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Virginia Tech

Reason, Imagination, and Universalism in C. S. Lewis

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Though he is generally known as one of the key voices in conservative Christianity, this thesis demonstrates that C. S. Lewis was in fact far more liberal in his view of salvation than many would expect. Lewis argued for a universalist interpretation of salvation, in which the death of Christ opened up the possibility of salvation for all of humanity, not merely those people who could be identified as Christians. Lewis did believe that people could and did choose Hell over Heaven, however, and still saw evangelism as the duty of every Christian. All of Lewis's writings are in a sense evangelistic, and all attempt to effect the conversion of the reader in the same manner in which Lewis himself was first drawn to Christianity: by baptizing the imagination in the hope that the reason will follow.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Department dc:contributor.department
English
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2004

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • McClinch, Christopher C.
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Radcliffe, David H.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Colaianne, Anthony J.
  • Oehlschlaeger, Fritz H.

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-05292002-153921
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/10111

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

McClinch, Christopher C.. Reason, Imagination, and Universalism in C. S. Lewis. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/10111