Reluctant Prophet - C. S. Lewis -- A Life - Eccentric Genius

Most people think of Lewis as just writing Narnia and a few christian books, but his life was very deep and interesting. My 10-yr son read this book over the summer and really enjoyed it. The reading level is about 14-yrs old.

An excellent recounting of a fascinating life, warts and all! For one who was uninitiated, this was an introduction to a whole new field of reading and study. I have talked to Episcopal priests, fresh out of seminary and celebrating 50 years as a priest, and they said that Lewis was an inspiration for them. I look forward to the pleasure of reading all his writings, left only with the question of where to start.

I found very little new but the author's opinions, for which he laid very little ground work. Perhaps I am remiss in my thinking, but when one sees the subtitle "A Life" it is not unreasonable to expect a biography and not a set of opinions based loosely on a review of selected public works.

Two of the most influential voices in evangelicalism were not evangelicals themselves, though they have been claimed for evangelicalism and many younger thinkers can't imagine their not being evangelicals. Those two are Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an orthodox Lutheran, and C.S. Lewis, an Anglican with the sensibility of a "mere" kind of Christianity. In their day neither was claimed by the kind of evangelicalism that then existed, which was more like the very conservative side of evangelicalism today. One could probably tally up a lengthy list of folks who are "claimed" by some group but who in their day were not in that group.

What cannot be denied though is that C.S. Lewis has become a saint for evangelicalism. The focus of his biography is not on that dimension of Lewis, even if he has one of the better sketches of that story, but on the life, development, theology, and career of C.S. Lewis. I'm speaking of Alister McGrath's exquisite new biography of C.S. Lewis. I can't say McGrath's two categories (eccentric genius and reluctant prophet) are addressed head-on but these two expressions certainly form deep structure themes in this book. Lewis was eccentric and he never did want the attention he garnered.

I have read four other biographies of Lewis -- Green, Wilson, Sayer, Jacobs -- and McGrath. McGrath is now the best of the lot because it provides more perspective and critical interaction than the others. Wilson's remains too critical and suspicious while Green's is now the dated volume. Jacobs set out to do more of an examination of imagination but offered more of a biography than a thematic exploration.

McGrath spent 18 months reading everything from Lewis in chronological order. He sorted through papers and pictures and documents and historical and university records, judiciously selected from the scads of noteworthy items and drops his discoveries into the text in clean and compelling ways. McGrath both keeps the story of Lewis' life flowing and yet pauses for critical reflection and theological interaction. This is the biography for the thinker even if the fan may found it a bit deep at times. If you love Lewis and want to know what was "really" going on, read McGrath first. Alister McGrath has a book due to be published next month called The Intellectual World of C.S. Lewis and I shall no doubt buy and read it in due course.

Three features of McGrath's life of Lewis deserve notation here:

The biography is <em>courageous</em>. Lewis was eccentric, if not weird. McGrath is not writing hagiography and so he tells the story of the weirdness of this man from Belfast. Lewis was beset by some sadomasochism in his life. McGrath does not delve into the "Christina dreams" issue, but is not afraid to talk about the weird, possibly intimate and maybe not, relationship with Mrs. Moore. He tells the story of Lewis' marriage of convenience to Joy Davidman, explores the possible reasons and the secrecy around the marriage, and then explains that Lewis eventually does fall deeply in love with Joy.

McGrath courageously argues Lewis himself got the date of his own conversion wrong, and McGrath's case will be convincing to some. I'm not yet sure because I think the letter to Greeves 1 Oct 1931 suggests a fuller embrace of christology, but you'll have to read McGrath to see what you think. McGrath, however, argues that Lewis got the inner world completely right in his descriptions. At one or two other places McGrath suggests Lewis' lack of concern with dates -- confirmed by Warnie -- creates some oddities in Lewis' own autobiography.

In addition, McGrath pushes against Lewis' obsession with Malvern in his autobiography and lack of interest in far greater issues, like the world war.

The biography is a <em>critical apology</em>. Lewis has been criticized, justly McGrath thinks, for his social conventions and his perspective on women. McGrath takes this on several places in the biography but also explains Lewis' context and his conventional views. This is what I mean by a "critical apology": he's with Lewis but does not defend him. He explains him. McGrath's view is honest, critical, balanced, and unafraid.

The same applies to Lewis' odd relations at the University of Oxford. Lewis was admired by some and hated by others; he was critical of the culture and of nothing-but-scholarship approaches and he wrote popular books and became world famous. Lewis simply refused to play their game, and then it is not surprising that on three occasions he was not promoted to professor because of this context. For years Lewis kept his relation to his "family" -- Mrs Moore and Maureen -- secret from the university. His relation to Tolkien fell apart, mostly on Tolkien's side according to McGrath. Lewis himself nominated Tolkien for a Nobel prize in literature, demonstrating his profound respect for Tolkien. The same cannot be said for Tolkien's view of Lewis.

McGrath provides a convincing case for how the Anscombe-Lewis encounter in the Socratic club can be understood. AN Wilson once argued that Lewis got thrashed by Anscombe, so much in fact that Lewis abandoned apologetics at the rational level and opted to tell stories. This theory has been repeated by many. McGrath, who distinctively pulls in memories from John Lucas, contends Lewis was writing the Narnia stories before the famous Socratic debate, that he was already wearied with apologetics, and that he simply wasn't interesting in staying up to date in philosophy -- so that the debate, while a temporary setback for Lewis, was not as life-changing as Wilson argued. Lewis in fact learned from that debate and adjusted his famous anti-naturalism argument. McGrath makes a good case but the follow ups in McGrath's own treatment make me wonder if there's not more to the Wilson theory than McGrath admits. Lewis said he was obliterated, Lewis said he was not up to date, and Lewis did not write another piece of apologetics. I side with McGrath on this one but I'm open to further considerations.

The biography is <em>contextual</em>. What perhaps was most appreciated in McGrath's life of Lewis is that he connected everything -- Lewis' childhood in Belfast, Lewis' private (or, as they put it, public) school education, Lewis' military service, Lewis' own entrance and success at Oxford, Lewis' academic career, and all of Lewis' writings and lectures -- each of these is connected succinctly and illuminatingly to the historical, social, ecclesial, academic and theological contexts. One example. Lewis' beautiful story of Aslan's death is set in the context of Medieval ransom and atonement theories, and in Lewis' own statements about atonement theories, as well as into the narrative logic of the Narnia tales.

