Extensive Research On C S Lewis.

[Damien the Leper]

You obviously have not read "The Great Divorce", one of his lesser known works, but IMHO, one of, if not his absolute best. He rejects universalism pretty directly in that book.

Love that book! Universalism is a joke...IMHO.

[The Nehor]

Well, there's always this:

 

 

I'm still waiting for the other two books in the series, "Billy Graham's Guide to LDS Living" and "Ghandi Was a Mormon".

 

Actually I believe Shakespeare still has Lewis beat.

[The Nehor]

I am something of an amateur Lewis scholar.

 

The incidents in the article are real but they are pretty sensationalized. Lewis's sadomasochism showed up as a teen and in college and in correspondence with his friends. He never hid this. He mentioned it obliquely in his books. It is unclear if he ever acted on it.

 

Janie Moore is more complicated. Lewis and her son were friends in World War I and both pledged to take care of the other's family if either died. He died and Lewis honored his pledge. There may or may not have been a sexual element but I doubt it.

 

According to his stepson most of the Lewis brothers' poverty was a facade of worry. Once Jack married his wife showed that they were doing fine financially.

 

Once his wife died he did have a crisis of faith and a lot of anger directed at the Universe. The book begins with him shattered but ends with him rebuilding his faith. Much of his pain were due to his beliefs about the afterlife. He did not see a future for the two of them together in death. He was reportedly not very happy after her death and welcomed death when it came for him. His view was that to fear death is morbid and to ignore it is to be willfully ignorant so when the time is near the best course of action is to welcome it.

 

I do not condemn him for these flaws. If someone got a hold of my journals after my death they could probably construct an even more despicable caricature of myself. (Note to self: Either edit those or burn them before I die)

[boblloyd91]

Two things have helped me better understand Lewis. The first is reading his pre conversion works, namely Spirits in Bondage  (which is free in the kindle store) in reading that, it struck me how many poetic and philosophical yearnings he had that he felt were unsatisfied, and displays frustration that human beings were capable of such beautiful feelings, but they never came to full fruition (at least that's how seems to have felt at the time). Secondly, I have read quite a bit of George Macdonald, who was one of the main influences that lead to Lewis becoming Christian. I can see why he was an influence, because Macdonald's work are very beautiful, and show the beauty of God (in my opinion). Macdonald was in turn heavily influenced by some of the early Greek fathers (Gregory of Nyssa stands out in my memory) who emphasized God's love, and linked his justice with remedial compassion rather then stern punishment. Even though Lewis was not a Universalist, he certainly wasn't hellfire and brimstone either. If memory serves right, Macdonald was a Universalist.  

[The Nehor]

MacDonald was not quite a Universalist but he was close. He saw hell as a purging and not a punishment. He acknowledged the theoretical possibility that some people might still reject God. It bears some similarity to LDS doctrine with only a few choosing perdition though without tiered rewards.