise the significance of Jesus' Jewish identity and setting – an oversight which "at best, drastically short-circuits the argument" and which lays Lewis open to criticism that his argument "doesn't work as history, and it backfires dangerously when historical critics question his reading of the gospels", although he believes this "doesn't undermine the eventual claim".[116]
Lewis used a similar argument in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when the old Professor advises the young heroes that their sister's claims of a magical world must logically be taken as either lies, madness, or truth.[105]

Universal morality

One of the main theses in Lewis's apologia is that there is a common morality known throughout humanity, which he calls "natural law". In the first five chapters of Mere Christianity, Lewis discusses the idea that people have a standard of behaviour to which they expect people to adhere. Lewis claims that people all over the earth know what this law is and when they break it. He goes on to claim that there must be someone or something behind such a universal set of principles.[117]
These then are the two points that I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.[118]
Lewis also portrays Universal Morality in his works of fiction. In The Chronicles of Narnia he describes Universal Morality as the "deep magic" which everyone knew.[119]
In the second chapter of Mere Christianity, Lewis recognises that "many people find it difficult to understand what this Law of Human Nature ... is." And he responds first to the idea "that the Moral Law is simply our herd instinct" and second to the idea "that the Moral Law is simply a social convention". In responding to the second idea Lewis notes that people often complain that one set of moral ideas is better than another, but that this actually argues for there existing some "Real Morality" to which they are comparing other moralities. Finally, he notes that sometimes differences in moral codes are exaggerated by people who confuse differences in beliefs about morality with differences in beliefs about facts:
I have met people who exaggerate the differences, because they have not distinguished between differences of morality and differences of belief about facts. For example, one man said to me, "Three hundred years ago people in England were putting witches to death. Was that what you call the Rule of Human Nature or Right Conduct?" But surely the reason we do not execute witches is that we do not believe there are such things. If we did – if we really thought that there were people going about who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers from him in return and were using these powers to kill their neighbours or drive them mad or bring bad weather, surely we would all agree that if anyone deserved the death penalty, then these filthy quislings did. There is no difference of moral principle here: the difference is simply about matter of fact. It may be a great advance in knowledge not to believe in witches: there is no moral advance in not executing them when you do not think they are there. You would not call a man humane for ceasing to set mousetraps if he did so because he believed there were no mice in the house.[120]
Lewis also had fairly progressive views on the topic of "animal morality", in particular the suffering of animals, as is evidenced by several of his essays: most notably, On Vivisection[121] and "On the Pains of Animals".[122][123]

Legacy

Ross Wilson's statue of C.S. Lewis in front of the wardrobe from his book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in East Belfast
Lewis continues to attract a wide readership. In 2008, The Times ranked him eleventh on their list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".[124] Readers of his fiction are often unaware of what Lewis considered the Christian themes of his works. His Christian apologetics are read and quoted by members of many Christian denominations.[125] In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis joined some of Britain's greatest writers recognised at Poets' CornerWestminster Abbey.[126] The dedication service, at noon on 22 November 2013, included a reading from The Last Battle by Douglas Gresham, younger stepson of Lewis. Flowers were laid by Walter Hooper, trustee and literary advisor to the Lewis Estate. An address was delivered by former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.[127][page needed] The floor stone inscription is a quotation from an address by Lewis:
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.[127]
Lewis has been the subject of several biographies, a few of which were written by close friends, such as Roger Lancelyn Green and George Sayer.[128][129] In 1985, the screenplay Shadowlands by William Nicholson dramatised Lewis's life and relationship with Joy Davidman Gresham.[130] It was aired on British television starring Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom.[131] This was also staged as a theatre play starring Nigel Hawthorne in 1989[132] and made into the 1993 feature film Shadowlands starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.[133]
A mural depicting Lewis and characters from the Narnia series, Convention Court, Ballymacarrett Road, East Belfast
