C.S. Lewis: How ‘Medieval’ Was He?

When it comes to evaluating C.S. Lewis’ engagement with medieval authors, Jason Baxter performs the heavy lifting with ease, almost with wings. The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind comprises, in effect, a sequence of primers on major and minor figures—Boethius, Pseudo-Dionysius, Calcidius, Dante, Nicholas of Cusa, Bernard Sylvestris, inter alios—while it traces their imprint on Lewis’ writings. The reader of this book enjoys the double benefit of lucid exposition of great Christian writers who are distant in time and of watching Lewis assimilate them into his work. Baxter shows considerable mastery of Lewis’ vast corpus, including the letters, and he engages the secondary literature with a sure and generous touch.