Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British author, literary scholar, and Anglican lay theologian who became one of the twentieth century’s most influential Christian apologists. Born in Belfast, Ireland, he was educated in England and spent most of his adult life at Oxford and Cambridge universities.
Lewis rejected Christianity in his early teens and lived as an atheist through his twenties. His conversion came gradually—to theism in 1930 and to Christianity in 1931—significantly influenced by conversations with his close friend J.R.R. Tolkien. During a famous stroll along Addison’s Walk at Oxford, Tolkien argued that unlike myths, the gospel narratives are true—the myth that became fact.
In 1941, Lewis was invited to deliver radio broadcasts on Christianity during World War II’s darkest moments. These broadcasts, later published as Mere Christianity (voted best book of the twentieth century by Christianity Today in 2000), launched his career as a public apologist. He held positions in English literature at Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and later at Magdalene College, Cambridge, which created a chair specifically for him after Oxford repeatedly passed him over, partly for his open Christian advocacy.
Lewis’s works of greatest lasting fame include The Chronicles of Narnia, which has become one of the bestselling fantasy series in history. He explained that Aslan is not allegorical but an imaginative exploration of what Christ might be like in another world. His other apologetic works include The Screwtape Letters, Miracles, and The Four Loves. Lewis’s ability to make Christian faith intellectually compelling and imaginatively vivid continues to influence readers across traditions.