We are indebted once again to Alister McGrath for bringing together so many loose ends and diverse facts into a compelling account of one of the 20th Century's delightfully eccentric characters.

Like John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedy family, C.S. Lewis has become one of those people about whom there is a vast cottage industry of biographies, critical analysis as well as memoirs from friends and acquaintances. I've read a few as well as several of Lewis' own writings and I wondered if I would learn anything new from this one. While it did shed some new light on a few issues (the youthful fascination with S&M was news to me but at the same time I could have done without learning it), I found it very tedious reading. Much attention paid to the six month difference in the conversion date. Narnia gets two full chapters while "The Screwtape Letters" gets only a few pages. The prose was quite pedestrian, especially when juxtaposed with Lewis' own writings. Since Mr. McGrath is himself a Christian, I appreciated the lack of a hostile tone to religion. But at the same time it didn't talk a whole lot about how Christianity affected Lewis on a personal level. If we look at the main two romantic relationships in Lewis' life, both of which are curious ones, Mrs. Moore was rendered more sympathetically than usual (generally portrayed as a sharp-tongued annoying old lady, he points out that she was warm and maternal and hospitable) while Joy Gresham is portrayed worse than usual, as a gold-digger whose main interest in Lewis was financial. This seems at odds with the rapturous letters he wrote about her and told others how the happiness that had passed him by in his 20s was now his in his 60s. Having just seem a play about The Screwtape Letters this weekend and enjoyed it thoroughly, I think I'll just stick to Lewis' own writings from now on.

McAlister McGrath's research into C.S. Lewis' life is stellar, however his conclusions are based on assumptions about his research (he states upfront that he never met C.S. Lewis, yet most other biographies concerning Mr. Lewis were written by friends or colleagues). It may be a misperception on my part, but it almost seems as if Mr. McGrath goes out of his way to disprove almost everything that has been written by everyone else who has written about Mr. Lewis. It's almost as if he is trying to destroy any mythology or conclusions that others have built upon past information about Mr. Lewis. The problem with this approach is that Mr. McGrath builds a new mythology bases on his own conclusions, but it has a negative feel to it. Everyone knows that no one who is perfect in this world (George Washington did tell a lie at some point in his life despite the myth that he could not tell a lie as a child); however, we do not need to paint a negative picture of someone to see him as human. This is a week-written grammatical work that left me with a bland taste in my mouth.

On November 22, 2013 America commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Interestingly enough, two other famous men died the same day as Kennedy: Aldous Huxley and Clive Staples Lewis. Enough time has passed for us to consider the legacy and influence of each man. Though in 1963 the death of the President certainly led headlines (and rightly so), his legacy is not as strong as we would expect. The Democratic Party of today would be barely recognizable to President Kennedy of the early 1960s and hardly any one would recognize the name Aldous Huxely any more. Of the three men who died on November 22, 1963, CS Lewis enjoys the greatest influence.

This should strike us as quit odd. Lewis was an academic layman trained in ancient English literature who described himself as a "reluctant controvert," and yet he has become one of the most influential voices of this generation. His Chronicles of Narnia series remains as popular as ever. Yet though Lewis will likely always be remembered as an imaginative writer of children's fantasy, his real influence remains in his apologetic writings where he famously defended a mere Christianity.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of this reluctant, yet prophetic, convert, Alister McGrath released a major biography. The book, called C. S. Lewis - A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet (Tyndale, 2013) has set itself up as the most important biography of "Jack." Anyone serious in engaging the life and thought of the man behind Narnia must be exposed to McGrath's excellent work.

The strength of this biography is the line the author walks between popular appeal and academic precision. McGrath, for the most part, goes into detail crossing his biographical "t's" only when necessary. Two examples of this regard Lewis's controversial and mysterious relationship with Ms. Moore and the impact of Elizabeth Anscombe's public critique of Miracles - an embarrassing event. Prior to composing this biography, the author read every available written work of Lewis in chronological order and then engaged the work of other biographers. There are places where McGrath boldly stands alone. The most glaring example regards the conversion of Lewis. Here, McGrath even stands against Lewis himself.[1]

McGrath tells the story of Lewis weaving in the precision of a scholar. I particularly enjoyed his insights into the contents and main arguments of some of Lewis's books and the story behind them. Any fan familiar with the writings of Lewis will not only love Lewis more, but will gain insight into the books they have already grown to love. Lewis was a prophet and McGrath shows how. Lewis was at times rather humorous, and the author provides ample evidence of it. But above all, Lewis was a Christian who saw the world differently following his conversion and set out to tell the world just what he saw through prose, poetry, and apologetics.

Two themes repeatedly appear throughout the book as McGrath considers the main thought of Lewis. The first regards Lewis's treatment of desire. Though a full discussion goes beyond the scope of this review, consider the following from McGrath summary of Lewis's early book The Pilgrim's Regress:

"So what is the ultimate object of Desire - this "intense longing"? Lewis here anticipates his "argument from desire," which is central to the Christian apologetic he would develop further in his wartime radio broadcasts a decade later, and subsequently collect together in Mere Christianity. Lewis opens up a line of thought originally employed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) - namely, that there is an "abyss" within the human soul, which is so great that only God can fill it. Or, to change the imagery, there is a "chair" in the human soul, awaiting some guest who has yet to arrive. "If nature makes nothing in vain, the One who can sit in this chair must exist."

Our experience of this Desire both discloses our true identity and intimates our true goal. We initially understand this desire as a yearning for something tangible within the world; then we realise that nothing within the world is able to satisfy our Desire. John, the pilgrim, initially desires the Island. Yet he gradually comes to realise that his true longing is actually for the "Landlord" - Lewis's way of referring to God. All other explanations and proposed goals for this sense of yearning fail to satisfy, intellectually or existentially. They are "false objects" of Desire, whose falsity is ultimately exposed by their failure to satisfy the deepest yearnings of humanity. There is indeed a chair in the human soul, and its intended occupant is God." (173)

Or as Lewis would later memorably write, "'If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world." (Mere Christianity) As a pastor I find this same Desire or longing inside the heart of many. Some resist it. Some look for it in the wrong places. But the saved find their satisfaction in Christ.

