Published 10:45 IST, November 29th 2020
On CS Lewis' birthday, know why the author reconverted to Christianity
On CS Lewis' birthday, know why the British author reconverted his religion to Christianity after abandoning the religion during his teenage years. Read here.
- Lifestyle News
- 3 min read
British author Clive Staples Lewis was born to an Anglo-Irish family in Belfast in the year 1898. He was raised by his parents who were Protestants. But it wasn’t until his mother’s death that he began reading the holy book Bible for himself and eventually began working out on his own thoughts on the religion, as reported by EWTN. During which, Christianity offered him consolation at the time when he was feeling loneliness and sorrow.
CS Lewis' conversion to Christianity
As per EWTN, initially, during his teenage, CS Lewis had abandoned the religion. The site added that he immersed himself in Greek mythology, German mythology and later Irish mythology and literature. He eventually moved further from Christianity once he left school in the year 1914. He was then tutored by William Kirkpatrick, who was a family friend, privately. He was an atheist and often challenged CS Lewis to think about himself and to leave conformist ideas about the religion.
He was a professor at the Oxford University and Cambridge University for English Literature. Once he settled in his professional as well as domestic life in his early thirties, CS Lewis addressed a turning point in his spiritual life. He dealt with his meeting with J R R Tolkien. They met in Oxford and a more than 40-year-old friendship was developed which gave birth to their famous novels- Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, as mentioned on the site.
Tolkien's friendship brought him closer to Jesus Christ
The site further added that in 1929, CS Lewis was on his knees and prayed to God desperately. It was Tolkien’s friendship that brought him closer to Jesus Christ. His reconversion to Christianity was not a simple one. It was accompanied by doubts, inward debates and discussions with friends. In The Catholic Church and Conversion, CS Lewis declared, “The mark of faith is not tradition; it is conversion. It is the miracle by which men find truth in spite of tradition and often with the rending of all the roots of humanity.... A century or two hence Spiritualism may be a tradition and Socialism may be a tradition and Christian Science may be a tradition. But Catholicism will not be a tradition. It will still be a nuisance and a new and dangerous thing...".
CS Lewis has written more than 30 books which are translated into more than 30 languages. The copies are sold in millions all over the world. CS Lewis was married to American writer Joy Davidman.
Image Source: Still from An Evening with C.S. Lewis (Marcus Performing Arts Center)
Updated 10:45 IST, November 29th 2020