Andrew Lazo, a close friend and much valued contributor to the C.S. Lewis Foundation, and Marion E. Wade Center docent Mary Anne Phemister have gathered an amazing collection of stories of how C. S. Lewis continues to radically change people’s lives.  In their new book, Mere Christians: Inspiring Encounters with C. S. Lewis, (released 2/12/2009 ) they have collected fifty-five accounts from people from all walks of life who have witnessed the works of C. S. Lewis impacting them in the profoundest of ways.

Contributors include several notable friends of the C. S. Lewis Foundation, including Michael Ward, Phillip Yancey, Earl Palmer, John C. Lennox, Francis S. Collins, Joseph Pearce, Atessa Afshar, and Chuck Colson, Jerry Root, and Walter Hooper, who writes the Foreword.  Accounts also come from a number of important figures in the Lewis world such as Clyde S. Kilby, David C. Downing, Lyle Dorsett, Don W. King, Ronald Bresland, Joy Davidman, and, for the first time, Merrie Gresham (wife of Lewis’s stepson, Douglas Gresham), whose remarkable stories you’ll surely want to read.

Other contributions include accounts from such notables as singer-songwriter Pierce Pettis, Domino’s Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan, pollster George Gallup, Jr., and novelist Anne Rice.  Equally fascinating are the stories from people from many walks of life (Lewis would call them “no mere mortals”), dozens of whom first heard about the project while visiting the Marion E. Wade Center, the world’s greatest repository of materials related to C. S. Lewis and several other like-minded writers.  In fact, the whole book began on a quiet Saturday morning when co-editor Mary Anne Phemister began asking people what brought them to the Wade Center and, specifically, to C. S. Lewis.  And you will likely see some of the editor’s own story in the pages of Mere Christians.

Along with Walter Hooper’s engaging Foreword, Andrew Lazo has written a brief biography of Lewis, arranged by decade, compiled a categorical list of Lewis’s works, and assembled a short list of the most important resources for those interested in deepening their knowledge of the twentieth century’s most important Christian writer.  In addition, the co-editors have set up an email account, merechristians@gmail.com, in hopes of gathering enough interest to publish a second volume.  Stan Mattson, Phil Keaggy, Diana Glyer, and Bruce Edwards have all been approached and have expressed early interest in contributing their own stories to the next volume.

Millions have had life-changing encounters with C. S. Lewis.  Read Mere Christians to see how much you have in common with people from all over the world who have come to treasure the light from the pages of this most inspiring man.

If you’d like to order this book from Amazon.com, please make your order through the C.S. Lewis Foundation’s new and improved bookstore, by clicking here.  Every purchase from our online Amazon Affiliates bookstore earns us credit towards purchase of our own books for the Foundation library.  You can find the book on our main bookstore webpage as a feature title or under the side navigation bar category “Lewis’ Legacy”