C.S. Lewis began his academic career at Oxford University as an atheist. He was attracted to faith in Christ through the writings of many such as George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, George Herbert, John Donne, Phillip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, and John Milton. He noticed that these writers were Christian and that they wrote of the Roughness and Density of Life. Lewis was attracted to their honest portrayal of life as we seem to really live it day to day, with all of its complexities. How can Christian academics draw inspiration from Lewis’s observations at this point in order to write and lecture in a way that is unpretentious and authentic?

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Jerry Root is a Professor of Evangelism and Leadership at Wheaton College and serves as the Director of the Evangelism Initiative. Jerry is a graduate of Whittier College and Talbot Graduate School of Theology at Biola University; he received his PhD from the Open University. Jerry is the author or co-author of numerous books on C.S. Lewis, including The Surprising Imagination of C.S. Lewis: An Introduction, with Mark Neal, C.S. Lewis and a Problem of Evil: An Investigation of a Pervasive Theme, and The Soul of C.S. Lewis: A Meditative Journey through Twenty-six of His Best Loved Writings. Jerry is the co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism and co-editor, with Wayne Martindale, of The Quotable C.S. Lewis. He also teaches graduate courses (MA in Evangelism and Leadership Program) and undergraduate courses (Christian Formation and Ministry Department) at Wheaton College. In addition, Jerry has been a visiting professor at Talbot Graduate School of Theology and Biola University from 1990 to the present. He and his wife, Claudia, have four grown children - all of whom are married - and thirteen grandchildren.

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