Phillips, Justin. C.S. Lewis in a Time of War. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2002. 324pp. $21.95.
Introduction
The Radio Broadcasts that would become Mere Chrsitianity were broadcast during World War II through the British Broadcasting Company. More than fifty years after their first recording, Justin Phillips, a radio journalist with the BBC sat down to write about the time period at the BBC and in the life of C.S. Lewis during which he first spoke to the British peoples about the love of God and the great doctrines of the Christian faith. Phillips was an elder in his local church and was a frequent preacher and speaker about “Christianity, the media, and the relationship between the two” (from dust jacket). Phillips died in 2000 prior to his fiftieth birthday and prior to the publication of C.S. Lewis in a Time of War. His oldest daughter submitted the manuscript. The forward was added by
Adding literary weight to this volume is the forward by Walter Hooper. Hooper was a personal secretary to Lewis late in his life and currently serves as a trustee and literary advisor to the C. S. Lewis estate. The fact that Hooper would lend his pen to compose a forward for a book about Lewis should serve as an encouragement for any fan of C.S. Lewis. Hooper points out that Lewis had to be groomed for broadcasting, but that he was pliable, primarily because he was such a natural writer, “As unfamiliar as he was with the microphone, writing was for Lewis as natural as breathing. ‘I don’t know what I mean,’ he once said, ‘till I see what I’ve said(v).’”
Overview
C.S. Lewis is arguably the most influential apologist of the Twentieth Century, and one of its most important Christians overall. Few people in the history of the Christian faith have been able to impact as many people at such a distinct level as has C.S. Lewis. Known to those close to him as “Jack” (because he announced as a child that it was his desire to be known as such), Lewis converted from atheism to become of one of Chrsitianity’s most ardent defenders and icons. Lewis most significant work is Mere Christianity serves as both a small theology book and an apologetic for the Christian faith.
In C.S. Lewis in a Time of War, Justin Phillips describes the time period and the eventS surrounding the writing and radio broadcasts of Mere Christianity. As many lovers of Lewis are no doubt aware, Mere Christianity was first written for broadcast on the Britich Broadcasting Company (BBC) by Lewis during World War II. What many do not know is chronicled by Phillips.