Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) British literary critic, scholar and author. Lewis took the chair of medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge. He was an intellectual giant and arguably the most influential Christian writer of his day. His major contributions in literary criticism, children’s literature, fantasy literature, and popular theology brought him international renown and acclaim. Best known for authoring “The Chronicles of Narnia” and other popular children’s fantasy novels, Lewis also wrote numerous works on apologetics such as “Mere Christianity”.
He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. During his time at Oxford, Lewis went from being an atheist to being one of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century; 1931 marks the year of Lewis’s conversion to Christianity. He became a member of the Church of England. Lewis cites his friendship with J. R. R. Tolkien, as well as the writings of the converted G. K. Chesterton, as influencing his conversion.
In addition to his career as an English professor and an author of fiction, Lewis is regarded by many as one of the most influential Christian apologist of his time. Mere Christianity was voted best book of the twentieth century by Christianity Today magazine in 2000.
Lewis was very much interested in presenting a reasonable case for the truth of Christianity. Mere Christianity, the Problem of Pain, and Miracles were all concerned, to one degree or another, with refuting popular objections to Christianity. He also became known as a popular lecturer and broadcaster, and some of his writing (including much of Mere Christianity) originated as scripts for radio talks or lectures.
Due to Lewis’s approach to religious belief as a skeptic, and his following conversion, he has become popularly known as “The Apostle to the Skeptics.” Consequently, his books on Christianity examine common difficulties in Christianity, such as “How could a good God allow pain to exist in the world?” which he examined in detail in The Problem of Pain.