The Cambridge Companion to C. S. Lewis

Description

A distinguished academic, influential Christian apologist, and best-selling author of children's literature, C. S. Lewis is a controversial and enigmatic figure who continues to fascinate, fifty years after his death. This Companion is a comprehensive single-volume study written by an international team of scholars to survey Lewis's career as a literary historian, popular theologian, and creative writer. Twenty-one expert voices from the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Princeton University, and Wheaton College, among many other places of learning, analyze Lewis's work from theological, philosophical, and literary perspectives. Some chapters consider his professional contribution to fields such as critical theory and intellectual history, while others assess his views on issues including moral knowledge, gender, prayer, war, love, suffering, and Scripture. The final chapters investigate his work as a writer of fiction and poetry. Original in its approach and unique in its scope, this Companion shows that C. S. Lewis was much more than merely the man behind Narnia.

Robert MacSwain is Assistant Professor in Theology and Christian Ethics, the School of Theology, University of the South, Tennessee. He is the co-editor, with Jeffrey Stout, of Grammar and Grace (2004), and, with Ann Loades, of The Truth-Seeking Heart (2006). Michael Ward is Chaplain at St Peter's College, University of Oxford. He is the author of Planet Narnia (2008) and the co-editor, with Ben Quash, of Heresies and How to Avoid Them (2007).

'This volume has much to offer the general reader who wants to move on from the more popular aspects of Lewis' work ... challenges and provokes in a way which takes into consideration the complexity and sheer scale of the man and the work.' Christian Librarian '... a book full of hidden treasures - of particular interest is the section devoted to Lewis's literary scholarship ... It should also be of interest to those who are just curious about Lewis - or, for that matter, about literary criticism, theology, philosophy and creative writing.' Theology 'the editors have assembled a constellation of top Lewis scholars and distinguished academics to survey the full range of Lewis's talents and achievements. it is a welcome and overdue book.' Mythlore 'A truly wonderful collection ... Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.' M. E. DiPaolo, Choice 'The contributions, which are well written and often incisive, offer a variety of views and interpretations and in so doing illustrate the continuing appeal and importance of Lewis.' Contemporary Review '[This book is] erudite, substantial ... edited by two meticulous and accomplished scholars, Robert MacSwain, Assistant Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics at the University of the South, and Michael Ward, author of the well-regarded Planet Narnia and [The] Narnia Code. The Companion, as its name bespeaks, should help us - and it does - penetrate further up and further into the ongoing legacy of Lewis ... The Cambridge Companion to C. S. Lewis succeeds in its purpose, scope, and coverage as a winsome, informative, and informed volume to accompany novice and veteran readers of Lewis in their pursuit of his insight and its source. Essays that both instruct and delight in Lewis studies are few; we can be grateful that under one cover, MacSwain and Ward have gathered so many.' Bruce L. Edwards, VII: An Anglo-American Literary Review '... succeeds in conveying the richness and complexity of Lewis' thought with an appropriately commendable depth, clarity, and imagination.' Jason Wardley, The Expository Times