Surprised by Joy
by C.S. Lewis | Book Summary
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Author: C.S. Lewis
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Surprised by Joy details that long, varied journey from faith to atheism and back again. Lewis carries us through his early childhood, a hapless, happy existence, into his rowdy adolescence, his priggish high-school years, and his early adulthood's burgeoning rationalism. Throughout, Lewis encounters horrid and brutal schoolmasters, the death of his mother, suffocating intra-scholastic social hierarchies, strains and bonds with his brother and father, friendships, losses, and a myriad of other formative evnts. Defining that journey, always lingering at the fringes of Lewis' life, was a certain inexplicable feeling — one that would be the first key to his religious awakening: Joy. This is not joy in the standard, connotative sense, but something much deeper — as Lewis puts it, Joy with a capital J. |
Clive Staples Lewis, born in Belfast in 1898, was a highly influential author and lay theologian. As an academic, he held posts at both Oxford and Cambridge. Though born into the Church of Ireland, Lewis lost his faith in Christianity and became a staunch atheist as an adolescent and young man. At the age of 32, through a variety of influences discussed at length in Surprised by Joy, he became a Christian once more — this time in the Anglican Church.
Lewis' influence on popular Christianity cannot be overstated. His works have sold millions upon millions of copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages. His children's book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and his works of Christian apologetics, Mere Christianity and Miracles, had and continue to have lasting cultural impact. His work, which also includes The Weight of Glory and The Problem of Pain, is a consistent reference point in theological circles to this day, both popular and academic.
Lewis died in 1963 at age 64. He has since been memorialized in the legendary Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.
Surprised by Joy
by C.S. Lewis
[ Book Summary ]
| Author | C.S. Lewis |
| Publisher | HarperOne |
| Date | 1955 |
| Pages | 300 |
Overview:
Among all the influential Christian thinkers throughout history, C.S. Lewis is among a select few who were, at some point in their lives, strongly atheist. Looking at Lewis' literary output and his profound influence on popular and academic Christianity in the 20th century, one might be hard-pressed to believe that, as a young man, Lewis was an avowed unbeliever.
Surprised by Joy details that long, varied journey from faith to atheism and back again. Lewis carries us through his early childhood, a hapless, happy existence, into his rowdy adolescence, his priggish high-school years, and his early adulthood's burgeoning rationalism. Throughout, Lewis encounters horrid and brutal schoolmasters, the death of his mother, suffocating intra-scholastic social hierarchies, strains and bonds with his brother and father, friendships, losses, and a myriad of other formative evnts.
Defining that journey, always lingering at the fringes of Lewis' life, was a certain inexplicable feeling — one that would be the first key to his religious awakening: Joy. This is not joy in the standard, connotative sense, but something much deeper — as Lewis puts it, Joy with a capital J.
Clive Staples Lewis, born in Belfast in 1898, was a highly influential author and lay theologian. As an academic, he held posts at both Oxford and Cambridge. Though born into the Church of Ireland, Lewis lost his faith in Christianity and became a staunch atheist as an adolescent and young man. At the age of 32, through a variety of influences discussed at length in Surprised by Joy, he became a Christian once more — this time in the Anglican Church.
Lewis' influence on popular Christianity cannot be overstated. His works have sold millions upon millions of copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages. His children's book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and his works of Christian apologetics, Mere Christianity and Miracles, had and continue to have lasting cultural impact. His work, which also includes The Weight of Glory and The Problem of Pain, is a consistent reference point in theological circles to this day, both popular and academic.
Lewis died in 1963 at age 64. He has since been memorialized in the legendary Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.