Many books have been inspired by Lewis, including A Severe Mercy by his correspondent and friend Sheldon VanaukenThe Chronicles of Narnia has been particularly influential. Modern children's literature has been more or less influenced by Lewis's series, such as Daniel Handler's A Series of Unfortunate EventsEoin Colfer's Artemis FowlPhilip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter.(Hilliard 2005) Pullman is an atheist and is known to be sharply critical of C.S. Lewis's work,[134] accusing Lewis of featuring religious propaganda, misogyny, racism, and emotional sadism in his books.[135] However, he has also modestly praised The Chronicles of Narnia for being a "more serious" work of literature in comparison with Tolkien's "trivial" The Lord of the Rings.[136] Authors of adult fantasy literature such as Tim Powers have also testified to being influenced by Lewis's work.[137]
In A Sword Between the Sexes? C. S. Lewis and the Gender Debates, Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen finds in Lewis's work "a hierarchical and essentialist view of class and gender" corresponding to an upbringing during the Edwardian era.[138]
Most of Lewis's posthumous work has been edited by his literary executor Walter HooperKathryn Lindskoog, an independent Lewis scholar, argued that Hooper's scholarship is not reliable and that he has made false statements and attributed forged works to Lewis.[139] C. S. Lewis's stepson Douglas Gresham denies the forgery claims, saying, "The whole controversy thing was engineered for very personal reasons ... Her fanciful theories have been pretty thoroughly discredited."[140]
A bronze statue of Lewis's character Digory from The Magician's Nephew stands in Belfast's Holywood Arches in front of the Holywood Road Library.[141]
Several C. S. Lewis Societies exist around the world, including one which was founded in Oxford in 1982. The C.S. Lewis Society at the University of Oxford meets at Pusey House during term time to discuss papers on the life and works of Lewis and the other Inklings, and generally appreciate all things Lewisian.[142]
Live-action film adaptations have been made of three of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005), Prince Caspian (2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010).
Lewis is featured as a main character in The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series by James A. Owen.[143] He is one of two characters in Mark St. Germain's 2009 play Freud's Last Session, which imagines a meeting between Lewis, aged 40, and Sigmund Freud, aged 83, at Freud's house in Hampstead, London, in 1939, as the Second World War is about to break out.[144]
The CS Lewis Nature Reserve, on ground owned by Lewis, lies behind his house, The Kilns. There is public access.

Bibliography

Secondary works

  • John Beversluis (1985), C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans ISBN 0-8028-0046-7
  • Ronald W. Bresland (1999), The Backward Glance: C. S. Lewis and Ireland. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies at Queen's University of Belfast.
  • Devin Brown (2013), A Life Observed: A Spiritual Biography of C. S. Lewis. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press ISBN 978-1587433351
  • Joe R. Christopher & Joan K. Ostling (1972), C. S. Lewis: An Annotated Checklist of Writings About Him and His Works. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, n.d. ISBN 0-87338-138-6
  • James Como (1998), Branches to Heaven: The Geniuses of C. S. Lewis. Spence
  • James Como (2006), Remembering C. S. Lewis (3rd edn. of C. S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table). Ignatius Press
  • Sean Connolly (2007), Inklings of Heaven: C. S. Lewis and Eschatology. Gracewing. ISBN 978-0-85244-659-1
  • Michael Coren (1994), The Man Who Created Narnia: The Story of C. S. Lewis. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprint edition 1996 (First published 1994 in Canada by Lester Publishing Limited). ISBN 0-8028-3822-7
  • Christopher Derrick (1981) C. S. Lewis and the Church of Rome: A Study in Proto-Ecumenism. Ignatius Press. ISBN 978-99917-1-850-7
  • David C. Downing (1992), Planets in Peril: A Critical Study of C. S. Lewis's Ransom Trilogy. Amherst: University of Massachusetts PressISBN 0-87023-997-X
  • David C. Downing (2002), The Most Reluctant Convert: C. S. Lewis's Journey to Faith. InterVarsity. ISBN 0-8308-3271-8
  • David C. Downing (2005), Into the Region of Awe: Mysticism in C. S. Lewis. InterVarsity. ISBN 0-8308-3284-X
  • David C. Downing (2005), Into the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-7879-7890-6
  • Colin Duriez (2003), Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship. Paulist Press ISBN 1-58768-026-2
  • Colin Duriez (2015), Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien and the Shadow of Evil. InterVarsity Press ISBN 0-8308-3417-6
  • Colin Duriez & David Porter (2001), The Inklings Handbook: The Lives, Thought and Writings of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Their Friends. London: Azure. ISBN 1-902694-13-9
  • Bruce L. Edwards (2005), Not a Tame Lion: The Spiritual World of Narnia. Tyndale. ISBN 1-4143-0381-5
  • Bruce L. Edwards (2005), Further Up and Further In: Understanding C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Broadman and Holman. ISBN 0-8054-4070-4
  • Edwards, Bruce L. (2007). Bruce L. Edwards (ed.). C. S. Lewis: Life, Works, and Legacy. Praeger Perspectives. ISBN 978-0-275-99116-6.
