Appendix B: Chapter-by-Chapter Study and Reflection Guide

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

— James 1:22, KJV

This guide is for personal reflection, small groups, or a reading course of about twenty weeks. Its purpose is not to make C. S. Lewis an object of admiration, but to let his life hold up a mirror in which readers can examine their own discipleship under Scripture. Groups may find it helpful to begin each session with the chapter’s opening verse and to end with prayer. Those who want to go further are encouraged to read Lewis’s own books, obtained from their publishers or a library, alongside these chapters.

Chapter 1 - Little Lea

Central idea

A bookish Belfast childhood, a close brother and a house full of books gave Lewis the materials of his imagination, and a longing he could not name.

Scriptures to revisit

Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Psalm 16:6.

Reflection

1. What did your childhood give you that God has since used? 2. Is there a longing in you that nothing on earth has satisfied?

Chapter 2 - August 1908

Central idea

A mother’s death, a prayer that seemed unanswered, and a father lost in grief sent a nine-year-old into the world alone.

Scriptures to revisit

Psalm 27:10; Psalm 34:18; Isaiah 49:15.

Reflection

1. Is there an old disappointment with God you have never brought back to him? 2. Whom do you know who is grieving as a child?

Chapter 3 - Schools, and a Faith Let Go

Central idea

Anxious, feelings-centred prayer and a vague spirituality loosened a boy’s faith; a cruel school culture taught him the misery of the inner ring.

Scriptures to revisit

Psalm 14:1; Matthew 6:7-8; James 4:6.

Reflection

1. Do you measure your prayers by your feelings? 2. Where are you tempted to seek the approval of the “right people”?

Chapter 4 - The Great Knock

Central idea

An atheist tutor sharpened the mind God would later use, and a book bought at a station touched an imagination that reason had not yet reached.

Scriptures to revisit

Proverbs 27:17; Isaiah 45:4-5; Philippians 4:8.

Reflection

1. Who has sharpened your thinking, whether believer or not? 2. What beauty has pointed you towards God before you understood it?

Chapter 5 - A Promise at Keble

Central idea

Two young soldiers made a pact to care for each other’s families, and one of them kept it for more than thirty years.

Scriptures to revisit

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5; Psalm 15:4; Matthew 5:37.

Reflection

1. What promises have you made that you are tempted to let slip? 2. What would it cost you to keep them?

Chapter 6 - 15 April 1918

Central idea

The war wounded Lewis, killed the sergeant beside him and took his friend, and he survived without knowing why.

Scriptures to revisit

Psalm 91; Psalm 31:15; Romans 8:28.

Reflection

1. When have you been spared something others were not? 2. How do you understand God’s purposes in that?

Chapter 7 - Mrs Moore

Central idea

A young atheist took in a bereaved mother and her daughter and served them for three decades, in a household that was never easy and never fully explained.

Scriptures to revisit

James 1:27; Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 4:25.

Reflection

1. Is there anyone from whom you hide the truth of your life? 2. Whom has God given you to serve at home?

Chapter 8 - Three Firsts and a Fellowship

Central idea

Hard work and lean years made Lewis a scholar, and friendships with Barfield, Coghill and Tolkien began to unsettle his unbelief.

Scriptures to revisit

Colossians 3:23; Ecclesiastes 9:10; Proverbs 13:20.

Reflection

1. For whom do you do your work? 2. Which of your friends challenge you most?

Chapter 9 - Hunted

Central idea

God closed every exit; a father’s death and a son’s regret came before a reluctant surrender to belief in God.

Scriptures to revisit

Psalm 139:1-12; Jonah 1:1-3; Luke 15:17-20.

Reflection

1. Have you ever felt pursued by God? 2. Is there anyone you wronged who can no longer be put right, and have you brought that to God?

Chapter 10 - Addison’s Walk

Central idea

A night conversation about myth, and a quiet ride in a sidecar, brought Lewis from belief in God to faith in Christ.

Scriptures to revisit

John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Luke 24:13-32.

Reflection

1. How did you come to faith in Christ, not merely belief in God? 2. Whom has God used to remove barriers to faith for you?

Chapter 11 - The Kilns

Central idea

A strange household on the edge of Oxford, a faithful parish church and a first Christian book: the shape of a converted life.

Scriptures to revisit

Psalm 127:1; Hebrews 10:24-25; Acts 2:42.

