(1898-1963)
Clive Staples Lewis became the most popular defender of orthodox Christianity in the English speaking world in the mid-twentieth century. Lewis was born in Belfast in 898 and was brought up in the Christian faith. He was educated at Malvern College and then privately under a tutor whose atheism had such an influence on him that by he time Lewis went up to Oxford University in 1917 he was himself an unbeliever.
Having been elected to a fellowship in English at Magdalen College, Oxford, he held the post till 1954 when he became the Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English Litrature at Cambridge. Over the years he wrote a number of works of literary criticism which are classics in their field.
Lewis was converted in 1931, his conversion triggered a rich variety of creativity. His international bestseller, The Screwtape Letters (1942), won him a reputation for being able to "make righteousness readable". He Believed "all that is not eternal is eternally out of date", he was completely orthodox and is admired by Christians from all branches of the church.
Following his conversion he regularly gave two thirds of his income to charities.
[tags]BlogRodent, C.-S.-Lewis, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Renaissance[/tags]