The second theme prevalent in the book is Lewis's preference for the old. Again, space does not allow a fuller treatment, but throughout the book, McGrath shows us how important this basic assumption was to Lewis and how important it is today. Lewis is unique in that he was not trying to say something new, but something old. Yet he said the old thing better than anyone before him. I concur wholeheartedly with Lewis, as quoted by McGrath, when he says "All that is not eternal is eternally out of date" (168). While discussing Lewis's The Allegory of Love, McGrath writes:

"Where some argue that humanity must embrace a synthesis of contemporary science and social attitudes as "the truth" - to be contrasted with the "superstitions" of the past - Lewis declare that this simply leads to humanity becoming a by-product of its age, shaped by its predominant cultural moods and intellectual conventions We must, Lewis argues, break free from the shallow complacency of "chronological snobbery" and realise that we can learn from the past precisely because it liberates us from the tyranny of the contemporaneous." (184)

Shortly thereafter, McGrath discusses in some detail Lewis's essay "On the Reading of Old Books." There Lewis writes, "A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it." (187) McGrath then explains, "Since we cannot read the literature of the future, we can at last read the literature of the past, and realise the powerful implicit challenge that this makes to the ultimate authority of the present." (184)

These two themes run throughout the book and offer real insight into the writings and ministry of Lewis. One word of critique. Although McGrath leads an excellent discussions in virtually all of the major writings of Lewis (like Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters,[2] etc.) there are a few times when McGrath fails slightly. The most glaring example of this, in my opinion, is his discussion of The Ransom Trilogy. Though the author dedicates five pages to the series, it is all peripheral focusing in on why Lewis wrote a science fiction story rather than focusing on the series itself. In this trilogy we gain hints at what this mere Christian believed about many important theological and philosophical issues. Though McGrath points out Lewis challenges the scientism and social Darwinism of his day, there is more to this series than that.

Nonetheless, this is an excellent book that is worth the investment and time for any and all fans of Lewis. The reader comes to know and understand Lewis more clearly and intimately. Though he was no saint (and not always orthodox), Lewis continues to be used by God for the sake of the Kingdom. Lewis's mere Christianity remains as attractive as the first wartime radio broadcasts and McGrath tells the story and explains why. I consider it a good thing that Lewis, and not Kennedy or Huxely, is experiencing a revival of sorts. But of all the biographies, I believe McGrath stands head and shoulder above the rest.

[1] Other examples of this would be McGrath's discussion of the debate regarding Miracles and his treatment of Lewis's view on women. McGrath is right in noting that outside of Aslan, the main character in most of the Narnia series is Lucy.

[2] The suggestion that Ms. Moore is mentioned and criticized in Screwtape Letters is insightful and fascinating to say the least.

This book was given to me courtesy of Tyndale House Publishers for the purpose of this review.

Published for the 50th anniversary of C.S. Lewis’s death, Alister McGrath, an “Oxford don” himself, produces a thorough biography of this “eccentric genius” and “reluctant prophet.” McGrath chronologically retraces Lewis’s literary penmanship while reliving his life. Lewis has had his fair share of insecurities and pride that easily gets overshadowed by his erudite clarity in his books, yet to rediscover them we must. Lewis restlessly tried to elevate himself in Oxford by proving his academic acumen. He also feared economic stability (he had little knowledge of his ever growing wealth towards the end of his life) and had troubling relationships with family, friends, and colleagues. Lewis was far from the “perfect Christian,” instead he was a “mere Christian.”

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While I have enjoyed McGrath’s other works, and I respect him as a theologian, I was more than a little disappointed with this biography of C.S. Lewis. He makes quite a few wild speculations that he then treats as facts and the basis of further conjecture, and at times he seems to be digging for dirt on C.S. Lewis, perhaps in an attempt to sound “balanced” and more academic. There is also quite a bit of repetition, and he gets tedious in his effort to disagree with C.S. Lewis’ own testimony as to when he became a Christian. While this work is not without some insight into C.S, Lewis’ writings, I feel on its own that it may act more as a deterrent to further reading C.S. Lewis rather than as its stated purpose to inspire readers to read C.S. Lewis in a new and more fulsome light.
Having read nearly all of C.S. Lewis’ published writings, and many biographies about him, I can recommend readers instead see his autobiography “Surprised by Joy” or the excellent biographies Lenten Lands or Jack’s Life, both by Douglas Gresham (who had the benefit of actually knowing and living with C.S. Lewis). If you want a biography that is more focused on integrating lessons from C.S. Lewis’ writings, try Brown’s A Life Observed.

In his Preface McGrath writes that this biography is based in the first instance on what Lewis himself has written, with the intention of making the development of his ideas the main concern of the book. Fortunately that has not precluded an excellent narrative of many other aspects of the life of this “eccentric genius”: this is by no means a purely intellectual history.

Lewis, a voracious reader since early childhood, describes short mystical experiences at the age of about six - one triggered by reading Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin! But he lost his Christian faith by the age of 17.

There follow fine chapters about Lewis’ service in the trenches, his cool relationship with his father, and his unusual one with Mrs Moore (mother figure - and probably more - to replace his own beloved mother who had died when Lewis was nine years old), his studies (Classics and English, winning Firsts in both) at Oxford, his eventual appointment at the age of 26 as a Fellow of Magdalen College to teach English Literature. He was making a name for himself as an academic, but during these years there was no significant development in his attitude to religion. His outlook was rationalistic and he had come to dismiss his childhood glimpses of the ineffable as meaningless.

And then, a third of the way through the book, comes Lewis’ conversion. The stimulus for him was the reading of the great writers of the Middle Ages, whose imaginative sense of a unified and cosmic world order was so different from the vision of the essential meaninglessness that had been reinforced by the Great War.

His conversion began with a belief in God in 1930. That was still Theism. But by the autumn of 1931 he had come to accept Christianity. An evening’s discussion with his friend J.R.R.Tolkien had made him realize that myths embodied deep meanings; and the myth of Christianity then appeared to Lewis to embody the deepest meaning of all, one that corresponded most closely to reality. By the following summer he had come to accept the divinity of Christ. As secular humanist I have problems with this: valuing myths is one thing, but accepting a myth as a literal truth is quite another.

During the Second World War Lewis became an exponent of Christian belief: in “The Problem of Pain” (1940) he aimed to give a Christian context to human suffering, and its success led to him being invited to be the “voice of faith” in four series of talks for the BBC, and he was also invited to give talks about Christianity at RAF stations. In these talks he found a simple way of talking about religion that could be understood by people who were not academics. The BBC talks were eventually reworked to become in 1952 his famous book “Mere Christianity”. In it he produced Christian teaching free of all denominational issues, though the denominations will are necessary to give various elaborations to a common basis and to provide structures which are essential for Christian living. McGrath is good on the strengths and weaknesses of that book.

