The Theology of C.S. Lewis (Updated October 2017 Edition)

(Updated July 2017 Edition!) Despite his status as one of the most influential and intelligent Christian authors of the 20th century, C.S. Lewis never thought of himself as a professional theologian. While he was well-read in many types of literary genres, he did not go to Seminary to obtain a Masters in Theology and study a year of Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek. He was not a Pastor who preached sermons to a congregation for many years but a raw, honest philosopher and professor of literature who wrote as well as any Christian of his time could. He had a gift for clearly articulating his perspectives on a variety of issues. Above all, he was humble, in that he had an honest evaluation of both his strengths and his weaknesses. I believe this is one of the main reasons why he is still so enjoyable to read even after all these years. In terms of his theology, Lewis himself said he was an “Anglican but not especially ‘high,’ nor especially ‘low,’ nor especially anything else.” So the theology of C.S. Lewis is not something one can immediately discover by simply perusing a certain book of his to see exactly where he stands on certain doctrinal issues; it is much more subtle and convoluted than that. But in this book, you will find his different thoughts from his many books about certain Christian doctrines and topics pieced together in an easy-to-follow format (Lewis has written nearly 60 books but none of them are on systematic theology). This book offers very clear depictions of his theology concerning subjects such as the doctrine of inspiration, original sin, human depravity, human origins, evolution, intelligent design, theodicy, love and marriage, redemption, grace, new creation, and grief, as his authentic reaction to God after his wife’s death is conveyed. The final chapter and appendix also contain all of his greatest quotes arranged and sorted by topic as well as excerpts, quotes, and summaries from most of his books in a quick, easy-to-read, bullet-point format. These last two sections are a particularly great resource to draw from as you can quickly learn about the main points Lewis conveys in his bestselling books.