Christian History Timeline: C.S. Lewis
Born in Belfast, Ireland November 29, 1898
1905 Moves to “Little Lea.”
1913 Enters Malvern College, England.
1917 April: Begins studies at University College, Oxford.
September: Commissioned as second lieutenant in Somerset Light Infantry.
November: Leaves for front lines.
1918 Wounded in action. Returns to hospital in England.
1919 Returns to University College. Publishes first book, Spirits in Bondage, a small volume of lyric poems, under the name Clive Hamilton.
1925 Elected to a fellowship in English language and literature at Magdalen College, Oxford.
1929 Confesses that “God is God.”
1930 Purchases and moves into The Kilns.
1931 Comes to faith in Christ.
1939 Publishes Out of the Silent Planet, first book of the Space Trilogy.
1940 First weekly meeting of the Inklings. Publishes The Problem of Pain.
1941 Begins a series of radio talks over the BBC.
1942 Publishes The Screwtape Letters.
1945 Publishes The Great Divorce.
1950 Receives first letter from Joy Davidman Gresham. Publishes The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of the Narnian stories. Writes the first of more than 100 letters to “an American lady.”
1952 Meets Joy Davidman Gresham. Publishes Mere Christianity.
1955 Leaves Oxford for professorship of Medieval and Renaissance literature at Magdalen College, Cambridge.
1956 Publishes Till We Have Faces, the book Lewis considers his best fictional work. Publishes The Last Battle, last of the Narnian series.
April: Marries Joy Davidman Gresham in a legal ceremony.
November: Marries Joy in ecclesiastical ceremony at her bedside.
1960 Joy Lewis dies, July 13.
1963 C.S. Lewis dies November 22, 1963 (The same day President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.)
By the Editors
[Christian History originally published this article in Christian History Issue #7 in 1985]
Next articles
Personal Correspondence
Lewis’s private correspondence was as prolific as his writing for publication. Here are some samples of his letters.
C. S. Lewis