  • Alastair Fowler, "C. S. Lewis: Supervisor", Yale Review; Vol. 91, No. 4 (October 2003).
  • Helen Gardner (1966) "† Clive Staples Lewis, 1898–1963". Biographical memoir, in Proceedings of the British Academy 51 (1966), 417–28.
  • Jocelyn Gibb (ed.) (1965), Light on C. S. Lewis. Geoffrey Bles, 1965, & Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976. ISBN 0-15-652000-1
  • Douglas Gilbert & Clyde Kilby (1973) C. S. Lewis: Images of His World. Eerdmans, 1973 & 2005. ISBN 0-8028-2800-0
  • Glyer, Diana (2007). The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87338-890-0..
  • Hooper, Walter; Green, Roger Lancelyn (2002) [1974]. C. S. Lewis: A Biography. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-628164-1.
  • Douglas Gresham (1994), Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis. HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 0-06-063447-2
  • ——— (2005), Jack's Life: A Memory of C. S. Lewis. Broadman & Holman Publishers. ISBN 0-8054-3246-9
  • William Griffin (2005), C. S. Lewis: The Authentic Voice (formerly C. S. Lewis: A Dramatic Life). Lion. ISBN 0-7459-5208-9
  • Dabney Adams Hart (1984), Through the Open Door: A New Look at C. S. Lewis. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0187-9
  • Joel D. Heck (2006), Irrigating Deserts: C. S. Lewis on Education. Concordia Publishing House. ISBN 0-7586-0044-5
  • Carolyn Keefe (1979), C. S. Lewis: Speaker & Teacher. Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-26781-1
  • Jon Kennedy (2008), The Everything Guide to C. S. Lewis and Narnia. Adams Media. ISBN 1-59869-427-8
  • Jon Kennedy (2012), C. S. Lewis Themes and Threads. Amazon Kindle ASIN B00ATSY3AQ
  • Clyde S. Kilby (1964), The Christian World of C. S. Lewis. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964, 1995. ISBN 0-8028-0871-9
  • Don W. King (2001), C. S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-681-7
  • Kathryn Lindskoog (1994), Light in the Shadowlands: Protecting the Real C. S. Lewis. Multnomah Pub. ISBN 0-88070-695-3
  • Susan Lowenberg (1993), C. S. Lewis: A Reference Guide, 1972–1988. Hall & Co. ISBN 0-8161-1846-9
  • Wayne Mardindale & Jerry Root (1990), The Quotable Lewis. Tyndale House Publishers. ISBN 0-8423-5115-9
  • Thomas L. Martin (ed.) (2000), Reading the Classics with C. S. Lewis. Baker Academic. ISBN 1-84227-073-7
  • Laura Miller (2008) "The Magician's Book", Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 978-0-316-01763-3
  • David Mills (ed) (1998) The Pilgrim's Guide: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Witness. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-4689-0
  • Joseph Pearce (1999), C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church. HarperCollins, 1999; then Ignatius Press, 2003. ISBN 0-89870-979-2
  • Thomas C. Peters (1998), Simply C. S. Lewis: A Beginner's Guide to His Life and Works. Kingsway Publications. ISBN 0-85476-762-2
  • Justin Phillips (2003), C. S. Lewis at the BBC: Messages of Hope in the Darkness of War. Marshall Pickering. ISBN 0-00-710437-5
  • Harry Lee Poe & Rebecca Whitten Poe (eds) (2006), C. S. Lewis Remembered: Collected Reflections of Students, Friends & Colleagues. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-310-26509-2
  • Victor Reppert (2003), C. S. Lewis's Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 0-8308-2732-3
  • George Sayer (1988), Jack: C. S. Lewis and His Times. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-43362-9
  • Peter J. Schakel (1984), Reason and Imagination in C. S. Lewis: A Study of "Till We Have Faces". Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-1998-2
  • Peter J. Schakel (2002), Imagination and the Arts in C. S. Lewis: Journeying to Narnia and Other Worlds. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1407-X
  • Peter J. Schakel (ed.) (1977), The Longing for a Form: Essays on the Fiction of C. S. Lewis. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-204-8
  • Peter J. Schakel & Charles A. Huttar (eds.) (1991), Word and Story in C. S. Lewis. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-0760-X
  • Stephen Schofield (1983), In Search of C. S. Lewis. Bridge Logos Pub. ISBN 0-88270-544-X
  • Jeffrey D. Schultz & John G. West, Jr. (eds) (1998), The C. S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia. Zondervan Publishing House. ISBN 0-310-21538-2
  • Sanford Schwartz (2009), C. S. Lewis on the Final Frontier: Science and the Supernatural in the Space Trilogy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537472-8.
