Tolkien explains the vitriol toward Lewis within the academy: “In Oxford, you are forgiven for writing only two kinds of books. Lewis’s popularity drew sharp criticism from his colleagues, since it contravened prevailing academic conventions and sensibilities. Lewis had “committed the unpardonable academic sin of becoming a radio evangelist” (58), which had professional repercussions.

While most literary critics on both sides of the Atlantic praised his wartime talks as they began to be published, there were dissenters, especially in the university. As far as we know, Lewis never publicized his “undercover” service.Įspecially in chapter 3, “Loved or Hated,” Marsden notes the polarizing reception of Mere Christianity and Lewis himself in Britain and America.

These were intended to strengthen the bonds between the two nations during the darkest days of the war. It has been recently uncovered that around the same time of the BBC talks Lewis was “enlisted by the secret Military Intelligence to record a talk to be broadcast in Iceland on the cultural affinities between Britain and Iceland evidenced in Norse Literature” (30). These were later collected, edited, and published as Mere Christianity (1952). Lewis’s talks were initially published in three volumes: Broadcast Talks (1942, later retitled The Case for Christianity, 1943), Christian Behavior (1943), and Beyond Personality-The Christian Idea of God (1944).

The talks were designed to encourage and edify a beleaguered nation with insights from the Christian faith, broadly conceived.

Marsden’s careful historical analysis complements recent treatments of Lewis’s fiction, philosophy, theology, and spirituality.Īs part of the civilian contribution to the war effort in WWII, Lewis was enlisted to give a series of talks on the BBC radio at the height of the German blitz on London and other British cities in 1941. Marsden traces the origin, context, development, reception, and legacy of Lewis’s enduring apologetic classic, Mere Christianity, which “has been translated into at least thirty-six languages” (1, 134). Lewis’s Mere Christianity : A Biography, George M. Lewis continues to elicit interdisciplinary interest within the academy.

Cs lewis books mere christianity