Editing C. S. Lewis (section)

==Career==

===Scholar===
[[File:Magdalen College Oxford 20040613.jpg|thumb|Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[File:MagdaleneCollegeCam.jpg|thumb|Magdalene College, Cambridge]]

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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life |last=Nicholi |first=Armand |publisher=Free Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0743247856 |page=4}}</ref> He was then elected a Fellow of [[Magdalen College, Oxford]], where he worked for nearly thirty years, from 1925 to 1954.<ref name="WWW">{{Cite book |title=Who Was Who |date=1 December 2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Lewis, Clive Staples |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U48011 |isbn=978-0-19-954089-1 |chapter-url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-48011 |access-date=8 April 2018 |archive-date=9 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409043654/http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-48011 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1954, he was awarded the newly founded [[Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English (Cambridge)|chair of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature]] at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]], and was elected a fellow of [[Magdalene College, Cambridge|Magdalene College]].<ref name="WWW" /> Concerning his appointed academic field, he argued that there was no such thing as an [[English Renaissance]].<ref name="ohel" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Selected Literary Essays |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=1969 |editor-last=Hooper |editor-first=Walter |page=[https://archive.org/details/selectedliterary0000lewi/page/2 2] |chapter=De Descriptione Temporum |orig-year=1955 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/selectedliterary0000lewi |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> Much of his scholarly work concentrated on the [[Late Middle Ages|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]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Allegory of Love |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |orig-year=1936 |year=1977 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK}}</ref>

[[File:Eagle and Child.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[The Eagle and Child]] pub in Oxford where the Inklings met on Tuesday mornings in 1939]]

Lewis was commissioned to write the volume ''English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama)'' for the Oxford History of English Literature.<ref name="ohel">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/englishliteratur00lewi |title=English Literature in the Sixteenth Century: excluding drama |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |year=1954 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |url-access=registration}}</ref> His book ''A Preface to Paradise Lost''<ref>{{cite book |title=A Preface to "Paradise Lost": Being the Ballard Matthews Lectures, Delivered at University College, North Wales, 1941 |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |orig-year=1942 |year=1961 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |ref=none}}</ref> is still cited as a criticism of that work. His last [[academia|academic work]], ''[[The 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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |location=Cambridge, England |orig-year=1964}}</ref>

Lewis was a prolific writer, and his circle of literary friends became an informal discussion society known as the "[[Inklings]]", including [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], [[Nevill Coghill]], [[Lord David Cecil]], [[Charles Williams (British writer)|Charles Williams]], [[Owen Barfield]], and his brother [[Warren Lewis]]. Glyer points to December 1929 as the Inklings' beginning date.{{sfn|Glyer|2007|p=}} 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.{{sfn|Lazo|2004|pp=191–226}} 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. The religious and conservative Betjeman detested Lewis, whereas the [[anti-establishment]] Tynan retained a lifelong admiration for him.{{sfn|Tonkin|2005}}{{Rp | needed = yes|date=March 2012}}

Of Tolkien, Lewis writes in ''[[Surprised by Joy]]'':

{{blockquote |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&nbsp;... 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 [[philology|philologist]]. Tolkien was both.{{sfn|Lewis|1966b|p=216}}}}

===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 of Man|fall from grace]], and redemption.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shumaker |first=Wayne |year=1955 |title=The Cosmic Trilogy of C. S. Lewis |journal=The Hudson Review |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=240–254 |doi=10.2307/3847687 |issn=0018-702X |jstor=3847687}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7emDwAAQBAJ&q=%22cs+lewis%22++christian+fiction&pg=PP1 |title=C.S. Lewis and Christian Postmodernism: Word, Image, and Beyond |last=Yuasa |first=Kyoko |date=25 May 2017 |publisher=Lutterworth Press |isbn=978-0-7188-4608-4 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102146/https://books.google.com/books?id=F7emDwAAQBAJ&q=%22cs+lewis%22++christian+fiction&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

His first novel after becoming a Christian was ''[[The Pilgrim's Regress]]'' (1933), which depicted his journey to Christianity in the allegorical style of [[John Bunyan]]'s ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]''. The book was poorly received by critics at the time,<ref name="Thomas" /> 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."{{sfn|Murray|1990}}{{Rp | needed = yes|date=March 2012}}

The ''[[Space Trilogy]]'' (also called the ''Cosmic Trilogy'' or ''Ransom Trilogy'') dealt with what Lewis saw as the dehumanizing 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 and Other Writings|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.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eLCAgAAQBAJ |title=The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |date=21 February 2014 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-544-36379-3 |page=45 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102146/https://books.google.com/books?id=9eLCAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

