Who else thinks C.S. Lewis is a childish thinker and at best a second-rate writer?

Question

To wit:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0684823853/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6747022-2396145#reader-link

Answer 1

I wish I could be as childish a thinker and second-rate a writer as Lewis. (sigh)

Answer 2

I agree with you on some points. I think that a lot of Lewis' xtian apologetics are are pretty weak. When I was a fundie-*** xtian I read his writings and thought he was the utter end. I have re-read a lot of his works, and find a lot of them lacking. The space trilogy, particularly the first book, is so smug I want to smack him. The Screwtape Letters, while an interesting premise, was also nothing more than a treatise on predetermination. And let's face it, the man wrote dreadful poetry. But the thing I admire about Lewis is that he seemed to grow and learn through his life, and this was reflected in his later writings. Have you read Surprised By Joy, or A Grief Observed? Before you make a final judgment on his writing, I recommend that you read those two books, and then read TIll We Have Faces. (Or, at least, skim the first two and then fully read the third) He seemed to expand his consciousness remarkably in the process of being deeply in love with, and then losing, his wife. A lot of the answers he thought he knew fully didn't seem to help him in those times, so he continued to search and reach and discover.

I do not believe 95% of what I used to believe. My life has gotten far too large for the very tiny box that fundamental xtianity is. But I still love a lot of Lewis' writings. Till We Have Faces is, probably my favorite book of all time.

Answer 3

I am an avid reader and have never thought much of C.S. Lewis, though admit I have not read "Mere Christianity"

There are MUCH better writers (and coincidentally, many of them, such as Issac Asimov, W. Somerset Maugham, etc. were atheists).

Christians exaggerate the importance of Lewis (who is generally ignored in the larger literary circles) because he's one of their few success stories.

Answer 4

Second-rate writer, no. Childish thinker? I'm thinking no. Writing a book thats aimed towards children doesn't mean that a person is a childish thinker. He had an intellectual social circle that included J.R.R. Tolkien at Oxford didn't he?

Answer 5

"You and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness."

--The Weight of Glory

"When you invite a middle-aged moralist to address you, I suppose I must conclude...that you have a taste for middle-aged moralizing."

--The Weight of Glory

"Badness is only spoiled goodness."

--The Case for Christianity

Answer 6

He was truly a distinguished writer and one of the giants of the 20th century. Fello and tutor at oxford. Im reading "Mere Christianity" and find some of his arguments weak but he writes an absolutely flawless peice on Sexual morals and Christian marrage.

Answer 7

Obviously very few people think this.

His books are legendary and still popular beyond their time.

Last time I checked, they were STILL making movies about that "Lion Witch Wardrobe" series.

I can't think of a single Atheist writer who has ever enjoyed such popularity, not even Milton.

Answer 8

E-mail me some of your writing and I will see how it compares to Clive Staples Lewis. It will be no contest, for C.S. Lewis that is.

Answer 9

He was a children's author and he wrote fantasy. I wouldn't consider him some great Christian thinker or anything like that. He was what he was and personally, I wasn't that impressed.

Answer 10

I don't agree with his worldview, but I enjoyed The Chronicles of Narnia.

I don't enjoy Christianity hijacking those books to tell me what I should get out of reading them.