JACKSON, Tenn. — Oct. 11, 2022 — Hal Poe, Charles Colson Professor of Faith and Culture at 51社区, has completed the published. His three-part 鈥淏ecoming C.S. Lewis鈥� series begins with Lewis鈥� early childhood and ends with his death in 1963.
While the project took him about five years to complete, Poe has been teaching a Christian studies class at 51社区 on Lewis鈥� life and works for over 20 years.
鈥淎ll the students 鈥� dozens and dozens of students 鈥� who have taken my C.S. Lewis class are mentioned in my acknowledgements,鈥� Poe said. 鈥淚 believe that most of my scholarship is an overflow of the conversations I鈥檝e had with students; I think that鈥檚 the best kind of scholarship.鈥�
Relying mostly on primary resources rather than memoirs, Poe鈥檚 biography of Lewis draws from over 3,000 pages of Lewis鈥� letters and diaries, as well as letters from his family and close friends. Poe said he believes most readers who are familiar with Lewis will be shocked by this new C.S. Lewis biography series.
鈥淭here is a sort of tradition for C.S. Lewis biographies that tend to lean more as memoirs, but the problem with memory is that sometimes your memory gets reoriented,鈥� Poe said. 鈥淪o, as a result, this biography corrects many facts of Lewis鈥� life found in other biographies.鈥�
Poe said he hopes his readers walk away from this series realizing that Lewis is a great example of an ordinary man who was radically transformed by knowing Jesus Christ.
鈥淚n [Lewis鈥橾 teenage years, I would not have wanted to know the man,鈥� Poe said. 鈥淏ut after his conversion, he was such a lovely person who was kind and generous and realized that his greatest sin was pride.鈥�
Poe began the 鈥淏ecoming C.S. Lewis鈥� series by wanting to write a book that highlighted how Lewis鈥� early childhood and teenage years influenced the rest of his life as one of the most prominent Christian apologists of the 20th century.
As Poe began looking through Lewis鈥� childhood letters, he noticed many of the judgments and ideas that formed his conversion years later would be established in Lewis鈥� mind as an early teenager.
鈥淚 decided I wanted to pursue this period of Lewis鈥� life from the perspective of what should the church be doing during [one鈥檚 teenage years],鈥� Poe said. 鈥淧ersonally, I鈥檝e always been concerned with youth ministry in the church because I believe that age is critically important as teenagers begin asking these questions for the first time.鈥�
Poe鈥檚 first book, ends with Lewis as a devout atheist. Not intending to write more books about Lewis鈥� life, Poe said he had a gnawing concern that the book ended without a detailed explanation of how Jesus Christ transformed Lewis鈥� life in his later years.
Therefore, Poe released his second book, in June 2021 to show the readers how Lewis鈥� teenage years paved the way for his conversion to Christianity in 1931. Poe鈥檚 second book begins with Lewis as an atheist and ends with Lewis being one of the most important Christian apologists by the end of World War II.
Poe鈥檚 third and final book of his C.S. Lewis biography is available for purchase Oct. 11. covers Lewis鈥� final years from 1945 to his death in 1963.
In this conclusion to Poe鈥檚 鈥淏ecoming C.S. Lewis鈥� trilogy, the third book covers a period of Lewis鈥� life wrought with disappointments and tragedy, including the short marriage and death of his wife, Joy Davidman Gresham. Despite all these trials, Lewis used these last years of his life to write some of his bestselling books, including 鈥淭he Chronicles of Narnia鈥� and 鈥淪urprised by Joy.鈥�
鈥淭his last volume presses the spiritual question of how to live Christianly to the very end,鈥� Poe said. 鈥淭hrough Lewis鈥� life, I hope readers will find that in all these elements of loss 鈥� when your friends are gone, when your health is gone 鈥� there is grace in that, too.鈥