What Are Cs Lewis's Beliefs

Sydney Mauch

Miss Brigham

Core C Comp/Lit

29 February 2016

C.S. Lewis’s Beliefs C.S. Lewis is known as one of the most influential Christian writers ever. What many do not know is he was once an atheist at one point in his life. Atheism is a belief that there is no God or gods; Christianity is the exact opposite. Christianity is the belief in the one, true God, and remembering his son, Jesus, came to die on the cross for our sins. Lewis describes a Christian as one striving to be more like Christ and allowing Him to completely take over our lives for the better. Lewis had several atheistic views until converting to Christianity. He being an atheist gave him more knowledge when supporting his current beliefs of Christianity. On September 19,

In The Chronicles of Narnia, one of Lewis’s more popular series, it talks about regular children finding another world inside a wardrobe, and they meet the creator of the world, Aslan. Some may say the series has nothing to do with Christianity. Again with The Screwtape Letters, It could have no meaning behind it; instead it’s just a fun story. Some people may believe he has only atheistic views only and his Christian beliefs were not existent when writing. McGrath states, “Yet the tone of his writings of the early 1920’s is unquestionably atheistic… Severely critical if not totally dismissive of religion in general and Christianity in particular” (McGrath 131). This proves that he was in fact atheist at one point in his life and his Christian beliefs may not have affected his writing at all. He even has atheistic remarks in his book Mere Christianity; he says, “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust” (Lewis 38). His beliefs actually had a huge impact on his writing. McGrath says, “Yet whether one thinks Christianity is good or bad, it is clearly important- and Lewis is perhaps the most credible and influential popular representative of ‘Mere Christianity’ that he himself championed” (McGrath xi). Mere Christianity demonstrates how a Christian should live his life and C.S. Lewis definitely lived his life like a Christian. By making atheistic comments, he is then able to

He is open about his faith in his fictional writing. A Christian will be very familiar with the worldview of The Chronicles of Narnia. His main character in the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan, represents Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit. In The Magician’s Nephew, Aslan has always existed and he creates Narnia from nothing with his voice. In Genesis 1:3, God says, “Let there be light” and there was light. We see God and Aslan both as creators. Aslan also represents God by being loving and forgiving. He forgives Digory for ringing the bell, and bringing darkness into the world. He also gave him a blessing for bringing back the apple without being tempted to take it. In The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe, Aslan sacrifices himself to save Edmund just like Jesus had sacrificed himself for us. Aslan is omniscient and omnipresent which makes him mysterious like God. In The Horse and His Boy, he comforted Shasta in the form of a cat because he knew he was scared. In 2 Samuel 14:20 it says, “My Lord has wisdom like that of an angel of God- he knows everything that happens in the land.” God has a plan for each and everyone one of us. Just like Aslan had a plan since the beginning of Shasta’s life. In The Magicians Nephew, The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe, and The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis creates a world called Narnia that can be compared closely to the Bible. In this world we can see