  • G. B. Tennyson (ed.) (1989), Owen Barfield on C. S. Lewis. Wesleyan University Press ISBN 0-8195-5233-X
  • Richard J. Wagner (2005) C. S. Lewis and Narnia for Dummies. For Dummies. ISBN 0-7645-8381-6
  • Andrew Walker & Patrick James (eds.) (1998), Rumours of Heaven: Essays in Celebration of C. S. Lewis, Guildford: Eagle. ISBN 0-86347-250-8
  • Chad Walsh (1949), C. S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics. London: Macmillan
  • Chad Walsh (1979), The Literary Legacy of C. S. Lewis. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-652785-5
  • Michael Ward (2008), Planet Narnia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531387-1
  • George Watson (ed.) (1992), Critical Essays on C. S. Lewis. Menston: Scolar Press. ISBN 0-85967-853-9
  • Michael White (2005), C. S. Lewis: The Boy Who Chronicled Narnia. Abacus. ISBN 0-349-11625-3
  • Erik J. Wielenberg (2007), God and the Reach of Reason. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-70710-7
  • Wilson, A. N. (2002) [1990]. C. S. Lewis: A Biography. W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-32340-5..
  • ———— (1991) [1990]. C. S. Lewis: A Biography. London: Harper Perennial..

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Carpenter, Humphrey (2017). The Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and Their Friends. London: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. ISBN 9780007748693.
  2. ^ Lewis 1997, p. 6.
  3. ^ Richard B. Cunningham, C. S. Lewis: Defender of the Faith, Wipf and Stock Publishers (2008), p. 14
  4. ^ Bennett, Jack Arthur Walter; Plaskitt, Emma Lisa (2008) [2004]. "Lewis, Clive Staples (1898–1963)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34512. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ^ "The Life of C.S. Lewis Timeline"C.S. Lewis Foundation. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  6. ^ "C.S. Lewis Biography"Encyclopedia of World Biography. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  7. ^ "A personalised tour of the church and rectory that inspired CS Lewis and Aslan the Lion". Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  8. ^ Howat, Irene (2006). Ten Boys Who Used Their Talents. Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications Ltd. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-84550-146-4.
  9. ^ Smith, Sandy (18 February 2016). "Surprised by Belfast: Significant Sites in the Land and Life of C.S. Lewis, Part 1, Little Lea"C.S. Lewis Institute. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  10. ^ Lewis 1966b, p. 10.
  11. ^ Lewis 1966b, p. 56.
  12. ^ Lewis 1966a, p. 107.
  13. Jump up to:a b c Lewis, C.S. (1955). Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. New York City: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 128–186ISBN 978-0-15-687011-5.
  14. ^ Bloom, Harold (2006). C. S. Lewis. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. p. 196. ISBN 978-0791093191.
  15. ^ "About C.S. Lewis". CSLewis.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  16. ^ Lewis 1966b, p. 24.
  17. ^ Martindale, Wayne (2005). Beyond the Shadowlands: C. S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell. Crossway. p. 52. ISBN 978-1581345131.
  18. ^ Lewis 1984, p. 118.
  19. Jump up to:a b Lewis 2000, p. 59.
  20. ^ Lewis 2004, pp. 564–65.
  21. ^ Yeats's appeal wasn't exclusively Irish; he was also a major "magical opponent" of famed English occultist Aleister Crowley, as noted extensively throughout Lawrence Sutin's Do what thou wilt: a life of Aleister Crowley. New York: MacMillan (St. Martins). cf. pp. 56–78.
  22. ^ King, Francis (1978). The Magical World of Aleister Crowley. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. ISBN 978-0-698-10884-4.
  23. Jump up to:a b Peters, Thomas C. (1997). Simply C. S. Lewis: A Beginner's Guide to the Life and Works of C. S. Lewis. Crossway Books. p. 70ISBN 978-0891079484.
  24. ^ Lewis 2004, p. 310.
