CS Lewis at Poets’ Corner

In November 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, a memorial was unveiled to CS Lewis at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, honouring his work as a novelist, poet, academic and Christian apologist. Last week saw the launch of a book celebrating the event, and assessing Lewis’s lasting influence in literature, theology and philosophy.

In the book, CS Lewis at Poets’ Corner, Rowan Williams and Alister McGrath assess Lewis’s legacy in theology, Malcolm Guite addresses his integration of reason and imagination, William Lane Craig takes a philosophical perspective, while Lewis’s successor as Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English, Helen Cooper, considers him as a critic.

Christian philosopher and apologist Peter S Williams, one of the book’s editors, says: ‘Lewis still makes an impact 53 years after his death because he had a mind schooled in philosophy and literature, history and myth. He took a long journey from atheism to Christianity in his early adulthood, and that made him able to empathise with non-believers, and write books which still make sense to them.’

The collection of pieces in the book also includes more personal and creative responses: Walter Hooper, Lewis biographer, recalls their first meeting; there are poems, essays, a panel discussion, and even a report by the famous Mystery Worshipper from the Ship of Fools website, along with a moving reflection by royal wedding composer Paul Mealor about how he set one of Lewis’s poems to music.

Sample chapter: Download a free chapter from the book.

Video: View sessions from the CS Lewis Symposium, which was held in Westminster in November 2013, with Alister McGrath and Malcolm Guite.

Photo: Reasonable Faith