Branches to Heaven: The Geniuses of C.S. Lewis

by James T. Como, Silence

One of the twentieth century's most widely read writers and its most influential Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis has nevertheless eluded the understanding of the numerous scholars who have approached him only as a religious thinker and man of letters. A new book by a leading Lewis authority explores the full range of his manifold genius and finds for the first time the surprising secret of Lewis's enduring literary and spiritual achievement. It will astonish Lewis's admirers and critics alike to learn that he was far from the settled convert he appeared to be. Yet this very unsettledness, which Lewis himself found alarming, was the source of the appealing tension in his work and of his unrelenting commitment to his apologetic vocation. It was in the service of this vocation that he exercised his overarching rhetorical genius-a dazzling adroitness at suiting word, voice, and argument to a particular purpose-always militant, compelling, and persuasive. As Professor Como explores Lewis's hitherto uncharted inner landscape-the core of both his spiritual insight and his intellectual greatness-there emerges a more complex and integrated figure than we have known before. The publication of Branches to Heaven coincides with the centenary of Lewis's birth, an occasion of heightened attention to Lewis and his work throughout the English-speaking world. It is available with a companion volume from Spence Publishing, C.S. Memories and Reflections by John Lawlor, a moving and insightful account of the author's thirty-year friendship with Lewis.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Aaron de Gastyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't often read literary criticism, so my 4 stars may are based less on content and more on style/genre.

The deep value in this book was learning more about Lewis himself, observing themes in his approach to apologetics, and stirring my desire to read more of his work (I still have yet to read Till We Have Faces, Surprised by Joy, and many essays).

Favorite Quotes:

"When pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all."

“A man can’t be always defending the truth; there must be a time to feed on it.” -Lewis, "Reflections on the Psalms"

"Inattention leaves some inexperienced all their lives."

"We prefer rhetoric that is an extension of natural, direct conversation."

"Every examination for ordinands... ought to include a passage from some standard theological work for transmission into the vernacular."

"The soul that has once been waked, or stung, or uplifted, by the desire of God, will inevitably (I think) awake to the fear of losing him."

"The problem [with] any taxonomy: rampant overlapping."

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como, James T. uses Branches to Heaven: The Geniuses of C.S. Lewis to show that no matter how sophisticated a regime looks, its core survival mechanism is always fear of the non-conformist.