  25. ^ Clare 2010, pp. 21–22.
  26. ^ The Old Inn 2007.
  27. ^ Lewis 1993, p. 93.
  28. ^ Wilson 1991, p. xi.
  29. ^ Clare 2010, p. 24.
  30. ^ Paul Stevens, review of "Reforming Empire: Protestant Colonialism and Conscience in British Literature" by Christopher Hodgkins, Modern Philology, Vol. 103, Issue 1 (August 2005), pp. 137–38, citing Humphrey Carpenter, The Inklings (London: Allen & Unwin, 1978), pp. 50–52, 206–207.
  31. Jump up to:a b c Lewis, C. S. (1955). Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. Orlando, FL: Harvest Books. pp. 186–88ISBN 978-0-15-687011-5.
  32. Jump up to:a b Sayer, George (1994). Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis (2nd ed.). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. pp. 122–130ISBN 978-0-89107-761-9.
  33. Jump up to:a b Arnott, Anne (1975). The Secret Country of C. S. Lewis. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0802834683.
  34. ^ Bruce L. Edwards (2007). C.S. Lewis: An examined life. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 134–135. ISBN 978-0-275-99117-3.
  35. ^ Conn, Marie (2008). C.S. Lewis and Human Suffering: Light Among the Shadows. Mahwah, NJ: HiddenSpring. p. 21. ISBN 9781587680441.
  36. ^ Bruce L. Edwards (2007). C.S. Lewis: An examined life. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 150–151, 197–199. ISBN 978-0-275-99117-3.
  37. ^ Edwards 2007, p. 133.
  38. ^ Sayer, George (1997). Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis. London: Hodder & Stoughton. p. 154. ISBN 978-0340690680.
  39. ^ "C.S. Lewis and Mrs. Janie Moore, by James O'Fee". impalapublications.com. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  40. ^ Zaleski, Philip and Carol (2015). The Fellowship. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. p. 79. ISBN 978-0374154097.
  41. ^ Lewis 1966b, p. 115.
  42. ^ The Critic, Volume 32, Thomas More Association, 1973. Original from the University of Michigan.
  43. ^ Lewis 1966b, p. 65.
  44. ^ Lucretius 1916.
  45. ^ Lewis 2002b, pp. 66–67.
  46. ^ Lewis 1966b, p. 229.
  47. ^ Lewis 1966b, pp. 228, 229.
  48. ^ Carpenter 2006.
  49. ^ Wilson 2002, p. 147.
  50. ^ Cslewisireland (12 May 2016). "St. Mark's Dundela"C S Lewis's Ireland. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  51. ^ Bingham, Derick (2004). C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller. Trailblazers. Christian Focus Publications. pp. 102-104ISBN 978-1-85792-487-9.
  52. Jump up to:a b Bingham, Derick (2004). C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller. Trailblazers. CF4Kids. p. 105ISBN 978-1857924879.
  53. ^ Bingham, Derick (2004). C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller. pp. 109-111ISBN 978-1857924879.
  54. ^ Bingham, Derick (2004). C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller. p. 111ISBN 978-1857924879.
  55. ^ Bingham, Derick (2004). C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller. p. 112ISBN 978-1857924879.
  56. ^ Bingham, Derick (2004). C. S. Lewis: The Story Teller. p. 114ISBN 978-1857924879.
  57. ^ "CS Lewis: 50 years after his death a new scholarship will honour his literary career". University of Cambridge. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  58. ^ "Chronology of the Life of C.S. Lewis". Archived from the original on 6 February 2012.
  59. ^ Lewis, C. S. (1994). W. H. Lewis; Walter Hooper (eds.). Letters of C. S. Lewis. New York: Mariner Books. p. 528. ISBN 978-0-15-650871-1.
  60. ^ Person Jr., James E (16 August 2009). "BOOKS: 'Out of My Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman'"The Washington Times. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  61. Jump up to:a b Haven 2006.
  62. ^ Hooper & Green 2002, p. 268.
  63. ^ Hooper, Walter (23 June 1998). C. S. Lewis: A Complete Guide to His Life and Works. p. 79. ISBN 9780060638801. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  64. ^ "No. 42"St Giles', Oxford. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  65. ^ Schultz and West (eds), The C. S. Lewis Reader's Encyclopedia(Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1988), p. 249.
  66. ^ Lewis 1961, jacket notes.
