Author : James Como
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 161 pages
File Size : 43,46 MB
Release : 2019
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0198828241
The writings of C. S. Lewis have a universal appeal. His Chronicles of Narnia are by far the best known, but he was also a prolific literary scholar, essayist, broadcaster, novelist, poet, and Christian apologist. Following the chronology of Lewis's life, James Como draws out the core themes of his writings, showing how his ideas evolved.
Author : James Como
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 161 pages
File Size : 20,15 MB
Release : 2019-01-17
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0192563327
Beloved by children and adults worldwide, the writings of C.S. Lewis have a broad and enduring appeal. Although he is best known for the iconic Chronicles of Narnia series, C. S. Lewis was actually a man of many literary parts. Already well-known as a scholar in the thirties, he became a famous broadcaster during World War Two and wrote in many genres, including satire (The Screwtape Letters), science fiction ( Perelandra), a novel (Till We Have Faces), and many other books on Christian belief, such as Mere Christianity and Miracles. His few sermons remain touchstones of their type. In addition to these, Lewis wrote hundreds of poems and articles on social and cultural issues, many books and articles in his field of literary criticism and history, and thousands of letters. At Oxford University he became a charismatic lecturer and conversationalist. Taken together his writings have engaged and influenced, often very deeply, millions of readers. Now Lewis societies, television documentaries, movies, radio plays, and theatrical treatments of his work and life have become common, and he is frequently quoted by journalists, critics, and public thinkers. This Very Short Introduciton delves into the vast corpus of C. S. Lewis' work, discussing its core themes and lasting appeal. As James Como shows, C. S. Lewis' life is just as interesting as his work. A complex man, he came to his knowledge, beliefs, and wisdom only after much tortuous soul-searching and many painful events. Moving chronologically through Lewis' life, Como provides throughout a picture of the whole man, his work, and his enduring legacy. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author : Edward Craig
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 37,99 MB
Release : 2002-02-21
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0191500747
How ought we to live? What really exists? How do we know? This book introduces important themes in ethics, knowledge, and the self, via readings from Plato, Hume, Descartes, Hegel, Darwin, and Buddhist writers. It emphasizes throughout the point of doing philosophy, explains how different areas of philosophy are related, and explores the contexts in which philosophy was and is done. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author : David C. Downing
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 10,36 MB
Release : 2021-05-07
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1666718939
In his teens, a young man wrote, “I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them.” After serving in the trenches of WW1, the same young man said, “I never sank so low as to pray.” To a religious friend, he wrote impatiently, “You can’t start with God. I don’t accept God!” This young man was C. S. Lewis, the “foul-mouthed atheist” who would become one of the most eloquent Christian writers of the twentieth century. David C. Downing offers a unique look at Lewis’s personal journey to faith and the profound influence it had on his life as a writer and eventual follower of Christ. This is the first book to focus on the period from Lewis’s childhood to his early thirties, a tumultuous journey of spiritual and intellectual exploration. It was not despite this journey but precisely because of it that Lewis understood the search for life’s meaning so well.
Author : Michael Ward
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 655 pages
File Size : 24,33 MB
Release : 2008-01-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0199740933
For over half a century, scholars have laboured to show that C. S. Lewis's famed but apparently disorganised Chronicles of Narnia have an underlying symbolic coherence, pointing to such possible unifying themes as the seven sacraments, the seven deadly sins, and the seven books of Spenser's Faerie Queene. None of these explanations has won general acceptance and the structure of Narnia's symbolism has remained a mystery. Michael Ward has finally solved the enigma. In Planet Narnia he demonstrates that medieval cosmology, a subject which fascinated Lewis throughout his life, provides the imaginative key to the seven novels. Drawing on the whole range of Lewis's writings (including previously unpublished drafts of the Chronicles), Ward reveals how the Narnia stories were designed to express the characteristics of the seven medieval planets - - Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn - - planets which Lewis described as "spiritual symbols of permanent value" and "especially worthwhile in our own generation". Using these seven symbols, Lewis secretly constructed the Chronicles so that in each book the plot-line, the ornamental details, and, most important, the portrayal of the Christ-figure of Aslan, all serve to communicate the governing planetary personality. The cosmological theme of each Chronicle is what Lewis called 'the kappa element in romance', the atmospheric essence of a story, everywhere present but nowhere explicit. The reader inhabits this atmosphere and thus imaginatively gains connaître knowledge of the spiritual character which the tale was created to embody. Planet Narnia is a ground-breaking study that will provoke a major revaluation not only of the Chronicles, but of Lewis's whole literary and theological outlook. Ward uncovers a much subtler writer and thinker than has previously been recognized, whose central interests were hiddenness, immanence, and knowledge by acquaintance.