Before “Mere Christianity” Lewis had published the witty and immensely popular “Screwtape Letters” in which a senior devil advises a junior devil how to lead his patient to our father below. The book brought him fame in the United States. His imaginative approach broadened out into conveying some of his ideas in the form of fiction about other worlds.

Fiction about other worlds was already being written by, for example H.G.Wells, who had used it to promote science as a secular religion. Lewis would use his own novels - beginning with the Ransom Trilogy (1938 to 1945) - to convey a fundamentally religious vision and indeed to show up the some of the dangerously materialist ideas of his time.

As he turned to writing popular books of this kind, he met with much hostility in the English Department at Oxford and Lewis was passed over three times for professorships. (This would contribute to his acceptance in 1955 of a Professorship of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge.) Even his friendship with Tolkien cooled: the latter felt that Lewis’ creation of other worlds were unacknowledged borrowings from Tolkien’s own work. An encounter with the Christian philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe in 1948 made him lose confidence in the reasoning of his academic apologetics for Christianity, and reinforced the turn to conveying his religious ideas in fiction.

And so to the seven “Chronicles of Narnia” novels, written for children, which were published between 1950 and 1956. In “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, four children cross a threshold into another world which “you cannot forget once you have gone”, which helps us “to imagine our world differently”. The world of Narnia is only temporarily ruled by the White Witch, but it expects the return of the noble lion Aslan. The theme of the Chronicles, like that of Christianity, is Creation, Fall, Redemption and Final Consummation. Lewis’ deep knowledge of medieval and Renaissance literature, of Plato and neo-Platonism, also helped to shape the books.

In 1956, at the age of 57, Lewis married the American Jewish-born ex-atheist, ex-communist and divorcee, Joy Davidson. In 1946 she had been influenced by Lewis’ writings to embrace religion and had travelled to England in 1952 with the explicit purpose of establishing a close relationship with him. He found in her an intellectual companion, but it seems that he married her to enable her to stay in England and be allowed to earn a living there. Six months later she was diagnosed with cancer, of which she died four years later. What had begun as a marriage of convenience had become one of love, and Lewis was devastated by her death.

In “A Grief Observed” (1961), he showed how severely his faith was tested, but how he came through it in the end. His own health deteriorated severely in 1961 and he died in 1963.

After the 50th anniversary of C.S. Lewis' death, Alister McGrath offers up a new biography of C.S. Lewis. The one difference with this biography: McGrath did not know Lewis personally - so his book comes from a place of deep research. As he writes, he had "no illuminating memories, no privileged disclosures, and no private documents on which to draw."

The book opens with the birth and childhood of Lewis. He gives examples from Lewis' life that most likely influenced his later writings, such as the appearance of his native Ireland (various settings in his novels), the early death of his mother ("The Magician's Nephew"), and his father's openness to hiring a Catholic, as well as Protestant employees ("Mere Christianity").

During his youth, McGrath discusses Lewis' "quest for Joy," which indicated his deep feelings of desire. He then went on to discuss Lewis' academic history, and the fact that he almost felt his time at boarding school was worse than his time at war.

The section on Lewis' participation in the Great War was a bit slow and bogged down at times, but then again I'm not a war history buff. He shows how Lewis' father really tried to keep Lewis off the front lines and tried to get him an officer position.

After the war, Lewis returned to Oxford, where he was an excellent student - earning the rare "Triple First," earning top honors in three programs. The author goes into great detail of Lewis' academic journey and search for employment. He also spends a lot of time going into Lewis' unusual relationship during this time with Mrs. Moore, the mother of his friend who lost his life during the Great War.

I really enjoyed the section on Narnia, but I'm a huge fan of The Chronicles of Narnia. He discusses medieval and ancient Greek influences on the world of Narnia, as well as key themes found in the books.

McGrath wraps up the book discussing the "Lewis Phenomenon." Throughout the decades, Lewis has remained popular not only for his literary achievements, but also on the evangelical front.

I felt at times this book was a bit too academic, and the author at times went on unnecessary tangents. However, it offers the reader a very thorough view into the life of C.S. Lewis. I also enjoyed looking at all of the photos from Lewis' life and surroundings contained in this book.

Four stars out of five.

I loved the book and the insights surrounding his relationship with Tolkien, Mrs. Moore and others and information about his years at Oxford and Cambridge, etc. I did feel that his painting of Joy Gresham and her character is unfair. Douglas Gresham (her son and someone who lived with both during the relationship) paints a different picture. She wasn't a mercenary looking for a sugar daddy. She was a writer educated at Columbia. I don't think her pride would've allowed her to pursue something like that. Other than that I loved the book and thought it was well researched. Read this and then read Douglas Gresham's 'Lenten lands' which describes life with Joy and C.S. Lewis accurately obviously.

I enjoy C. S. Lewis writings. I like reading biographies about him. I also enjoy most of McGrath's books. This biography is better than I expected. McGrath is a clear writer. He presents arguments in a very clear and concise manner. In some ways, he and Lewis write much alike, although I think Lewis is the far wittier and imaginative writer. McGrath does a good job of clearing up some mysteries. He also brings clarity to some issues that the distance of time provides. I like his argument for which order you should read the Chronicles of Narnia.

The problem with the book is that it is not the most enjoyable read. I agree with McGrath that Lewis was not the most accurate about dates in the timeline of his life. McGrath spends several pages trying to pin down Lewis's conversion to theism and then several pages on his conversion to Christianity. It may be a big deal to Lewisian scholars, but I think the timeframe is less than a year difference. His portrait of Mrs. Moore was not the most positive. He handled Lewis's wife, Joy in the same manner. Other biographies bring out Joy's good qualities much more. Warnie, for example, had positive things to say about Joy. McGrath unearths so much negative information about them, when he does bring the positive it no longer matters. He does the same with Lewis too. He really researches the negative aspects of Lewis's relationship with his father and his brother. He points out a few positives, but the negatives just overwhelm them.

McGrath obviously has a fondness for Lewis's writings, but it feels like that he went too far to present a balance view. I recommend the book. There are better biographies out there, but McGrath does present new information, solid scholarship, and a different viewpoint on Lewis and his family. He also does a good job of putting the books in their historical perspective and their context in Lewis's life.

"Lewis has made the most difficult transition an author can hope to make-being read by more people a generation after his death than before it."