  67. ^ "At home in Narnia"The Age. Melbourne, Australia. 3 December 2005. p. 2.
  68. ^ "At home in Narnia"The Age. Melbourne, Australia. 3 December 2005. p. 4.
  69. ^ McGrath, Alister (2013). C. S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. p. 358.
  70. ^ FoHTC.
  71. ^ "Picture Album"Into the Wardrobe. Dr Zeus. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  72. ^ Ruddick, Nicholas (1993). Ultimate Island: On the Nature of British Science Fiction. Greenwood Press. p. 28ISBN 978-0313273735.
  73. ^ Kreeft 1982.
  74. ^ "Parish to push sainthood for Thurgood Marshall"USA Today. 27 January 2006. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  75. ^ Nicholi, Armand (2003). The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life. Free Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0743247856.
  76. Jump up to:a b "Lewis, Clive Staples, (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963), Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English, Cambridge, 1954–66 (resigned October); also Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge (Hon. Fell., October 1963)"Lewis, Clive StaplesWho Was Who. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U48011.
  77. Jump up to:a b Lewis, C. S. (1954). English Literature in the Sixteenth Century: excluding drama. London: Oxford University Press.
  78. ^ Lewis, C. S. (1969) [1955]. "De Descriptione Temporum". In Hooper, Walter (ed.). Selected Literary Essays. p. 2.
  79. ^ Lewis, C. S. (1977) [1936]. The Allegory of Love. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  80. ^ Lewis, C. S. (1961) [1942]. A Preface to "Paradise Lost": Being the Ballard Matthews Lectures, Delivered at University College, North Wales, 1941. London: Oxford University Press.
  81. ^ Lewis, C. S. (1994) [1964]. The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  82. ^ Glyer 2007.
  83. ^ Lazo 2004, pp. 191–226.
  84. ^ Tonkin 2005.
  85. ^ Lewis 1966b, p. 216.
  86. ^ Shumaker, Wayne (1955). "The Cosmic Trilogy of C. S. Lewis". The Hudson Review8 (2): 240–254. doi:10.2307/3847687ISSN 0018-702XJSTOR 3847687.
  87. ^ Yuasa, Kyoko (25 May 2017). C.S. Lewis and Christian Postmodernism: Word, Image, and Beyond. Lutterworth Press. ISBN 978-0-7188-4608-4.
  88. ^ Murray 1990.
  89. ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (21 February 2014). The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-544-36379-3.
  90. ^ Lewis 1945.
  91. ^ Washburn, Jim (1 September 1993). "Literary Sleuth : Scholar Kathryn Lindskoog of Orange, author of 'Fakes, Frauds and Other Malarkey,' opened a can of worms by claiming a C.S. Lewis hoax". Archived from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  92. ^ Knight, Jane (12 September 2009). "The great British weekend The Mourne Mountains"The Times. London. Retrieved 28 April2010.
  93. ^ "Other Narnia Adaptations"NarniaWeb | Netflix's Narnia Movies. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  94. ^ Colbert, David (2005). The Magical Worlds of Narnia: The Symbols, Myths, and Fascinating Facts Behind The Chronicles. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-425-20563-1.
  95. ^ Costello, Alicia D. 2009. Examining Mythology in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S. Lewis. Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse 1 (11), http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=69
  96. ^ "The Screwtape Letters | novel by Lewis"Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  97. ^ "Till We Have Faces | novel by Lewis"Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  98. ^ Lewis, C. S. (1969). Narrative Poems (Walter Hooper ed.). London: Fount Paperbacks.
  99. ^ Lewis, C. S. (1960). The Four Loves. New York: Harcourt.
  100. ^ "Beebe discovers unpublished C.S. Lewis manuscript : University News Service : Texas State University". Texas State University. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
  101. ^ "Books of the Century". Vol. 44 no. 5. 24 April 2000. p. 92. Retrieved 7 October 2010. (subscription required)
  102. ^ Walsh, Chad (1949). C. S. Lewis: Apostle to the SkepticsISBN 9780883057797.
  103. ^ Lewis 1997.
  104. Jump up to:a b Rilstone, Andrew"Were Lewis's proofs of the existence of God from 'Miracles' refuted by Elizabeth Anscombe?"Frequently Asked Questions. Alt.books.cs-lewis. Archived from the original on 2 December 2002.
