On this day, in 1898, Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland. He was more popularly known as C.S. Lewis, but his friends all called him Jack. During his life, he was an extremely influential theologian, and his radio broadcasts during the Second World War brought him fame as a profound thinker, with a manner of ease in explaining profound concepts.
It is impossible to over-estimate how much I have been influenced by his style of writing, and Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters are two of my all-time favourite works theological books.
“Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”
“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
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I honestly don't recall reading those books. Perhaps I will upon your recommendation.
ReplyDeleteGreat post about a great man. Truly a genius.
ReplyDeleteThe man was simply brilliant. He's been one of the most influential "dead" writers in my life.
ReplyDeleteJust popping in to say hello.....I am now officially crawling out from the rock I have been under lately.
ReplyDeleteHello there!
ReplyDeleteMy RSS feed and I have had only a nodding acquaintance with each other the last few weeks, so I'm just now catching this post.
C.S. Lewis made incomparable contributions to Christian literature. Its landscape would look completely different if not for him.
Screwtape Letters is pure genius. It inspired me to include a glimpse of demonic schemes in my biblical fiction. As for Mere Christianity, it should be required reading for every Christian—after the Bible, of course!
And can you imagine a world without Narnia?
Nice post, favorite fish.
Awwww, C.S. Lewis... definitely a profound thinker. My husband raised our son (Jared) on C.S. Lewis. :) He and Jared read Screwtape Letters together when Jared was about 10. I think they've both read all (or most) of his works, even the Space Trilogy. Have you read those? They loved them.
ReplyDeleteI praise God for people like C.S. Lewis... who thought of God more fantastic(ly) and let him step outside of the boundaries that man gave him. God is so much more interesting and incredible than people give him credit for. He never wanted us to be stuck obeying unnecessary rules and living in bondage under man's label of "conservative" ways. He made us free! There's so much to rejoice over in this life!
Could go on but crawling off soap box.
:)
Lynnette
I am reluctant to admit, but I actually did not really enjoy the Space Trilogy. I found it a little disappointing I suppose.
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