Abstract: In this essay, Robert Millet describes the work and impact of C. S. Lewis as it pertains to the Latter-day Saints. He explores possible reasons why Church leaders have felt comfortable quoting Lewis in General Conference more than any other non-Latter-day Saint writer and provides a substantial list of the subjects for which his writings have had special appeal to the Saints. While acknowledging Lewis’ personal faults and the obvious points of difference between his faith and our own, Millet concludes with an expression of gratitude for his “lasting lessons and his noble legacy.”

 
[Editor’s Note: Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article is reprinted here as a service to the LDS community. Original pagination and page numbers have necessarily changed, otherwise the reprint has the same content as the original.
See Robert L. Millet, “The Theology of C. S. Lewis: A Latter-day Saint Perspective,” in “To Seek the Law of the Lord”: Essays in Honor of John W. Welch, ed. Paul Y. Hoskisson and Daniel C. Peterson (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation, 2017), 189–208. Further information at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/to-seek-the-law-of-the-lord-essays-in-honor-of-john-w-welch-2/.]

It is an honor to be asked to participate in this festschrift for John W. Welch, and I appreciate the kind invitation. Jack has been a significant voice in Latter-day Saint studies for many years. His work on the Book of Mormon, in particular, has stimulated thousands of minds, fanned the flame of faith already burning in people’s hearts, and motivated many [Page 244]people to turn and return to the scriptural work we know as Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
In this paper I would like to focus on the work and impact of C. S. Lewis, as it pertains to Mormonism. I have personally been fascinated by Lewis’s life and stimulated by his writings and teachings for more than forty years. Terry Glaspey observed that, “One of the surest reasons for Lewis’s vast popular appeal was his belief that the ultimate truths of life are not hidden only in the minds of the learned, but what is really most important in life is accessible to all.”1 Lewis himself noted: “My only function as a Christian writer is to preach ‘Mere Christianity’ not ad clerum but ad populum. Any success that has been given me has, I believe, been due to my strict observance of those limits.”2 Largely for this reason—his obsession with the fundamentals of the Christian faith, those principles and ideas about which Christians of most all stripes can agree—Latter-day Saint readers have admired him and, for the most part, embraced his teachings.
A Lay Church and Theological Literacy
Although The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a lay church, and sermons in the main worship service on the Sabbath are usually delivered by members of the congregation, a visitor would notice how frequently the talks revolve around scripture and scriptural commentary, with insights frequently drawn from non-LDS thinkers. Jerry Johnston, for many years a writer for Salt Lake City’s Deseret News, found that C. S. Lewis in particular “had been quoted from the Tabernacle podium almost twenty times in tw...