Reflection

1. Do you belong to a local church, even when it does not suit your tastes? 2. Who is God building into your household?

Chapter 12 - Thursday Evenings

Central idea

The Inklings met to read their work and talk about the things of God, and Charles Williams’s friendship and death marked Lewis deeply.

Scriptures to revisit

Malachi 3:16; Proverbs 18:24; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14.

Reflection

1. Do you have friends with whom you can speak of God honestly? 2. How might you be such a friend?

Chapter 13 - A Voice on the Wireless

Central idea

In war Lewis wrote of pain, invented a devil’s letters, spoke on the BBC and learned humility talking to airmen.

Scriptures to revisit

1 Peter 3:15; Colossians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 9:22.

Reflection

1. Could you explain your faith plainly to a neighbour? 2. What would you need to drop to be understood?

Chapter 14 - A Rule of Life

Central idea

Confession, disciplined prayer, a trust for the poor and the daily burden of letters guarded Lewis against the dangers of fame.

Scriptures to revisit

James 5:16; Matthew 6:1-6; 2 Corinthians 9:7.

Reflection

1. Who knows the worst about you? 2. What is your rule of prayer and giving?

Chapter 15 - The Socratic Club

Central idea

Lewis welcomed the strongest objections to his faith, and when he was answered well he revised his work rather than abandoning it.

Scriptures to revisit

1 Thessalonians 5:21; Proverbs 18:17; Acts 17:11.

Reflection

1. How do you respond when an argument you trust is shown to be weak? 2. Are you afraid of hard questions?

Chapter 16 - The Long Decline

Central idea

An old woman’s decline, a brother’s drinking and professional slights tested Lewis’s patience and nearly broke his health.

Scriptures to revisit

Galatians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; 1 Peter 5:6.

Reflection

1. Whose burden are you carrying, unseen? 2. How do you respond when others are honoured and you are passed over?

Chapter 17 - A Wardrobe and a Chair

Central idea

A scholar in his fifties wrote for children, and Cambridge gave him the recognition Oxford had withheld.

Scriptures to revisit

Matthew 18:3; Mark 10:14-15; Psalm 8:2.

Reflection

1. What would it mean for you to receive the kingdom as a child? 2. How do you speak of God to children?

Chapter 18 - Joy Davidman

Central idea

A former Communist from New York, converted in a night of helplessness, became Lewis’s friend and, by a legal formality, his wife.

Scriptures to revisit

Psalm 71:5; Psalm 46:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Reflection

1. What brought you to the end of your own strength? 2. Whom has God brought into your life unexpectedly?

Chapter 19 - A Bedside Wedding

Central idea

Faced with Joy’s cancer, Lewis discovered he loved her; a priest married them at her bedside and prayed for her healing.

Scriptures to revisit

James 5:14-15; Ruth 1:16-17; Colossians 1:24.

Reflection

1. Have you ever been willing to love at great cost? 2. How do you pray for the sick?

Chapter 20 - Three Years

Central idea

A late and unexpected happiness, a journey to Greece and the return of the cancer: a time to dance, and then a time to weep.

Scriptures to revisit

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; Psalm 90:12; Song of Solomon 8:6-7.

Reflection

1. Are you receiving today’s gifts as gifts? 2. How would you spend three years if you knew that was all you had?

Chapter 21 - A Grief Observed

Central idea

Lewis wrote his grief down without disguise, went down into the dark, and came up again with no answers but a renewed trust.

Scriptures to revisit

Psalm 22; Psalm 88; Lamentations 3:19-26.

Reflection

1. Have you allowed yourself to grieve honestly before God? 2. How can you sit with someone who is grieving without pretending?

Chapter 22 - Going Hence

Central idea

Illness, a coma, resignation and a quiet death at home, with a brother who loved him and a faith that held.

Scriptures to revisit

2 Timothy 4:6-8; John 11:25-26; Philippians 1:21-23.

Reflection

1. How do you think about your own death? 2. What would you want to have kept?

Chapter 23 - The Legacy of C. S. Lewis

Central idea

His books, his transformed character and a memorial in Westminster Abbey, together with the places where his teaching must be weighed.

Scriptures to revisit

Daniel 12:3; 1 Corinthians 3:5-7; Hebrews 13:7.

Reflection

1. Whose faith have you been asked to follow, and how do you test it? 2. To whom might God use you to point the way?