SOURCE: "Still Surprised by Lewis," in Christianity Today, September 7, 1998, pp. 54, 56-60.

In the following essay, Packer discusses Lewis's literary career, religious beliefs, and popularity among Christians.

Yes, I was at Oxford in Lewis's day (I went up in 1944); but no I never met him. He was regularly on show as the anchorman of the Socratic Club, which met weekly to discuss how science, philosophy, and current culture related to Christianity; but as a young believer, I was sure I needed Bible teaching rather than apologetics, so I passed the Socratic by. The nearest I ever got to Lewis was hearing him address the Oxford theologians society on Richard Hooker about whom he was writing at that time for his assigned volume of the Oxford History of English Literature, the "Oh-Hell" as for obvious reasons he liked to call it. He spoke with a resonant Anglicized accent (you would...