  105. Jump up to:a b Reppert, Victor (2005). "The Green Witch and the Great Debate: Freeing Narnia from the Spell of the Lewis-Anscombe Legend". In Gregory Bassham and Jerry L. Walls (ed.). The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, the Witch, and the WorldviewLa Salle, Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company. p. 266 [1]ISBN 978-0-8126-9588-5OCLC 60557454.
  106. ^ Teichman, Roger (2008). The Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe. Oxford University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0199299331.
  107. ^ Lewis, C. S. (15 September 2014). God in the Dock. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-7183-1.
  108. ^ Lewis, C. S. (20 March 2001). Weight of Glory. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-06-065320-0.
  109. ^ Martindale & Root 1990.
  110. ^ Lewis 1997, p. 43.
  111. ^ (McDowell 2001)
  112. ^ Davis, Stephen T. (2004). "Was Jesus Mad, Bad, or God?". In Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall and Gerald O'Collins (ed.). The incarnation: an interdisciplinary symposium on the incarnation of the Son of God. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 222–223. ISBN 978-0-19-927577-9OCLC 56656427.
  113. ^ Beversluis, John (1985). C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion. Grand Rapids, Michigan: W. B. EerdmansISBN 978-0-8028-0046-6.
  114. ^ Beversluis, John (2007) [1985]. C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-59102-531-3OCLC 85899079.
  115. ^ Hick, John (1993). "From Jesus to Christ"The metaphor of God incarnate: christology in a pluralistic age. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-664-25503-9OCLC 28257481.
  116. ^ Wright, N. T. (March 2007). "Simply Lewis: Reflections on a Master Apologist After 60 Years"Touchstone. Vol. 20 no. 2. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
  117. ^ Lindskoog 2001, p. 144.
  118. ^ Lewis 1997, p. 21.
  119. ^ Lindskoog 2001, p. 146.
  120. ^ Lewis 1997, p. 26.
  121. ^ Lewis, C. S. "Vivisection by CS Lewis". Irish Anti-Vivisection Society. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
  122. ^ Linzey, Andrew (Winter 1998). "C. S. Lewis's theology of animals"Anglican Theological Review. Retrieved 1 April 2009.(subscription required)
  123. ^ "C.S. Lewis: Animal theology". BBC. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  124. ^ "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"The Times. 5 January 2008. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  125. ^ Pratt 1998.
  126. ^ Peterkin, Tom (22 November 2012). "CS Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia author, honoured in Poets' corner"The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  127. Jump up to:a b A service to dedicate a memorial to C. S. Lewis, writer, scholar, apologist. Westminster Abbey. 2013.
  128. ^ Green, Roger Lancelyn; Hooper, Walter (1994). C.S. Lewis: A Biography. Harcourt Brace. ISBN 978-0-15-623205-0.
  129. ^ Sayer, George (2005). Jack: A Life of C. S. Lewis. Crossway Books. ISBN 978-1-58134-739-5.
  130. ^ Sibley, Brian (2005). Through the Shadowlands: The Love Story of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. Revell. ISBN 978-0-8007-3070-3.
  131. ^ Shadowlands, retrieved 3 December 2019
  132. ^ Rich, Frank (12 November 1990). "Review/Theater; 'Shadowlands,' C.S. Lewis and His Life's Love"The New York TimesISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  133. ^ Shadowlands, retrieved 3 December 2019
  134. ^ Young, Cathy (March 2008). "A Secular Fantasy – The flawed but fascinating fiction of Philip Pullman"Reason. Reason Foundation. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  135. ^ BBC News 2005.
  136. ^ Vineyard, Jennifer (31 October 2007). "'His Dark Materials' Writer Philip Pullman Takes 'Narnia,' 'Lord Of The Rings' To Task"MTV News. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  137. ^ Edwards 2007, pp. 305–307.
  138. ^ Van Leeuwen, Mary Stewart (2010). A Sword between the Sexes? C. S. Lewis and the Gender Debates. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-1-58743-208-8.
  139. ^ Lindskoog 2001.
  140. ^ Gresham 2007.
  141. ^ BBC News 2004.
  142. ^ "Oxford University C. S. Lewis Society". lewisinoxford.googlepages.com.
  143. ^ Owen, James (2006). Here There Be Dragons. Simon and Schuster. p. 322. ISBN 9781416951377. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  144. ^ Germain, Mark St (2010). Freud's Last Session. Dramatists Play Service, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8222-2493-8.

References

Further reading

External links