Without question, no twentieth century Chris­tian author has been more widely read on the subject of apologetics than C. S. Lewis. Such titles as The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Great Divorce, etc. are widely read and celebrated. This is cer­tainly true in broad evangelical circles, but increasingly in Reformed circles, our own included. Many young people find his writing so clear and compelling that they readily regard him more highly than theologians and writers closer to the Reformed tradition. Indeed, there is much that is appealing in his work. Most significantly, he appears to be a respectable voice against the rationalistic and naturalistic tide of modernism, which young people encounter so vigorously in colleges and universities. He offers a cogent challenge and alternative to the rampant skepticism and nihilism of our age. Young people fail to find such a lucid case among Reformed theolo­gians, at least one that has the same respect­ability in academic circles.

It must be said at the outset that Lewis is sadly aberrant on the important doctrines of grace. J. I. Packer notes the irony that Lewis has be­come the hero of modern evangelicals, while Lewis himself was not one himself. Packer notes that his doctrine of the atonement is one of "archetypal penitence" rather than "penal substitution." He failed to affirm justification by faith alone, was comfortable with baptismal regeneration, and had a severely compromised view of biblical inspiration. He affirmed the doctrine of purgatory and held open the possibility of salvation in the end for unbeliev­ers. These views led the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones to doubt whether Lewis was a Christian at all. Indeed, these matters are so significant that one might wonder whether Lewis has any value for the Reformed church. However, there are Christian truths that we do share with Lewis, as we do with theologians such as Thomas Aquinas, with whom we also differ on such issues as salvation and the sacraments. Men such as Lewis and Aquinas can contribute to our understanding of theology and Christology, for example.

The area of apologetics is potentially such an area. At one time an avowed atheist, Lewis experienced a gradual disenchantment with modernism and embraced the Christian faith. He devoted his talent and energy on such books as The Pilgrim's Regress (1933). This little volume opened a thirty-year stream of books on Christian apologetics and disciple­ship. Between 1933 and his death in 1963, C.S. Lewis sought to point atheists and agnostics toward the faith, and encourage and nurture believers, and became known as a "literary evangelist." Later on he admitted, "Most of my books are evangelistic." He wrote in 1952: "Ever since I became a Christian, I thought that — perhaps the only service I could do for my unbelieving neighbours was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times."

Note the following characteristics of Lewis' apologetics:

1. Lewis sought to deprive unbelief of its supposed prestige. Lewis himself had come to Christianity by a serious investigation of the truth. The premise of The Problem of Pain, Miracles, and Mere Christianity is that reason properly employed in an open-minded investi­gation of facts without the hindrance of prior assumptions should lead to the conclusion that God exists. Elsewhere, however, Lewis sings another tune. In fact, he allows for the possibil­ity that one could reject Christianity after an open-minded investigation. Socrates, for one, never became a Christian. It is precisely at this point that some of his universalistic tendencies surface. In his book, God in the Dock, he claimed that "the honest rejection of Christ, however mistaken, will be forgiven and healed" (p. 71). Clearly, Lewis is here leaving special revelation completely out of the pic­ture. Scripture tells us that the natural man does not understand the things of God (1 Cor 2:14).
   
   Meanwhile, however, Lewis claimed that he has a number of objective reasons for belief in God that others could not very well rashly ignore. He strongly combated the wide-spread idea that the Christian faith was intellectually inferior or scientifically absurd. The arguments for the existence of God have occasioned much debate throughout history. I believe that we may safely say the following: The world can simply not be explained without God.
   
   Lewis argues as follows: the fact that the world is understandable to our mind cannot be the product of accident or evolution. For in that case we would have to say that I started to think the way I think purely because my brain cells started to function in a certain way. So I don't know if it is true what I think. However, I do know, Lewis argues, if my mind (as also the world) was created by a God who is the highest Reason. Lewis uses a similar reasoning with regard to our sense of good and evil. If that were the product of accident and/or evolution, then we could go by that, and there would be no norms and values that are com­monly valid.
    
2. Lewis aimed to discover the issues in their stark character. This is clearly illustrated by the way he defends the divinity of Jesus Christ. He places the reader of the gospels with the following dilemma: since Christ regards himself as the Messiah, as the Son of God, there are only two possibilities. Either he is right, and then we must accordingly view Him as God's Son, or he is a "megalomaniac," but then it is impossible for us to regard him as a great moral teacher or high-principled exam­ple to be followed. For then he is greatly mistaken or – still worse – he has deceived us. Elsewhere he writes the following: "Christian­ity, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important."
   
   Clearly, Lewis' argument does not prove anything, but it does sharply point out how absurd it is to ignore the Christ of the Scrip­tures. Here, he mirrors how Scripture calls the atheist foolish (Ps 14:1).
    
3. Lewis masterfully highlights the great use of faith. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul argues the usefulness of the belief in the resurrection alongside the truth of it. Truth is useful. One can make this case without falling into a pragmatic utilitarianism, where truth is judged by the use it has. Instead, one can simply say that Lewis shows how truth has a practical bent. We were originally created to believe. Now that we are fallen and unbelieving, we are rendered most restless and unprofitable, to say the least. By faith, we are rendered, in principle, useful, and everything around us has a proper use again. Think of Onesimus, of whom Paul writes that, "in time past (he) was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and me" (Philemon:11).

In conclusion, then, Lewis' apologetic aimed to deprive unbelief of its prestige, to discover the issues in their stark character, and show the great usefulness of faith. Though more can surely be said of apologetics, also of Lewis' apologetics, we can learn at least this much from Lewis' approach.