Jason M. BaxterThe Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis - How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind

I always knew CS Lewis was a Medievalist, but I had never thought deeply about what that meant. What I liked best about this book is the full explanation and deep understanding of the difference between the Medieval and Modernist view of the world and our place in it. An enlightening, well-written, and well-supported work. I could not put the book down. Now I must reread it to get an even deeper understanding.

Captures C.S. Lewis more profounder thoughts with ease. A surprising pleasure to read. Here and there it even felt like reading Lewis himself. A great antidote to modern thinking.

As I catch up in my reading of the many works of Lewis, I will now realize how much his love and appreciation for Medieval literature influenced his writing - and his way of looking at the world. Baxter not only helps us in understanding Lewis the professor of Medieval literature, but also Lewis the writer who took his knowledge and insights from this period into his many popular works. I will admit that part way through I decided to read with a pencil in hand, marking key thoughts so as to follow Baxter's direction. It is not a long book (165 pages), but it is also not a quick read. Baxter makes you think. Now if you have read much of the varied works of Lewis you already have an edge. But I suspect even then you may go back and reread them with new insight. One insight is that the Medieval mind had more in common with our current time than we think. Rationalism, which seemed a largely sterile time when the material and spiritual were separated, with the latter pushed aside by many as mere superstition, actually worked with a much smaller world. With our ability to look deeply into space our sense of wonder now matches up far more closely with that of Medieval man. I will undoubtedly now have to go back and review this book to truly benefit from it. But to Baxter's credit he provided a book rich in thought and in what is probably, for some, a different examination of Lewis and his writings.

Bought this as a Christmas gift for my partner, a big fan of C.S. Lewis's theological writings. He read it in 2 days and said it was phenomenal.

This book has helped to increase my understanding of Lewis in some new ways. I recommend this book.