C.S. Lewis

A repackaged edition of the revered author's classic work that examines the four types of human love: affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God--part of the C. S. Lewis Signature Classics series.

C.S. Lewis--the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics--contemplates the essence of love and how it works in our daily lives in one of his most famous works of nonfiction. Lewis examines four varieties of human love: affection, the most basic form; friendship, the rarest and perhaps most insightful; Eros, passionate love; charity, the greatest and least selfish. Throughout this compassionate and reasoned study, he encourages readers to open themselves to all forms of love--the key to understanding that brings us closer to God.

Written with love, humility, and faith, this brief but poignant volume was first published in 1961 following the death of C. S. Lewis's wife, the American-born poet Joy Davidman.

Written in longhand in notebooks that Lewis found in his home, A Grief Observed probes the "mad midnight moments" of Lewis's mourning and loss, moments in which he questioned what he had previously believed about life and death, marriage, and even God. Indecision and self-pity assailed Lewis. "We are under the harrow and can't escape," he writes. "I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace."

Lewis writes his statement of faith with precision, humor, and grace. Yet neither is Lewis reluctant to confess his continuing doubts and his awareness of his own human frailty. Writing A Grief Observed as "a defense against total collapse, a safety valve," he came to recognize that "bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love."

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was born in Belfast. He was a fellow and tutor in English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, and was later Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, where he remained until his death. Lewis's most distinguished and popular accomplishments include The Chronicles of Narnia, Out of the Silent Planet, The Four Loves, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity.

"A very personal, anguished, luminous little book about the meaning of death, marriage, and religion." -Publishers Weekly

"The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares the way for this, or results from this." This is the key statement of Miracles, in which Lewis shows that a Christian must not only accept but rejoice in miracles as a testimony of his unique personal involvement with God. An impeccable inquiry into the proposition that supernatural events can happen in this world, C.S. Lewis uses his remarkable logic to build a solid argument for accepting the existence of divine intervention.

Using his characteristic lucidity and wit, Lewis challenges the rationalists, agnostics and deists on their own grounds and makes out an impressive case for the irrationality of their assumptions.

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was born in Belfast. He was a fellow and tutor in English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, and was later Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, where he remained until his death. Lewis's most distinguished and popular accomplishments include The Chronicles of Narnia, Out of the Silent Planet, The Four Loves, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity.

"If I were ever to stray into the Christian camp, it would be because of Lewis's arguments as expressed in books like Miracles."

- Kenneth Tynan

The second book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which also includes Out of the Silent Planet and That Hideous Strength, Perelandra continues the adventures of the extraordinary Dr. Ransom. Pitted against the most destructive of human weaknesses, temptation, the great man must battle evil on a new planet -- Perelandra -- when it is invaded by a dark force. Will Perelandra succumb to this malevolent being, who strives to create a new world order and who must destroy an old and beautiful civilization to do so? Or will it throw off the yoke of corruption and achieve a spiritual perfection as yet unknown to man? The outcome of Dr. Ransom's mighty struggle alone will determine the fate of this peace-loving planet.

A timeless classic on "Hell's latest novelties and Heaven's unanswerable answer," The Screwtape Letters has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life. C. S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of "Our Father Below," the worldly-wise old devil, to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man who has just become a Christian. The Screwtape Letters is a hilarious story of temptation--and triumph over it.

C.S. Lewis's brilliant and imaginative creations were, on publication, recognized as a milestone in the history of popular theology. Selling millions of copies worldwide, The Screwtape Letters has become a favorite of Lewis fans.--Read the Spirit