Most people associate C. S. Lewis with either children’s stories—The Chronicles of Narnia—or Christian apologetics—Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters. And he was certainly a gifted storyteller and effective defender of Christian truth.

What many forget—assuming they ever knew—is that Lewis had a day job. Lewis was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University from 1925 until 1954 when he was made Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University. That is, C. S. Lewis was, first and foremost, a university professor and literary scholar specializing in Medieval and Renaissance literature.

As a child, Lewis was steeped in and as an adult he taught many of what we today call “The Great Books” including Homer, Virgil, Chaucer, Spencer, John Milton, and Dante. He wrote The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, and Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. And to this day, Lewis’s introduction to Paradise Lost is required reading for anyone studying Milton.

Beyond that, his scholarly studies influenced all of Lewis’ writings from Narnia to the Space Trilogy from Screwtape to “The Weight of Glory” from The Abolition of Man to The Great Divorce and Till We Have Faces. Lewis’ popular books while speaking forcefully to our modern era are Medieval to the core.

Wyoming Catholic College Academic Dean Dr. Jason Baxter is, like Lewis, a student and scholar of Medieval and Renaissance literature. He has for years been reading over Lewis’s shoulder, studying the same books and authors through the lens of Christian faith.

In this distance learning course, Dr. Baxter shares what he has learned about Lewis and from Lewis. Those who take the course will discover new ways to read, understand, appreciate, and benefit from Lewis’s popular works of fiction, spirituality, and apologetics.

Course lectures available HERE.