Peter J. Schakel

NCLA Review - The author’s main purpose is to illustrate the way in which C.S. Lewis brought imagination into his writings to enable “us to grasp the meaningfulness of the Truth”. Schakel points out that Lewis believed that intellect and reason were important in our understanding of Christianity, but he (Lewis) wrote that the revelation of God requires “a response from the whole man”. Schakel uses 12 ideas which appear as recurring themes in Lewis’s fiction and non-fiction works, among them Prayer, Suffering, Doubt, and Death, to demonstrate how Lewis’s writings seek to help believers expand their concept of God. He also includes quotations from Lewis’s contemporaries to compare their thoughts to Lewis’s. Included at the end of each chapter are thought-provoking questions for reflection or discussion. An added treat are the Appendixes on Lewis’s Life, Lewis’s Thought, Lewis’s Works and a List of Books About Lewis. Dr. Shakel teaches English at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and has written 2 other books on C.S. Lewis. Rating: 4—MN… (meer)