While it has now been more than 35 years since an undergraduate course called "The Inklings" introduced me to Clive Staples Lewis, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Dorothy Leigh Sayers, and Charles Walter Stansby Williams and their wonderful literary worlds which continue to bring enjoyment and, in true academic fashion, debate to millions of people, Alister McGrath, has brought back the memories of that class in his new biography of C.S. Lewis called, C.S. Lewis: A Life - Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet (Tyndale House Publishers).

Focusing on what he calls (based on a comment by Lewis' friend Owen Barfield) "three C.S. Lewises," McGrath with both a critical eye and an admiration for Lewis and his work, walks us through these "three Lewises" - a best selling author, "Christian writer and apologist," and "perhaps the least familiar to most of his admirers and critics: the distinguished Oxford don and literary critic." As he does, a clearer portrait of a gifted writer and thinker who died the same day as American President John F. Kennedy was assassinated emerges for a contemporary readership.

McGrath's book, is divided into five sections, Prelude which begins with Lewis' birth and concludes with his service in the British Army in World War One and the emerging relationship with Jane King Moore; Oxford which picks up with his student days in 1919 and concludes with his growing alienation from the Oxford faculty amidst a changing university post-World War Two culture; Narnia which takes the reader into, through, and around various aspects of Lewis' well-known Chronicles of Narnia; Cambridge that highlights a rebirth and refocus of Lewis regarding literary scholarship, his controversial marriage to Joy Davidson and then her death as well as his declining health that led to his death on November 22, 1963; and finally Afterlife in which McGrath assesses Lewis among the wider Christian community as well seeking to understand and answer the reasons for his popularity five decades after his death.

In his preface, McGrath makes clear that his biography "sets out, not to praise Lewis or condemn him, but to understand him- above all, his ideas, and how these found expression in his writings." McGrath attempts to do this by "exploring the complex and fascinating connections between Lewis's external and internal worlds." I believe that McGrath accomplishes these goals with the result of a critical biography that I believe will contribute to the on-going discussion, debate, and study of Lewis.

What I liked about this book is that McGrath presents a new and multifaceted view and approach to Lewis and his work. I believe that this will be a work used in classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in literature classes in the years to come.

Alister McGrath covered the life and works of C.S. Lewis in great detail, including his flaws and controversial points as well as his superb visionary works that defend the faith and point to the art of communicating ideas and truth to all generations. The books discusses where he grew up, how his father hurt him, what happened in 1917 that added to the hurt, where he went in 1919, who became his cornerstone, and who supported him but died alone in a nursing home. It told what gave him financial security, what caused him to move from atheism to Christianity, what happened when his brother Warnie moved to Oxford, whom he encouraged in his writings who would help him rediscover his Christian faith, how knowing God helps an author, what two worlds Lewis saw, and who also moved significantly on a faith journey. What did the Inklings have in common and what did they do, how was Lewis a literary midwife, what role did Lewis play for BBC in World War II, what caused America to love Lewis, what other books would add to his devotees, what caused him heartbreak in his late 40's, what caused hostility to him at Oxford, and why did he feel isolated there? Why did he invent Narnia, what gave the Chronicles of Narnia such appeal, what happened in 1956 that was strange, when Joy became seriously ill, what did he do, what do Reflections on the Psalms and the Four Loves reflect, and what caused him major legal problems? All these questions and more are answered in this book. If you love Lewis' books, this book will help you understand the man behind the stories. It is so deep however that it is too long to be a fun read.

Dr. Alister McGrath is one of those humans in life that I truly envy. In preparing for this biography of C. S. Lewis, he read everything Lewis ever wrote that he could get his hands on. Everything, even his letters. This is why this was such an enjoyable read because Dr. McGrath really tried to get inside Lewis' mind as he wrote this. I enjoyed the fact that McGrath didn't only talk about the life of Lewis but he also talked about the ideas of Lewis when appropriate. Hence he wrote a whole chapter on the Narnia world. He explains why Lewis was such a force for 'imaginative apologetics'. I absolutely loved reading about Lewis' childhood in that beautiful country Ireland. One criticism: McGrath's disdain for Joy Davidman (Lewis' American divorcee wife) is obvious as he makes sure to get across the fact that she was initially a gold digger when she first reached out to Lewis. But I don't feel like McGrath took the time to explain how they actually did end up falling in love with each other and after she passed away Lewis wrote one of his best works about it, 'A Grief Observed'. Overall it was one of the best biographies that I read and reading it in Oxford made it all the more special.

C. S. Lewis would be surprised at all the attention that continues to follow him. The newest book is C.S. Lewis, A Life by Alister McGrath, published by Tyndale Press. Now, 50 years since Lewis was at the height of his popularity, information continues to be found and shared among those who appreciate him and his writings. McGrath has gathered and analyzed a huge amount of research to help us understand Lewis and events of his daily life as well as his career. "How are these new facts to be woven together to make a pattern?" McGrath wonders, as he adds details now known about Lewis's life, while he helps us understand the way it was. Lewis taught English literature, first at Oxford, then at Cambridge, and he wrote many religious books,including Mere Christianity.
During World War II, Lewis gave religious talks on the BBC, but he is perhaps most famous for a group of books about and for children. Called the Narnia Chronicles, Lewis tells of an enchanted forest, a mysterious land, and a wardrobe that serves as a door to that special place. C.S. Lewis, A Life would be an appreciated gift for anyone who is collecting his books and information about him.

This is an extensive, thoroughly-researched book on the life of C.S. Lewis. Published in honor of the 50th anniversary year of his passing, Alister McGrath's book takes a chronological view. Combining known information, personal correspondence, literary works, and more, Mr. McGrath provides an extremely detail-oriented book that seems light on speculation and heavy on documented research.

My opinion? I'm a fiction girl - light on the details, give me a story! This was truthfully a challenging book for me to "get into" and finish. However, in the end I am glad I started and did complete it, as I now have a much better understanding of this author as well as the time period and geography that are discussed. I have long enjoyed the Chronicles of Narnia books and was excited to pass them on to my daughter this past year. It was so interesting to learn more about the background and thought process behind that series, as well as his other works.

I recommend this book.

When I picked up this biography I assumed since it was written by an individual with a deep theological background, it would be largely a religious-oriented summary of the life of C. S. Lewis. I was wrong. The author's treatment of C.S. Lewis lives up to the subtitle of portraying an "Eccentric Genius and Reluctant Prophet."
I had no idea just how eccentric Mr. Lewis was or how many problems he apparently had in his personal relationships. Sometimes the people who have the most problems in reality appear to seek relief in the world of their imagination. If true, we should all be be grateful his life provided so many challenges.

