Two noted Christian writers were born on this day. Clive Staples Lewis was born in 1898 & twenty years later Madeleine L’Engle in 1918.
Madeleine L’Engle was an American Episcopalian, and a forthright universalist, which has caused her some trouble with orthodox Christian bookstores, which are reluctant to stock her writings. She is best known for her young adult novels, and particularly A Wrinkle in Time and its four sequels.
C. S. Lewis was a member of the Inklings, an informal Oxford literary group with wide ranging influence. His books included popular apologetics such as Mere Christianity and Surprised by Joy. I remain particularly fond of his Screwtape Letters. But he may well be best remembered for his children’s series the Chronicles of Narnia.
One can detect in Lewis a strong universalist sympathy if not L’Engle’s forthrightness on the subject. One could say his variation on universalism was holding out that people could of their own continuing free will reject an ever-present welcome home. His Great Divorce raises the question, but he doesn’t really follow through with his own view. As such, while I’m sure some are suspicious, his books are found on the shelves of those orthodox Christian bookstores.
At any rate it is a treat to see these two lovely writers and sympathetic spiritual figures joined in their birth as well as in their faith.
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