Read almost any book on the defence of the Christian faith and, somewhere, you are sure to find quotations from C.S. Lewis.
The impact of this Christian scholar on popular apologetics is profound. One reason why Lewis is so quotable is that he had such a broad range of literary abilities. He wrote text books, science fiction, fantasy, allegory, poetry, letters and, of course, apologetics. With remarkable turns of phrase and metaphor he makes complicated ideas seem simple, and controversial arguments persuasive.
Lewis the populariser
It is true that as a creative thinker he sometimes developed ideas that wandered into realms of speculation — though in most cases these seem to be suggestions along the way. Certainly, Lewis was no systematic theologian explaining the biblical basis for Christian doctrine. Rather, he was an academic who could popularise and defend important ideas. Many people came to enjoy the work of Lewis through The Chronicles of Narnia and they remain his best-selling work. He died in 1963 and, while some of his work will show signs of aging over time, there is something forever fresh about the stories of a lion, a witch and a wardrobe.
Comedy, free speech and warnings from the past
Hannah Arendt was a Jewish philosopher who grew up in Nazi Germany. Eventually she had to flee to France and, …