An excellent biography of C S Lewis. Brings lots of new insights to a complex man who has contributed so much to society - secular and religious. The best biographies, in my opinion, describe a picture of a person that is nuanced and fearless in presenting some of our "heroes" as genuine, flawed human beings. McGrath has done just this and, as a result, increases the respect we have for someone like Lewis. The book is well written and easy to read. The author tells the story in a way that moves along well and balances a discussion of bigger themes with the detail of Lewis's life. If you've read any of C S Lewis's writings you'll want to read this very comprehensive, respectful, and honest biography.

McGrath sets out to introduce the readers to Lewis and as he states in his preface, to understand him. Having been the first true biography of Lewis that I have read, I will say the book accomplished that goal for me. Reading this book added new depth to my appreciation for Lewis, as well as insight into my own reading of his books. McGrath does a nice job with expanding upon the contexts of Lewis' writings, his friendships and relationships, and makes no effort to hide certain flaws that make Lewis human. Overall, this was a read I enjoyed very much!

Alister McGrath paints a picture of the life of C. S. Lewis that ignites my curiosity and allows me to appreciate the writings of Lewis even more! I found that I was making excuses to do things that allowed me to finish this book over the last three days. I have loved Lewis's writings for years, but have never known the back story which makes me think I will have to re-read Lewis and once again enjoy the expansion of my logic, desire, curiosity, and imagination. McGrath, a well known theologian and academic, looks in depth at all available C. S. Lewis books, journals, letters and what others who knew Lewis wrote and comes away with his own cohesive understanding of Lewis and his writings. He also frequently makes note of the historical context and things that were going on in England which shaped the course of Lewis' life. Lewis' complicated relationship with his father (in which he at times deceived him), his conversion from Atheism to Christianity, his unexpected falling in love with a dying woman who seems to have orchestrated meeting Lewis and their subsequent common law marriage are documented with clarity and precision. Also each book that Lewis wrote is placed in the context of Lewis' journey through life. I think Lewis is able to articulate so clearly the human experience because he was: so honest with himself, a genius, and came to faith later in life. Just like someone who learns how to do something innately hard for them, later in life, will likely be a better teacher, Lewis learns about humility in the context of being a grown up self-focused man. In the context of his adult life, he learns to merge the critical analytical life which governs what he believes, with the inner workings of his powerful imagination which through the conquest of his desire culminates in finding the True Myth which all myths point at, namely Jesus Christ.

Many know of Lewis through The Chronicles of Narnia or Mere Christianity, but why is the man still remembered, studied and honored - more now so than ever - decades after his death? McGrath uncovers what made Lewis who he is - his family, his country, his WWI service, his friends. The author also explore Lewis' thoughts and beliefs through his writings. This is a bio of a man, not a detailed study of his books, but the creation and content of those works reveals immense insight into the man who created them. This is a fascinating study of one of the 20th Century's most successful and influential authors. In McGrath's book, you'll find out just Lewis became that and never intended to do so.

Alister McGrath sets out "not to praise Lewis or condemn him, but to understand him." That is why I wanted to read about Lewis' life, to understand the man behind the books I have so much appreciated. This is the kind of biography I enjoy reading (and I don't usually enjoy biographies), one that helps me understand the person without getting bogged down in details of his life unrelated to my interest in him.

I still learned a lot about his life, things I knew nothing about before regarding his childhood (I had no idea he was Irish!) and education, his unconventional "family" life as an adult, and his friendships with other writers and scholars. I knew a little about his conversion to Christianity and his work as a scholar of English literature, and it was these aspects of his life especially that I was interested in learning more about.

Apparently there is not all that much to tell about his conversion, because he didn't write a lot about it, either in his published books or his letters (the latter have only recently been made public and were the source of much of McGrath's information). What McGrath does spend a number of pages arguing, regarding Lewis' conversion, is the timing of it. Apparently Lewis himself remembered it wrong, and everyone else has gone along with Lewis' own account. This was mildly interesting, though not worth the number of pages McGrath devoted to it.

No doubt more could have been written about his work as a scholar, but perhaps that would make the book too long for the typical reader. I would have been interested in learning more about all of his works, including his fiction other than the Narnia books (which many people are unaware of) and his books about the Christian faith. But that could probably take another whole book - or several of them.

McGrath devotes the last portion of the book, after Lewis' death, to exploring how and why he became such an important - and highly regarded - figure among Evangelical Christians in the United States. The book is a good corrective to the overly adulatory view of Lewis that is common among many American Christians, while recognizing the important contributions he made and how his work can continue to be appreciated even though some of it feels rather dated.

BOOK REVIEW: “C. S. Lewis: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet”

I repeatedly hear fellow Christians who admit to sharing my childhood and teen experience of “growing up afraid of not attaining salvation.” Bangkok mission life was in many ways an exhilarating adventure, yet the Protestant theology of that era meant that a lot of MKs – and our youthful peers here in the U.S. – anxiously dreaded Christ returning at an inopportune moment when an unconfessed sin or evil thought would disqualify us. The flickering light bulb of that sort of iffy salvation has thankfully been replaced! I’m grateful for the helpful gospel sermons and books offered by my uncle, Morris Venden, and then also the huge mainstream bestseller: C. S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity.”
I’m a big fan of Lewis – he’s one of my favorite Christian writers – so this biography was a personal blessing. It covers the spectrum of Lewis’s life, from childhood through his brilliant academic career. Alister McGrath makes several key points regarding his subject’s seminal work. “Lewis’s ‘Mere Christianity’ became the manifesto for a form of Christianity that exulted in essentials, regarding other matters as secondary.” He felt called to defend the core essence of Christian faith, determining that with such a grand and noble God and such a winsome story as Calvary at its core, denominational differences were likely less than crucial: a perspective I definitely endorse.
In addition, Lewis wrote marvelous novels for both children (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) and adults, graciously hinting at Christian ideas in his fabled Space Trilogy. McGrath pays homage to this achievement: “It is clear that Lewis’s writings have now found a new audience far beyond his original admirers. He has come to be seen as a trustworthy, intelligent, and above all accessible representative of a theologically and culturally attractive [even “obstinately pleasurable”] vision of the Christian faith. He is a modern Christian writer regarded with respect and affection by Christians of all traditions.” Political junkies will gratefully note that it was the bracing logic of “Mere Christianity” that brought Watergate convict Chuck Colson into the Body of Christ. No wonder surveys “regularly cite it as THE most influential religious book of the twentieth century.”
That’s a five-star review I heartily endorse.

