C. S. Lewis Remembered: Collected Reflections of Students, Friends & Colleagues

• Publisher:   Zondervan
• Number Of Pages:   272
• Publication Date:   2006-08-01
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0310265096
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780310265092

Fifteen former friends, colleagues, and students of C. S. Lewis share--in the form of deeply personal essays--their most intimate memories of one of the most influential Christian writers of all time.

Lewis himself thought it unimportant, and even wrong, to be too curious about the private life of an author, as if you could work backwards into the "real" meaning of an author's writing through some sort of half-baked Freudian analysis (uh, does Wilson's book come to mind?!). Fortunately this book does not attempt to do so, since it is not really about is private life, but rather various angles of his public, mainly academic, life at Oxford and Cambridge. Of course personal tidbits are there, and they are quite enlightening and usually humorous, but you won't find the deep dark secret or alter ego that too many readers become obsessed with. Nor does the book paint a rosy picture in a hagiographic tone. It is just first-hand accounts of those who knew Lewis in varying degrees of intimacy at various stages of his life, some longer than others, showing that his life, like any other, is marked by the quotidian quality of normality. The only difference is that he was a genius with a rare talent for articulation and clear thinking, and his heart was kind; Sort of like a Spock with a sense of humor and a faith in God. Here you find Lewis the frustrated poet, Lewis the analytical machine who argued for the joy of debate like his hero Johnson, Lewis the Inkling, Lewis the privately charitable (giving huge sums of money away to people he barely knew, widows in particular), Lewis the absent-minded Chair, Lewis the man of infinite memory recall, Lewis the scholar and popular lecturer, Lewis the godfather, Lewis the theologian unpopular with his colleagues for it, Lewis the tutor, Lewis the defender of Truth, Lewis the literary scholar, etc. Each essay has its own style, some better than others, some longer than others. But all open a unique window into the man we have come to admire, argue with and ultimately respect as a fellow traveler on the path to Truth and Meaning. In particular I found Alastair Fowler's recollections of Lewis as his tutor at Oxford worthwhile. The essay really is about Lewis' powers of recollection and how that related to his life as a scholar, lecturer, tutor and friend. For me, that essay alone was worth the price of the book. A theme that stands out in the collection is that of Lewis as the self-described dinosaur and specimen of the "Old Man" from the school of classical western education. How apt a description. They really don't make them like that anymore. In thinking to myself about who from our own time could be described in such terms, the giant of theological history, Jaroslav Pelikan, came to mind. A polyglot who could function on the scholarly level in at least nine languages, a pioneer in his field of theological history, as well as an authority on German literature, classical music, philosophy and even yachting (among other things), Pelikan embodied everything that Christian scholars aim for: deep piety (he was Eastern Orthodox) and deep intellect with a strong ability to articulate and defend the Faith to the world combined with genuine care for others and deep humility. They just don't make `em like that anymore. If you are interested in Lewis as a man, I think you would appreciate The Life of C.S. Lewis - Through Joy and Beyond, C. S. Lewis: Images of His World (get the first print for better page layouts of photos), Simply C. S. Lewis: A Beginner's Guide to the Life and Works of C. S. Lewis, The Magic Never Ends - The Life and Work of C.S. Lewis on dvd and The Magic Never Ends The Life And Works Of C.s. Lewis. We have so much to live for.

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