C. S. Lewis’s List: The Ten Books That Influenced Him Most
Overview
In 1962, The Christian Century published C. S. Lewis’s answer to the question, “What books did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?” Lewis responded with ten titles, ranging from Virgil’s Aeneid to James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson and from George Herbert’s The Temple to Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy.
C. S. Lewis’s List brings together experts on each of the ten books to discuss their significance for Lewis’s life and work, illuminating his own writing through those he most admired.
- Explores ten books that most influenced C. S. Lewis
- Examines how these particular works shaped his calling and philosophy of life
- Brings together experts on each of the ten books to discuss their significance
- Foreword - David C. Downing, Elizabethtown College, USA
- Introduction - David Werther, University of Wisconsin-Extension, USA
- George MacDonald, Phantastes - David L. Neuhouser, Taylor University, USA
- G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man - Donald T. Williams, Toccoa Falls College, USA
- Virgil, The Aeneid - Louis Markos, Houston Baptist University, USA
- George Herbert, The Temple - Don W. King, Montreat College, USA
- William Wordsworth, The Prelude - Mary Ritter, New York University, USA
- Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy - Adam Barkman, Redeemer University College, Canada
- Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy - Chris Armstrong, Bethel Seminary, USA
- James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson - Paul Tankard, University of Otago, New Zealand
- Charles Williams, Descent Into Hell - Holly Ordway, Houston Baptist University, USA
- Arthur James Balfour, Theism and Humanism - Charles Taliaferro, St Olaf College, USA
‘There is no Frigate like a book,’ wrote Emily Dickinson. Like fast ships, good books take us many places. Lewis found it so with the ten books explored in this volume: the ten he named most influential vocationally and in his philosophy of life. If Lewis has taken you on journeys of discovery, you will rejoice to know more about the books that carried his imagination to new horizons. The ten contributors to this collection are like experienced tour guides who show us what to look for when we arrive at these places so enrichingly traversed by Lewis. Clearly, a volume like this needed to be written; the appearance of one so well done is cause for celebration.
—Wayne Martindale, Emeritus Professor of English, Wheaton College
Lewis paid the supreme compliment to the classics he read by recalling and embodying their leading ideas in his own works. But exactly how and why did those classics influence Lewis’s own thinking? To answer that question, David and Susan Werther’s collection brings together first-rate scholars in literature, philosophy, and Christian thought to explore ten of the great books that left their mark on Lewis. Beautifully written and rich with insight, C. S. Lewis’s List is an ideal companion for classes on the life and works of Lewis, or for a great-books program with Lewis as tour guide.
—Angus Menuge, Professor of Philosophy, Concordia University Wisconsin
This is a collection of essays on ten books that Lewis said (when asked in 1962) had the most influence on his life. Lewis’s debt to G. K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man is no surprise, and the essay on it is excellent. And certainly other books on the list reflect Lewis's optimistic view of Christianity. But some of Lewis's selections are a surprise. … An interesting book for Lewis scholars and fans. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, general readers.
—J. R. Griffin, Colorado State University-Pueblo, USA, Choice
- Title: C. S. Lewis’s List: The Ten Books That Influenced Him Most
- Authors: David Werther, Susan Werther
- Publisher: Bloomsbury
- Print Publication Date: 2015
- Pages: 248
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- ISBNs: 9781628924138, 1628924136
- Resource ID: LLS:CSLWSSNFLNHMMST
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-03-02T22:04:22Z
David Werther is Director of Independent Learning at the University of Wisconsin-Extension, USA, and has taught theology in the extension program of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, USA. He is co-editor, with Mark Linville, of The Christian Worldview: Analysis, Assessment and Development (2012).
Susan Werther is a freelance editor and has worked as a graphic artist and a museum educator at the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. She and her husband David are members of the C. S. Lewis Society of Madison.