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|date=November 2016}}

Many ideas in the trilogy, particularly opposition to dehumanization 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 [[Durham Cathedral|the cathedral]]. ''That 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.{{sfn|Lewis|1945|page=7}}

[[Walter Hooper]], Lewis's literary executor, discovered a fragment of another science-fiction novel apparently written by Lewis called ''[[The Dark Tower (1977 novel)|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.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-01-vw-30166-story.html |title=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 |last=Washburn |first=Jim |date=1 September 1993 |access-date=18 January 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118162322/http://articles.latimes.com/1993-09-01/news/vw-30166_1_lewis-hoax/2 |archive-date=18 January 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Mourne mountains.jpg|thumb|[[Mourne Mountains|The Mountains of Mourne]] inspired Lewis to write ''The Chronicles of Narnia''. About them, Lewis wrote "I have seen landscapes&nbsp;... which, under a particular light, make me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge."<ref name="The great British weekend: The Mourne Mountains">{{Cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-great-british-weekend-the-mourne-mountains-zjb7lpkn9zw |title=The great British weekend The Mourne Mountains |last=Knight |first=Jane |date=12 September 2009 |work=The Times |access-date=28 April 2010 |location=London}}</ref>]]

''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', considered a classic of children's literature, is a series of seven fantasy novels. 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 {{Harvard citation|Kelly|2006|pp=}} {{Harvard citation|Guthmann|2005|pp=}}. It has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage and [[The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)|cinema]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.narniaweb.com/movies/adaptations/ |title=Other Narnia Adaptations |website=NarniaWeb {{!}} Netflix's Narnia Movies |date=26 May 2018 |access-date=3 December 2019 |archive-date=10 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810043802/https://www.narniaweb.com/movies/adaptations/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1956, the final novel in the series, ''[[The Last Battle]]'', won the [[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Eccleshare |first=Julia |date=13 June 2016 |title=Eighty years of children's books: the best Carnegie medal winners |url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/jun/13/carnegie-medal-winners-1936 |access-date=31 October 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

The books contain Christian ideas intended to be easily accessible to young readers. In addition to Christian themes, Lewis also borrows characters from [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]], as well as traditional British and Irish fairy tales.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2eo4B--jyqoC&q=roman+mythology+chronicles+of+narnia&pg=PR1 |title=The Magical Worlds of Narnia: The Symbols, Myths, and Fascinating Facts Behind The Chronicles |last=Colbert |first=David |date=2005 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-425-20563-1 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102147/https://books.google.com/books?id=2eo4B--jyqoC&q=roman+mythology+chronicles+of+narnia&pg=PR1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Costello|first=Alicia D.|date=2009|url=http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=69|title=Examining Mythology in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S. Lewis|journal=Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse|volume=1|issue=11}}</ref>

Lewis's last novel, ''[[Till We Have Faces]]'', a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, was published in 1956.<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web |last1=Schakel |first1=Peter |title=Till We Have Faces: A Novel by CS Lewis |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Till-We-Have-Faces |website=Brittannica |access-date=19 March 2022}}</ref> Although Lewis called it "far and away my best book", it was not as well-reviewed as his previous work.<ref name="britannica.com"/>

====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]]'', which he dedicated to J. R. R. Tolkien, 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#Religious|damnation]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Screwtape-Letters |title=The Screwtape Letters {{!}} novel by Lewis |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=14 November 2019 |archive-date=2 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902190549/https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Screwtape-Letters |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 [[paganism|pagan]], and the connections with specific Christian beliefs are left implicit.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Till-We-Have-Faces |title=Till We Have Faces {{!}} novel by Lewis |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=14 November 2019 |archive-date=2 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902181253/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Till-We-Have-Faces |url-status=live }}</ref>

Before Lewis's conversion to Christianity, he published two books: ''[[Spirits in Bondage]]'', a collection of poems, and ''[[Dymer (poem)|Dymer]]'', a single [[narrative poetry|narrative poem]]. Both were published under the pen name Clive Hamilton. Other narrative poems have since been published posthumously, including ''Launcelot'', ''The Nameless Isle'', and ''[[The Queen of Drum]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Narrative Poems. |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=1969 |publisher=Fount Paperbacks |edition=Walter Hooper |location=London}}</ref>

