C.S. Lewis and a Problem of Evil

Jerry Root is Assistant Professor of Evangelism and Associate Director of the Institute for Strategic Evangelism, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. He is also visiting Professor at Biola University and at Talbot Graduate School of Theology, La Mirada, California.

' Let me not fail to stress the strengths of Root's book, among which is the comprehensive knowledge displayed, not merely of the work of Lewis himself, but also of the secondary literature that has flourished around that work. [...] help us to look at the various symbols, stories, and arguments presented in Lewis's body of work and also to step into the beam of that work and look along it, gaining and understanding of Lewis's fertile spiritual vision from the inside. ' -Mikel Burley in The Journal of Religious Studies, Vol. 47, 2011' In this work of Lewis scholarship, Jerry Root argues that 'subjectivism' - by which he means a rejection of objective reality and objective values in favour of a selfish, inward focus - is an attitude Lewis repeatedly attacks in his popular fiction, non-fiction, and professional literary criticism. Lewis, he maintains, saw that grave evil could result from this self-deceptive conforming of reality to one's personal desires. ' -Paul Gage Logan in Theological Book Review, Vol. 23 (2), 2011'The strength of Root's book, it seems to me, is its comprehensiveness. Root ranges widely over the Lewis oeuvre, and encompasses not only Lewis's apologetic works but also literary criticism, his poetry and his fiction [...] it will be illuminating for those to whom Lewis is new territory.'-Barry Livingstone, The Glass, Number 23, Spring 2011'A study that is not only comprehensive in its coverage but also clear in noting the theological and anthropological implications of Lewis' work for the individual and the church as they relate to culture.... A thoughtful read fot all Lewis readers.'-Iain S. Maclean, Anglican and Episcopal History, Volume 86, Number 4, December 2017

• Acknowledgements; Preface; Objectivity and Evil; The Problem of Pain; Lewis's Literary Criticism and a Problem of Evil; The Rhetorical Aim of Lewis's Fiction in Light of a Problem of Evil; Literary Analysis; Conclusions; Permissions; Bibliography; Index.