In the complexity of urban life, people are more guarded.

It's more difficult to form relationships.

And it seemed to me that we needed to find ways to get inside the homes of people who had all sorts of barriers protecting them from, protecting them from

the gospel. And it seemed to me that Lewis was someone who had found a way to reach people

through his writing. And it seemed to me that stories, whether written or through movies or television,

would be an important element in an overall strategy of evangelism, not as though that's the silver bullet,

but it needs to be a piece of our thinking.

C.S. Lewis is one of the most beloved Christian authors in history.

Generations of children have been shaped by his chronicles of Narnia, and countless adults

have had their faith bolstered by his most famous apologetic work, mere Christianity.

And yet there was more to Lewis's life and thought than many of his appreciative readers

know.

A prolific writer, and yet quite private, Lewis's life is often viewed through the lens

of his most famous works, an approach that misses fascinating details about his early formative years, his own personal

faith, and his closest relationships.

In our interview today, I'm talking with Harry Lee Poe, who serves as the Charles Colson University

Professor of Faith and Culture at Union University, and who's also the author of The Making of C.S. Lewis from Crossway.

Let's get started.

Well, Hal, thank you so much for joining me today on the Crossway podcast.

Thanks, Matt. It's good to be with you. So as I was doing some research to prepare for this interview, I read that you're distantly

related to the famous poet Edgar Allan Poe, and I saw just a minute ago, our listeners

won't know this, but I saw that you had an Edgar Allan Poe mug that you were drinking from.

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