From todays Writers Almanac by Garrison Keillor Its the birthday of Irish author C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis , born in Belfast in 1898. When he was four, his dog Jacksie was hit by a car and killed; the boy declared he was changing his name to Jacksie, and for a while he wouldnt answer to anything else. For the rest of his life, he was known as Jack to his family and close friends. Raised in the Church of Ireland, he became an atheist in his teens and eventually returned to the church after a series of long theological arguments with his friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien. I gave up Christianity at about 14, he said. Came back to it when getting on for 30. Not an emotional conversion; almost purely philosophical. I didnt want to. Im not in the least a religious type. I want to be let alone, to feel Im my own master; but since the facts seemed to be just the opposite, I had to give in. He wrote Mere Christianity (1952), a classic of Christian apologetics; and The Screwtape Letters (1942), an epistolary novel that consists of letters from a demon to his apprentice nephew, giving him pointers on leading a man astray. Hes also the author of the seven-book allegorical fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, which he wrote for children. He thought it would be a good way to introduce Christian themes to children without beating them over the head, something that had turned him off as a young man. An obligation to feel can freeze feelings, he once said.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 13:13:53 +0000
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