Professor’s Upcoming Book on C.S. Lewis Debuts at #1 on Amazon’s “New Releases in Religious Literature Criticism” Page

Many readers know C. S. Lewis as an author of fiction and fantasy literature, including the Chronicles of Narnia and the Space Trilogy. Others know him for his books in apologetics, including Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain. But too few know him for his scholarly work as a professor of medieval and Renaissance literature.

Dr. Jason Baxter, Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Humanities here at Wyoming Catholic College, is hoping to change that with his upcoming book, The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind.

“Obviously, Lewis is a hook for many readers who hunger for deeper things,” Dr. Baxter said, “often without even knowing what they’re looking for. My hope was to use this natural desire to introduce people to the riches that we know and love, the ‘Great Books.’“

In the book, coming from InterVarsity Press (IVP) in March, Dr. Baxter argues that Lewis was deeply formed not only by the words of Scripture and his love of ancient mythology, but also by medieval literature. For this undeniably modern Christian, authors like Dante and Boethius provided a worldview that was relevant to the challenges of the contemporary world. And if early returns are any indication, it’s certainly finding an audience, debuting at #1 on Amazon’s “New Releases in Religious Literature Criticism” list.

“Jim [Tonkowich] helped me develop this project years ago as a distance learning course (and that’s why he gets into the acknowledgments),” continues Dr. Baxter. “But I’ve worked through a half dozen of these ideas with my lovely students at Wyoming Catholic. That’s why I feel the book, in a real way, belongs to the community.”