CG. S. Lewis and "The Everlasting Man"

"As for books, the very best popular defense of the full Christian position I know is G.K. Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man." - C. S. Lewis

Last night my wife and I watched Shadowlands - the excellent Anthony Hopkins/Debra Winger version. The movie depicts the relationship of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman (taking some theatrical liberties) from their meeting to just after her death. Winger was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal. 

In the movie, Lewis notes that they had both been atheists, but had found faith. In Lewis' case, Chesterton played a role. It was reading The Everlasting Man that helped him discover Christianity - along with his friendship with J. R. Tolkien. 

In his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, Lewis talked about reading Chesterton.

"I had never heard of him and had no idea of what he stood for; nor can I quite understand why he made such an immediate conquest of me. It might have been expected that my pessimism, my atheism, and my hatred of sentiment would have made him to me the least congenial of all authors. It would almost seem that Providence, or some 'second cause' of a very obscure kind, quite overrules our previous tastes when it decides to bring to minds together. Liking an author may be as involuntary and improbable as falling in love."

That first encounter was with The Everlasting Man in 1925 while still an atheist.

“Then I read Chesterton’s Everlasting Man and for the first time saw the whole Christian outline of history set out in a form that seemed to me to make sense . . . I already thought Chesterton the most sensible man alive; apart from his Christianity; Now, I veritably believe, I thought that Christianity itself was very sensible; apart from its Christianity.” 

He recommended the book to others, as he did in the quote at the top of this entry. In 1963, six months before he died, he observed in God in the Dock, “The contemporary book that has helped me the most is Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man.”