Alister McGrath has turned it an outstanding biography of this always-interesting Christian thinker. The book is very solid as a conventional biography, investigating Lewis's early life, formative experiences, and development as a writer and thinker. It relates the important relationships that were influential in his life (with a long and careful investigation of his much-discussed relationship with Joy Davidman). McGrath's prose is always clear and he delivers admirably on these necessary tasks. He shows very careful judgment throughout (including a redating of Lewis's famous conversion that seems likely to be influential and possibly broadly persuasive), and the work reflects substantial research. It's also noteworthy that this is no hagiography; Lewis comes through as a flawed character in many respects, and I suspect this is just the way he would want it.

There are a couple particular strengths that set this volume apart. One is the careful chronicling of Lewis's career as a scholar of English literature, a part of Lewis's life that is likely opaque to many readers. This serves first to fill in what are otherwise large gaps in Lewis's identity and experience, but even more so it illuminates many formative ideas that came to Lewis through his interaction with literature, as well as how is Christianity impacted his literary studies. McGrath is obviously very well read himself and competent (well beyond me, at least) to comment on the world of literary studies, and having likewise been an Oxford don, he is well positioned to communicate the realities of the British university system.

The second strength of the volume, not at all surprising given McGrath's status as one of the outstanding evangelical theologians of our day, is his erudite commentary on Lewis's thought. The book certainly isn't a commentary on Lewis's work or ideas, but McGrath shows great nuance throughout as he discusses Lewis's ideas and writings.

I both enjoyed and learned from this book. Lewis fans will be well served by this biography. And lovers of good biography will likewise enjoy the illumination of a fascinating life.

I was very interested in this biography because C. S. Lewis has always been an author that stuck with me. He is most famous for his books The Narnia Chronicles, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters. I was hesitant because I have never been a big reader of biographies. They are usually dry, boring, and hard to read. This author does a great job in not letting it be that way. The usual information is in the book like family details. I like the way the book was divided and the chapter titles. It was well written and flowed well. There was so much about C. S. Lewis that I had no clue about. My mind and heart wanted to yell at him from the hindsight outsider view several times. I loved C. S. Lewis's view on literature: "In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see." There is so much more I could write but to gain a view of what the book offers read the table of contents, it really spells it out. The book was easy to read and detailed without being bogged down. I now to want to read all of his works. He really was an interesting man and I'm glad I read his life story. It also provided a behind the scenes look at his life when he was writing the books and how they came to be which is great for readers. I highly recommend this book. I will not forget what I read in it. :)

I think Alister McGrath has unique qualifications to write a biography of Lewis. McGrath was born in Ireland and studied and worked at Oxford and Cambridge. McGrath began his academic career as a scientist and an atheist. He became a Christian and was ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Church. He has continued to work in the academic world while writing as a Christian apologist and theologian. He has even tried his hand at a children's fantasy novel. McGrath has also become in-depthly familiar with the writings and life of C.S. Lewis. He describes his research into Lewis beginning with a "close reading of Lewis's entire published output (including his letters)."

McGrath's biography of Lewis reveals McGrath's knowledge of Lewis' life and his own thorough background in theology and vast studies. McGrath approaches Lewis' life with familiarity of so many of the varied subjects such as the Irish and English contexts including the dynamics of Oxford and Cambridge. The spiritual journey of Lewis is explored along with his evolution as a Christian writer and writer of fiction.

One of the gifts of Lewis' genius came to light during my time at seminary. Rarely did a day of classes go by during which Lewis was not quoted to support some point or offer a colorful illustration. Not only was Lewis quoted by theologians, but I would come home and hear my six-year old daughter listening to the Narnia books on CD over and over again. How few people are able to speak such high truths as Lewis and also write stories that eternally appeal to young children. In this biography, McGrath touches on the genius of Lewis behind that appeal.

This biography seems to find the right balance in writing of the various aspects of Lewis' life including his personal and family relationships, his professional path, his writings, his faith, his quirks and eccentrics, and his popular recognition, fame and legacy. Each of these areas could justify being the sole focus of a book on Lewis, but McGrath explores all of them adequately for all types of readers of the biography.

McGrath mentions many of Lewis' writings while elaborating more on a few of them such as Mere Christianity, Surprised by Joy, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and A Grief Observed. Through these topics, readers learn about Lewis as the author and about his product.

I was never bored with the book, as McGrath artfully transitions from areas and periods of Lewis' life revealing elements and admitting mysteries about his subject. This book can serve as an introduction to Lewis or a must-read for Lewis scholars.

33% into the Kindle version I borrowed from the library, McGrath states, "Lewis was not totally reliable concerning dates." I doubt that anyone will ever accuse McGrath of that failing, since he seems obsessed with them. I'm not sure exactly why the reader needs to know exactly when Lewis ceased to be an atheist or when he started to believe in the divinity of Christ.

Aside from that, though, I have learned a lot I did not previously know about Lewis (having read "Surprised by Joy", but no other Lewis biography). So, I'd still recommend it, but if you really don't care exactly which year Lewis converted, skim over that part of the book.

This is a great biography of C. S. Lewis. Probably the best one available. It is well-researched, well-documented, and best of all, well-written.

If you are interested in learning more about C. S. Lewis, his life, his relationships, and his writing career, this is a book you must read. I was also interested to find out in the last chapter why the writings of C. S. Lewis have become more and more popular over the years. Though most though his writings would fade in popularity, they have only seemed to grow.

Yet another biography of C. S. Lewis . . . Far better to read Lewis's books themselves, since they are much more interesting than his own life story. However, our local library had this on the shelf, so I figured it was worth a look, and no expense. McGrath is a clear and (usually) concise writer, but the only thing that sets this bio apart from previous ones is that he claims to have read ever single one of Lewis's existing letters, so now and then he gives us a window into Lewis's private life that was never before published. On the other hand, he occasionally makes a mountain out of a molehill, such as his "correcting" Lewis's remembrance of when his conversion occurred, a "correction" that, even if it's accurate, proves nothing except that people sometimes get confused when writing their own memoirs. I kept hoping that McGrath would finally gives us the skinny on the exact nature of Lewis's relationship with Mrs. Moore, the mother of an army buddy who shared Lewis's home for many years. It's probably just as well that neither we nor the author know just what that relationship entailed, but I admit I was curious. McGrath seems to see Joy, Lewis's wife, as a gold-digger, at least initially, though it's clear she and Lewis did eventually fall in love, whatever her original motivation may have been.

