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An irresistible writer of wonder

Few modern Christian writers have brought together faith, reason, and imagination as compellingly as C.S. Lewis.

In works such as Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Abolition of Man, Lewis took up some of the most important questions of the Christian life. What is the foundation of good and evil? What does it mean to be converted? How should Christians approach prayer and Scripture? How can we understand suffering, death, heaven, and hell?

Lewis did not approach these questions only as abstract theological problems. His own journey from atheism to Christianity, and his experiences of joy, suffering, and grief, shaped how he understood and communicated the faith.

Hillsdale College invites you to explore these questions in the free, seven-lesson online course, “C.S. Lewis on Christianity,” taught by leading C.S. Lewis scholar Michael Ward.

Across seven lessons, Professor Ward examines Lewis’s thought and writing, showing how he defended the truth and goodness of Christianity while offering practical insights into the life of faith.

Whether you have read Lewis for years or are encountering his Christian writings for the first time, this course offers an opportunity to study one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the modern age with Hillsdale College.
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val70 · 56-60
Michael Ward's central thesis in Planet Narnia is considered controversial and unconvincing by some literary critics and people close to Lewis. Somehow he Ward argues that C.S. Lewis secretly structured each of the seven Chronicles of Narnia books to embody the characteristics of one of the seven medieval planets (Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn).

C.S. Lewis’s stepson, Douglas Gresham, has stated that while he likes Ward personally, he considers the planetary theory "nonsense," comparing hidden-meaning literary theories to conspiracy theories. Renowned Narnia scholar Paul Ford similarly labeled the hypothesis "earnest but implausible". Lewis remained a committed, broad-church Anglican throughout his life, whereas Michael Ward—formerly an Anglican priest—converted to Catholicism.

Of course, Ward views Lewis's Anglicanism not as flawed, but as a robust, charitable expression of "mere Christianity". Lewis used "mere" to describe the foundational, shared beliefs that unite all Christians, and compared "mere Christianity" to the hallway inside a large house, where the rooms represent different denominations. The hallway is a place to meet and wait, but the real goal is to enter the rooms.

 
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