A short defense full of holes:
For me, the appeal of C.S. Lewis lies in his ability to imbue the physical with the spiritual. Or more properly his readily apparent belief that the physical is imbued with the spiritual. Next to that you have his interesting and much quoted work in apologetics set in refreshing plain-talk—not dumbed down, just great simple writing. For me, G.K. Chesterton just does this better. He’s more poetic, more paradoxical in more interesting ways, and far, far funnier—and at the same exact time far, far more serious.
Now, of course, I haven’t read everything by Lewis nor have I read everything by Chesterton but, well, there you go. To better illustrate where I’m coming from I also prefer Charles Williams over Lewis and Chesterton. Williams is a far worse writer and communicator but his failures give you more to chew on and more to think about than the above two combined.
I do realize that this is a lot like saying I prefer Red Skelton over Jack Benny (and I realize saying that makes me seem far older than 29)—that is, who cares? I don’t know though, there has to be someone out there like me. What do you think?
I’m so going to lose my spot in the Christian Literary Appreciation Society for this. And I was going to make assistant secretary this year and everything.
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