The Most Reluctant Convert

by Downing, David C.

• ISBN13: 9780830823116
• ISBN10: 0830823115
• Edition: Annotated
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Intervarsity Pr

Summary

Other biographies of Lewis explore his childhood or his dramatic conversion to Christianity. But it was the rarely discussed period from Lewis's childhood to his early thirties that took him on a tumultuous journey of spiritual and intellectual exploration before he became the "most reluctant convert." It was not despite this journey but precisely because of it that Lewis understood the search for life's ultimate meaning so well and went on to become one of the most compelling authors of the twentieth century. Weaving the people, places and events of Lewis's life together with excerpts from Lewis's own writing, this book reveals how Lewis's spiritual quest can cast light on the path for other pilgrims.

Author Biography

David C. Downing is the Ralph W. Schlosser Professor of English at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. 9
Introduction	p. 11
The Ill-Secured Happiness of Childhood	p. 19
The Alien Territory of Boyhood	p. 35
Mere Atheism in Early Adolescence	p. 49
The Dungeon of a Divided Soul	p. 63
Dualism During the War Years	p. 81
"Spiritual Lust" & the Lure of the Occult	p. 101
Idealism & Pantheism in the Twenties	p. 123
Finding Truth in the Old Beliefs	p. 139
Epilogue	p. 155
Abbreviations of Lewis's Works	p. 165
Notes	p. 169
Biographical Materials on C. S. Lewis	p. 183
Index	p. 187
Permissions	p. 192
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