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The choice to embrace Christianity was depicted by Lewis as the result of the writings of two religious authors, and discussions with three friends, each of whom Lewis cites as a critical influence upon his conversion. The first of these was the 19th century novelist George MacDonald, whose works, ''Phantastes'' and ''Lillith'', Lewis read at age nineteen and "''baptized his imagination, preparing him for a preternatural world beyond the strictly materialist one he had grown so tired of.''"<ref>'''Edwards, Dr. Bruce L.''', ''C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian'' reproduced at [http://personal.bgsu.edu/~edwards/blade.htm Bowling Green State University, Ohio] (1998)</ref>  

The choice to embrace Christianity was depicted by Lewis as the result of the writings of two religious authors, and discussions with three friends, each of whom Lewis cites as a critical influence upon his conversion. The first of these was the 19th century novelist George MacDonald, whose works, ''Phantastes'' and ''Lillith'', Lewis read at age nineteen and "''baptized his imagination, preparing him for a preternatural world beyond the strictly materialist one he had grown so tired of.''"<ref>'''Edwards, Dr. Bruce L.''', ''C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian'' reproduced at [http://personal.bgsu.edu/~edwards/blade.htm Bowling Green State University, Ohio] (1998)</ref>  

The second author was G. K. Chesterton, whose ''The Everlasting Man'', provided a "Christian theory of history." In ''Surprised by Joy'' Lewis says: "''In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound [[Atheist]] cannot be too careful of his reading. God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.''"<ref>'''Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy'' op cit.</ref>

The second author was G. K. Chesterton, whose ''The Everlasting Man'', provided a "Christian theory of history." In ''Surprised by Joy'' Lewis says: "''In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.''"<ref>'''Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy'' op cit.</ref>

By 1929, Lewis had renounced [[atheism]], and declared himself a [[theist]]: "''You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.''" <ref>'''Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy'' op cit.</ref> His detractors have made much of his apparent loathing of his return to theism, usually quoting his statement "''I came into Christianity kicking and screaming''", but seen in the full context of his writings this was not a loathing of God or Christianity, but a ''self''-loathing of what that would personally mean to him about himself: "''All my acts, desires, and thoughts were to be brought into harmony with universal Spirit. For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me: a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds.''"<ref>'''Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy'' op cit.</ref>   

By 1929, Lewis had renounced atheism, and declared himself a [[theist]]: "''You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.''" <ref>'''Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy'' op cit.</ref> His detractors have made much of his apparent loathing of his return to theism, usually quoting his statement "''I came into Christianity kicking and screaming''", but seen in the full context of his writings this was not a loathing of God or Christianity, but a ''self''-loathing of what that would personally mean to him about himself: "''All my acts, desires, and thoughts were to be brought into harmony with universal Spirit. For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me: a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds.''"<ref>'''Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy'' op cit.</ref>   

    

    

The three friends who influenced him were his tutor Kirkpatrick, who taught Lewis "''a form of rigorous inquiry that sought objective truth through the relentless probing of an opponent's positions and definitions, a fierce and, in Kirkpatrick's hands, exaggerated version of Socratic dialogue.''"<ref>'''Edwards''', ''C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian'', op cit.</ref>  Owen Barfield, one of his close friends at Oxford, contributed to his acceptance of theism by forcing Lewis through debate to overcome his "''uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited.''"<ref>'''Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy'' op cit.</ref> Liberated from the notion that the past was invariably wrong and that the present always the barometer of truth, Lewis was able to embrace the possibility that the ancient Christian narrative could have validity even in the twentieth century.<ref>'''Edwards''', ''C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian'', op cit.</ref>  

The three friends who influenced him were his tutor Kirkpatrick, who taught Lewis "''a form of rigorous inquiry that sought objective truth through the relentless probing of an opponent's positions and definitions, a fierce and, in Kirkpatrick's hands, exaggerated version of Socratic dialogue.''"<ref>'''Edwards''', ''C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian'', op cit.</ref>  Owen Barfield, one of his close friends at Oxford, contributed to his acceptance of theism by forcing Lewis through debate to overcome his "''uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited.''"<ref>'''Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy'' op cit.</ref> Liberated from the notion that the past was invariably wrong and that the present always the barometer of truth, Lewis was able to embrace the possibility that the ancient Christian narrative could have validity even in the twentieth century.<ref>'''Edwards''', ''C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian'', op cit.</ref>