Brenton D. G. Dickieson is having a public launch for his book, The Spiritual Imagination of C.S. Lewis, a new Oxford University Press study examining the Christian ideas running through Lewis's fiction. the launch takes place at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown on October 6.
What is The Spiritual Imagination of C.S. Lewis about?
Dickieson's central argument is that the cross is the organising pattern behind Lewis's spiritual imagination, so rather than treating Lewis's novels, apologetics and literary criticism as separate areas, the book looks for the ideas connecting them, where Dickieson describes this as a “Logic of Cruciformity”, examining the way death, surrender and resurrection appear throughout Lewis's thought.
Lewis's fiction frequently involves characters undergoing forms of death, surrender, transformation or rebirth, so Dickieson examines those patterns alongside Lewis's theological arguments and his understanding of Christian spiritual life - that also includes books that readers may not immediately associate with Lewis's Christian theology.
How does the book connect Lewis's fiction with his theology?
One of the book's sections examines The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the transformation of Eustace Scrubb - Dickieson places Eustace's transformation within his wider argument about cruciformity - the idea that spiritual transformation involves a form of dying to an old self before becoming something different.
The book also examines The Great Divorce and Till We Have Faces, showing how Dickieson's argument extends beyond the Narnia books, because Lewis's Christian ideas were not confined to books that were explicitly written as Christian apologetics, as his fiction often allowed theological ideas to operate through story, character and imagery rather than direct explanation. transformation.
The book looks at Lewis beyond Narnia
The popularity of The Chronicles of Narnia often means Lewis is introduced primarily as a children's fantasy writer but Dickieson's study will cover Narnia, Mere Christianity, Lewis's poetry, apologetics, literary criticism and other fiction, treating the different parts of his career as connected rather than separate, which will also includes some of Lewis's less frequently discussed work.
One chapter examines A Grief Observed, Lewis's deeply personal response to the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, while another considers An Experiment in Criticism and the way Lewis thought about literature and reading.
Who is Brenton D. G. Dickieson?
Dickieson is an Assistant Professor at the University of Prince Edward Island and also teaches in Signum University's MA programme in Imaginative Literature, where he is particularly associated with the study of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings, and has written about the relationship between Christian faith, fantasy and fiction for years.
His website, A Pilgrim in Narnia, has also become a home for his writing about Lewis and Tolkien - Dickieson has said that he spent more than ten years researching the book's central idea before bringing the project to publication.
The Spiritual Imagination of C.S. Lewis is available now, with its public launch taking place October 6, 2026.
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