He also wrote ''[[The Four Loves]]'', which rhetorically explains four categories of love: [[philia|friendship]], [[Eros (concept)|eros]], [[storge|affection]], and [[agape|charity]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/fourloves00lewi |title=The Four Loves. |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=1960 |publisher=Harcourt |location=New York |isbn=9780156329309 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2009/07/CSLewis070809.html |title=Beebe discovers unpublished C.S. Lewis manuscript : University News Service : Texas State University |date=8 July 2009 |publisher=Texas State University |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-date=2 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602064824/http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2009/07/CSLewis070809.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2024 an original poem was discovered in a collection of documents in Special Collections at the [[University of Leeds]].<ref name=":0">{{cite news |date=28 April 2024 |title=CS Lewis poem unearthed in University of Leeds collection |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-68890548 |access-date=2 May 2024 |work=BBC News }}</ref> Its Old English title, "Mód Þrýþe Ne Wæg", is not easily translated into modern English and references the epic poem ''[[Beowulf]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Leeds |first=University of |date=22 April 2024 |title=Uncovering a CS Lewis poem in Special Collections |url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/news-arts-culture/news/article/5553/uncovering-a-cs-lewis-poem-in-special-collections |access-date=2 May 2024 |website=www.leeds.ac.uk }}</ref> The poem was addressed to professor of English [[E. V. Gordon|Eric Valentine Gordon]] and his wife Dr Ida Gordon.<ref name=":0" /> It was written under the pen name Nat Whilk, meaning "someone" in Old English.<ref name=":0" />

===Christian apologist===
Lewis is also regarded by many as one of the most influential [[Christian apologetics|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.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=24 April 2000 |title=Books of the Century 
|magazine=[[Christianity Today]]
|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/april24/5.92.html |volume=44 |issue=5 |page=92 |access-date=7 October 2010 |archive-date=3 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203084913/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/april24/5.92.html |url-status=live }}{{subscription required}}</ref> He has been called "The Apostle to the Skeptics" due to his approach to religious belief as a sceptic, and his following conversion.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qANAQAAMAAJ |title=C. S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics |last=Walsh |first=Chad |year=1949 |publisher=Norwood Editions |isbn=9780883057797 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102147/https://books.google.com/books?id=3qANAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lewis was very interested in presenting an [[argument from reason]] against [[metaphysical naturalism]] and for the [[existence of God]]. ''Mere Christianity'', ''[[The Problem of Pain]]'', and ''[[Miracles (book)|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'').{{sfn|Lewis|1997|page=}}{{Rp | needed = yes|date=March 2012}}

According to George Sayer, losing a 1948 debate with [[G. E. M. Anscombe|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.<ref name="rilstone-refuted">{{Cite web |url=http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/cslfaq.htm#_Toc5085891 |title=Were Lewis's proofs of the existence of God from 'Miracles' refuted by Elizabeth Anscombe? |last=Rilstone |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Rilstone |website=Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=Alt.books.cs-lewis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021202084439/http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/cslfaq.htm#_Toc5085891 |archive-date=2 December 2002}}</ref> Anscombe had a completely different recollection of the debate's outcome and its emotional effect on Lewis.<ref name=rilstone-refuted /> 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.<ref name="Reppert 2005 https://books.google.com/books?id=hn1gaNlri1cC&pg=PA266 266">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofnarn00bass/page/ |title=The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, the Witch, and the Worldview |last=Reppert |first=Victor |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-8126-9588-5 |editor-last=Gregory Bassham and Jerry L. Walls |location=[[LaSalle, Illinois|La Salle]], Illinois |page=[https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofnarn00bass/page/ 266 ] [https://books.google.com/books?id=hn1gaNlri1cC&pg=PA266] |chapter=The Green Witch and the Great Debate: Freeing Narnia from the Spell of the Lewis-Anscombe Legend |oclc=60557454 |author-link=Victor Reppert |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hn1gaNlri1cC&pg=PA260}}</ref> 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: "...&nbsp;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''&nbsp;– though that version also had 'much to criticize in it'."<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe |last=Teichman |first=Roger |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0199299331 |page=3}}</ref>

Lewis wrote an autobiography titled ''Surprised by Joy'', which places special emphasis on his own conversion.<ref name="Lewis" /> 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]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=loE7BAAAQBAJ |title=God in the Dock |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=15 September 2014 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-7183-1 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102148/https://books.google.com/books?id=loE7BAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WNTT_8NW_qwC&q=the+weight+of+glory |title=Weight of Glory |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |date=20 March 2001 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=978-0-06-065320-0 |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102148/https://books.google.com/books?id=WNTT_8NW_qwC&q=the+weight+of+glory |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 "[[supposition]]al". As Lewis wrote in a letter to a Mrs. Hook in December 1958:

{{blockquote|If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity in the same way in which Giant Despair <nowiki>[</nowiki>a character in ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress]]''<nowiki>]</nowiki> 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.{{sfn|Martindale|Root|1990|pp=}}}}

Prior to his conversion, Lewis used the word "Moslem" to refer to Muslims, adherents of Islam; following his conversion, however, he started using "[[Mohammedan]]s" and described Islam as a Christian heresy rather than an independent religion.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=30-03-042-f&readcode=&readtherest=true#therest |title=Not Merely Islam |last=Imam |first=Jacob Fareed |date=May–June 2017 |work=[[Touchstone (magazine)|Touchstone]] |access-date=23 May 2022 }}</ref>

===="Trilemma"====
{{Main|Lewis's 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:

{{blockquote|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&nbsp;– on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg&nbsp;– 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.{{sfn|Lewis|1997|p=43}}}}

Although this argument is sometimes called "Lewis's trilemma", Lewis did not invent it but rather developed and popularized it. It has also been used by Christian apologist [[Josh McDowell]] in his book ''More Than a Carpenter''.<ref>{{Harvard citation|McDowell|2001}}</ref> It has been widely repeated in Christian apologetic literature but largely ignored by professional theologians and biblical scholars.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The incarnation: an interdisciplinary symposium on the incarnation of the Son of God |last=Davis |first=Stephen T. |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-927577-9 |editor-last=Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall and Gerald O'Collins |location=Oxford |pages=222–223 |chapter=Was Jesus Mad, Bad, or God? |oclc=56656427 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xLtu0IwjK5oC |access-date=16 October 2015 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529102202/https://books.google.com/books?id=xLtu0IwjK5oC |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lewis's Christian apologetics, and this argument in particular, have been criticized. Philosopher John Beversluis described Lewis's arguments as "textually careless and theologically unreliable",<ref>{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion |last=Beversluis |first=John |publisher=[[W. B. Eerdmans]] |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-8028-0046-6 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan}}</ref> and this particular argument as logically unsound and an example of a [[false dilemma]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion |last=Beversluis |first=John |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-59102-531-3 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=132 |oclc=85899079 |orig-year=1985}}</ref> The [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] New Testament scholar [[N. T. Wright]] criticizes Lewis for failing to recognize the significance of Jesus's Jewish identity and setting&nbsp;– 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 argues that this "doesn't undermine the eventual claim".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wright |first=N. T. |author-link=N. T. Wright |date=March 2007 |title=Simply Lewis: Reflections on a Master Apologist After 60 Years |url=http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-02-028-f |magazine=[[Touchstone (magazine)|Touchstone]] |volume=20 |issue=2 |access-date=11 February 2009 |archive-date=31 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531004731/https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-02-028-f |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lewis used a similar argument in ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'', when [[Digory Kirke|the old Professor]] advises his young guests that their sister's claims of a magical world must logically be taken as either lies, madness, or truth.<ref name="Reppert 2005 https://books.google.com/books?id=hn1gaNlri1cC&pg=PA266 266" />

====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.{{sfn|Lindskoog|2001|p=144}}

{{blockquote|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.{{sfn|Lewis|1997|p=21}}}}

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.{{sfn|Lindskoog|2001|p=146}}

In the second chapter of ''Mere Christianity'', Lewis recognizes that "many people find it difficult to understand what this Law of Human Nature&nbsp;... 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:

{{blockquote |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&nbsp;– 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 [[quisling]]s 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.{{sfn|Lewis|1997|p=26}}}}

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''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.irishantivivisection.org/cslewis.html |title=Vivisection by CS<!--sic--> Lewis |last=Lewis |first=C. S. |publisher=Irish Anti-Vivisection Society |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516055451/http://www.irishantivivisection.org/cslewis.html |archive-date=16 May 2008 |access-date=2 August 2009}}</ref> and "On the Pains of Animals".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Linzey |first=Andrew |date=Winter 1998 |title=C. S. Lewis's theology of animals |url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-26637068/c-s-lewis-s-theology-of-animals |magazine=[[Anglican Theological Review]] |access-date=1 April 2009 |archive-date=22 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922045243/https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-26637068/c-s-lewis-s-theology-of-animals |url-status=live }}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/people/cslewis_1.shtml |title=C.S. Lewis: Animal theology |access-date=1 April 2009 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=30 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171030131929/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/people/cslewis_1.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>