McGrath is respected in evangelical circles, so I was rather surprised to see numerous references to Lewis's religion being "outdated," when in fact I find his writings on Christianity to be very pertinent today, and apparently thousands of other readers agree with me. McGrath seems to have imbibed Political Correctness (or at least the feminist part of it), so he finds Lewis's beliefs about women's roles to be outdated, a view I don't share, since his writings about the ordination of women (he opposed it) are still worth reading.

The book is not well edited. McGrath repeats himself often (editors are supposed to catch these things), and his tedious section about the date of Lewis's conversion could have been reduced to a tenth of its length. McGrath is obviously fond of the Narnia books (or thinks that readers are), and I felt that the attention he gave those books is out of proportion to their worth. Again, the firm hand of an editor was needed.

I didn't buy this, so I can't say I didn't get my money's worth. There are better biographies of Lewis available, notably the one by Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper.

This book differs with its view and assessment of an author so beloved but perhaps not aways well understood. The in site offered is helpful to appreciate what Lewis gifted the world with his clarity of thought but also what burdens he personally carried as he forged ahead. He remains a central figure in literature with his ability to link the perceived reality with that unseen. Despite the "flaws" and even the introduction of others unknown to me, the intimacy of this account endeared him further. This is a comfortable, even compelling read with an easy accessible style, well worth the effort.

This book is McGrath at his best. Lucid, balanced, and stunningly well researched, I suspect it is now the best biography of Lewis. It is certainly the best one I have read. I especially appreciated McGrath's emphasis on Lewis's commitment to both reason and imagination. Despite its scholarly heft, the book is easy to read and is sure to give both Lewis experts and novices appreciation for the man who has influenced millions.

As McGrath makes clear in the Preface, this is not a full-scale biography, but a work of "analysis" that seeks to identify the deeper themes and concerns in Lewis's life and work. This is why, for example, there is an entire chapter on the religious meanings of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and very little on Lewis as a friend, literary scholar, tutor, etc. If you are looking for insights into Lewis as a personality, there are better biographies. If you are looking for insightful commentary on important episodes in Lewis's life and his most popular writings, this is an excellent book.

McGrath is clearly puzzled why Lewis (a heavy drinking, heavy smoking, confession-going Anglican with a decidedly shocking love life) should be such a rock star to American evangelicals. He spends a whole chapter trying to figure out why, and evangelicals, if they read carefully between the lines, won't find his answer very flattering.

As McGrath makes clear in the Preface, this is not a full-scale biography, but a work of "analysis" that seeks to identify the deeper themes and concerns in Lewis's life and work. This is why, for example, there is an entire chapter on the religious meanings of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and very little on Lewis as a friend, literary scholar, tutor, etc. If you are looking for insights into Lewis as a personality, there are better biographies. If you are looking for insightful commentary on important episodes in Lewis's life and his most popular writings, this is an excellent book.

McGrath is clearly puzzled why Lewis (a heavy drinking, heavy smoking, confession-going Anglican with a decidedly shocking love life) should be such a rock star to American evangelicals. He spends a whole chapter trying to figure out why, and evangelicals, if they read carefully between the lines, won't find his answer very flattering.

I thought this was an interesting book. I have read many books by C.S. Lewis and enjoy his writing. Before reading this book, I was not aware of his close friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien, or that Lewis actually nominated Tolkien for the Nobel Prize in Literature. I was also not aware of the differing views on his relationship with his wife and the speculation on her motivation in their relationship. The author offered an entire chapter on the Narnia books, and I enjoyed his take on the back story of Narnia and the possible reasons behind the seven books. I also enjoyed this book because of the pictures of buildings in Oxford and Cambridge that I recognized from my travels in England. Overall an interesting book, but a little dry.

Well written life story of an Irish scholar, religious writer, novelist, professor of medieval and renaissance literature. Lewis converted from atheism to Christianity over some time in an intellectual manner. After that he spoke and wrote understandable books on Christianity. His books, such as Mere Christianity, have been read by millions.

This is the biography of C.S. Lewis, published for the 50th anniversary of this death in 1963. C.S. Lewis was a professor and an author of popular books such as the Narnia series.

Wow, there was a lot of information in this book, which is to be expected in a book about a person's life. While it was somewhat interesting, there are so many places, dates and people mentioned that at times it got tedious to read. Certain parts seemed repetitive, such as Lewis' conversion to Christianity, and the footnotes in the back are extensive. Other readers might find all the information fascinating, but I thought the book was just okay.

Alister McGrath said at first there were enough biographies of C.S.Lewis out already and that he was writing an analysis of the books he had written. I was concerned it would be a dull book. Thankfully he did bring out C.S. Lewis's biography as well as analyzing his literature. I found the book to be very interesting and enlightening.

A splendid biography on the life of a watershed literary & apologetic figure in the 20th century. Unlike many biographies, McGrath avoids tilting toward myopic historic detail, while also avoiding esoteric, speculative debate regarding his ideas. Here we have a readable blend of history and idea, the person and the apologist, Lewis' life and work.

I would have appreciated some critical commentary on Lewis' theology. McGrath offers some real gems of critical historical research on such topics as the dating of his conversion and his relationship with Mrs. Moore. Nevertheless, it was a delightful read, especially as a writer myself.

In depth study of Lewis' life and it's influences on his writings. Well documented sources and references. Author has conducted massive research in writing this book and does well in presenting any alternative views of his findings. If you want to know more about the man behind the classics, this is a great book.

Lewis's human relationships were bizarre and often dysfunctional. His books and essays are models of clarity. This book does not adequately explore his relationships, instead it devotes many pages to literary analysis in the context of the times. McGrath is not an expert on literature, and I did not find his discussions especially interesting. Thus, the subtitle "A Life" is less than descriptive while what the book actually contains isn't all that helpful. The writing suffers from what I'll attribute to poor editing and/or lack of thoughtful development. Quite often I would read a paragraph and realize I had just read the same thoughts a few paragraphs earlier. This was very annoying, a characteristic of undergraduates padding their papers. It's not what I expected after reading some of McGrath's other books. Perhaps it was rushed out to capitalize on the 50th anniversary of Lewis's death. Thus, I suggest the book is useful only for those who want to know what McGrath has to say or those who want to be complete in their collection of books about Lewis. Look elsewhere for biographical information and literary analysis.

Very detailed and academic but give new insights into what made C.S. Lewis who he was. Now I also understand his time at Oxford and his relationship with Joy Davidman much better. A must read for all serious Lewis fans.