Author : Clive Staples Lewis
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Page : 112 pages
File Size : 33,72 MB
Release : 2002
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9780156027854
"Where God gives the gift, the 'foolishness of preaching' is still mighty. But best of all is a team of two: one to deliver the preliminary intellectual barrage, and the other to follow up with a direct attack on the heart." An inveterate scholar, throughout his lifetime C.S. Lewis wrote on any number of topics. While his most famous essays concern his thoughts on Christianity, he was also interested in literature, masculinity, domestic life, and war. In the nineteen essays collected inPresent Concerns, he touches on all of these and more. Though wide-ranging, these essays all share one thing: C.S. Lewis's characteristic pragmatism and persuasiveness. Many of the essays included were written between 1940 and 1945, and so pertinently reflect on the issues raised by World War II: democratic values, the need for a new chivalry, and the cynicism of the modern soldier, all of which remain relevant today. "Lewis gives us permission to admit our own doubts, our own angers and anguishes, and to know that they are part of the soul's growth."--Madeleine L'Engle
Author : James Como
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 15,55 MB
Release : 2019-01-17
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0192563335
Beloved by children and adults worldwide, the writings of C.S. Lewis have a broad and enduring appeal. Although he is best known for the iconic Chronicles of Narnia series, C. S. Lewis was actually a man of many literary parts. Already well-known as a scholar in the thirties, he became a famous broadcaster during World War Two and wrote in many genres, including satire (The Screwtape Letters), science fiction ( Perelandra), a novel (Till We Have Faces), and many other books on Christian belief, such as Mere Christianity and Miracles. His few sermons remain touchstones of their type. In addition to these, Lewis wrote hundreds of poems and articles on social and cultural issues, many books and articles in his field of literary criticism and history, and thousands of letters. At Oxford University he became a charismatic lecturer and conversationalist. Taken together his writings have engaged and influenced, often very deeply, millions of readers. Now Lewis societies, television documentaries, movies, radio plays, and theatrical treatments of his work and life have become common, and he is frequently quoted by journalists, critics, and public thinkers. This Very Short Introduciton delves into the vast corpus of C. S. Lewis' work, discussing its core themes and lasting appeal. As James Como shows, C. S. Lewis' life is just as interesting as his work. A complex man, he came to his knowledge, beliefs, and wisdom only after much tortuous soul-searching and many painful events. Moving chronologically through Lewis' life, Como provides throughout a picture of the whole man, his work, and his enduring legacy. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author : C.S. Lewis
Publisher : Hampton Roads Publishing
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 11,92 MB
Release : 2018-09-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1612834302
A USA Today bestseller! "These well-chosen Lewis quotes will inspire readers and prompt them to make their own spiritual reflections." —Publishers Weekly Novelist, poet, critic, lay theologian, and best-selling author of the 'Narnia' series, C. S. Lewis' works have become timeless classics for adults and children around the world. Here in one concise volume is the essence of his thought on subjects ranging from love and faith to ethics and morality and myth and literature that will throw open the windows of the soul and provide readers with bite-sized nuggets of wisdom and inspiration from one of the best-loved writers of the 20th century. This lovely little gift book will provide sustenance, wisdom, and hope for both believers and seekers. And, most importantly, it will provide an entry point for those unfamiliar with Lewis that will make them want to explore his fiction and nonfiction works. Selections from C.S. Lewis' Little Book of Wisdom: "If God had granted all the silly prayers I've made in my life, where should I be now?" "Surely arrested development consists not in refusing to lose old things, but in failing to add new things…" "Do not dare not to dare." "We are mirrors whose brightness is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us." "I didn't go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity."
Author : A. N. Wilson
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 32,45 MB
Release : 2002
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780393323405
Provides a documented portrait of the well-known author.
Author : Michael L. Peterson
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 31,3 MB
Release : 2020
Category : Art
ISBN : 0190201118
C. S. Lewis is one of the most influential and beloved Christian writers of the past century, and interest in him continues to grow as books about his fantasy, fiction, and biography continue to appear. Although Lewis's personal journey was a deeply philosophical search for the most adequate worldview, the few extant books about his Christian philosophy focus on specific topics rather than his overall worldview. In this book, Michael Peterson develops a comprehensive framework for understanding Lewis's Christian worldview--from his arguments from reason, morality, and desire to his ideas about Incarnation, Trinity, and Atonement. All worldviews address fundamental questions about reality, knowledge, human nature, meaning, and so forth. Peterson therefore examines Lewis's Christian approach to these same questions in interaction with other worldviews. Accenting that the intellectual strength and existential relevance of Lewis's works rest on his philosophical acumen as well as his Christian orthodoxy--which he famously called mere Christianity--Peterson skillfully shows how Lewis's Christian thought engages a variety of important problems raised by believers and nonbelievers alike: the problem of evil and suffering, the problem of religious diversity, the problem of meaning, and others. Just as Lewis was gifted in communicating philosophical ideas and arguments in an accessible style, Peterson has crafted a major contribution to Lewis scholarship presented in a way that will interest scholars and benefit the general reader.
