longing for another world was actually a kind of pointer for his longing for heaven or God.
6. Lewis’s prominence in Christian Apologetics and Literary World
After his conversion, Lewis wanted to evangelize, and it was not long before he thought of combining religious enthusiasm with imagination in his
works of Christian Fiction. Lewis started to write a book entitled Pilgrim’s
Regress that told the story of his conversion in allegorical form which was published in 1933. He also started to write Christian Apologetic books; which was
written purposely to defend his faith by using logic. One of them is entitled Problem of Pain where he postulates on the existence of other universes.
From 1941 until 1944, Lewis had a series of talks about Christianity on BBC
known as “ Right and Wrong” resulting in many people converting to Christianity. The text of his talk was then published in a book called Mere
Christianity. From 1948 until 1956 he published other books; children ’s literature
entitled The Chronicles of Narnia, and his biography entitled Surprised by Joy. Narnia gives Lewis opportunity to indulge his love for animals and mythological
creatures with Christianity. Besides his interest in Christianity, Lewis also received a lot of
acknowledgments for his prominence in literary worlds including The honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by Laval University, Quebec, in 1952, The Chair of
Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge in June 1954, The Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford and a Fellow on the British Academy in
1955
,
T he Gollancz Memorial Prize for Literature in recognition of “The Allegory
of Love”; a study on Medieval Tradition in 1956, and The Honorary Degree of Doctor of Literature from the University of Manchester in 1959.
During the winter of 1961-1962, Lewis himself suffered a long illness. He returned to his beloved house at Headington Quarry, Oxford since he was unable
to teach. There, he slowly recovered. In 1962-1963, he returned to Cambridge, but had to resign due to fatal illness in July, 1963. He died in November 22
nd
, 1963 at The Kilns, a week before his 65
th
birthday on Friday, November 22
nd
, 1963. His grave is in the yard of Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quary, Oxford. His
brother, Warren Lewis, died on Monday, April 9
th
, 1973. The word went out that Lewis remained in the Church of England to the end
of his life. Lewis was well known for his academic writing, popular apologetics, and fictions. As it is expressed by Kilby:
He was among the best literary critics of his period. At the same time he was a Christian and the author of more than a score of books concerning
faith. Furthermore, he managed the difficult feat of successfully integrating his scholarship and religion. Add to these things the gifts of a lively
imagination, a vigorous and witty mind, and brilliance of language, and you discover why his books have sold widely and why his audience is steadily
on the increase1964:11.
D. Theoretical Framework
Kategori