Lewis Second, it is violently opposed. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” *Image: Creator of Heaven and Earth … Within two years of his conversion, Lewis published The Pilgrim’s Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity, Reason and Romanticism (1933). I knew nothing about him, except that he was the college English tutor. Until now. The other was a deluge of correspondence, including many letters from spiritual seekers to whom he wished to make a detailed, personal reply. The best way he knew to grapple with his feelings of grief, anger, and doubt was to write a book. Regardless of their reception close to home, Lewis’s 25 Christian books, including The Screwtape Letters (1942), Mere Christianity (1952), the Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56), The Great Divorce (1946), and the Abolition of Man (1943), which Encyclopedia Britannica included in its collection of Great Books of the World, have sold millions of copies. "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The outcome was seven sets of talks, broadcast between 1941 and 1944, with titles like “Right and Wrong: A Clue to the Meaning of the Universe?” and “What Christians Believe.”, The weekly broadcasts were very popular—just what weary, discouraged Brits were looking for in the gloom of World War II. “A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading,” Lewis later wrote in the autobiographical Surprised by Joy. We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now. Though the author hated radio, he recognized the opportunity to reach a wider audience. A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. In addition to spreading Lewis’s fame as an apologist and speaker, the BBC talks produced at least two major results. A passionate atheist, now firm believer and author of a wide range of books, C.S. One correspondent in particular would play a major role in Lewis’s life. His attachment to Oxford was so strong that when he taught at Cambridge from 1955 to 1963, he commuted back to Oxford on weekends so he could be close to familiar places and beloved friends. In a seeming miracle, Joy’s condition improved, and she and Lewis enjoyed three happy years together. The tutorial always began the same way: The pupil would read the essay that he had been told to write the week before. Lewis’ writings continues to be the way in which Lewis combined reason and imagination. In the summer and fall of 1963, Lewis’s health deteriorated. … "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important… Barfield had converted from atheism to theism, then finally to Christianity, and he frequently badgered Lewis about his materialism. ... Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. I doubt whether the full measure of him has been taken by anyone.”. At a quarter to eight, the bartender turned the radio up for Lewis. As J. R. R. Tolkien advised Sayer, “You'll never get to the bottom of him.” But understanding or even fully agreeing with Lewis have never been prerequisites to enjoying and admiring him. If it is not true, it is not "great for us" — it is very sad, and it means that Christians are deluded. Not everyone approved of his new interest in apologetics. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important… All truth passes through three stages. Jan Hus hoped his incendiary preaching and heated rebukes would purify a tainted church, but the flames consumed him first. Soon Lewis recognized that most of his friends, like his favorite authors—MacDonald, Chesterton, Johnson, Spenser, and Milton—held to this Christianity. That depends on what you’re looking for. -- C.S. 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