C. S. Lewis is perhaps the most beloved modern Christian author. From the Chronicles of Narnia to The Screwtape Letters to Mere Christianity, his works have enthralled and influenced readers of all ages. Yet, though numerous books have been written about Lewis’s life and his dramatic conversion to Christianity, none have asked the important question of how he grew spiritually. Lyle Dorsett sets out to answer that question in Seeking the Secret Place.

Drawing on Lewis’s books, letters he wrote and received, and more than one hundred interviews with dozens of his contemporaries, Dorsett shows that as the newly converted Lewis filled his mind with scripture and prayer, "his soul gradually became transformed into Christlikeness." The sacraments also contributed to his spiritual formation. To Lewis, being a member of the church was vital to his spiritual development, and he came to have a deep reverence for the Eucharist.

Professors and students in spiritual formation courses, C. S. Lewis readers, and anyone seeking to grow spiritually will value the rich and warm insights found in this book.

The writings of C. S. Lewis have been subject to selective distortion both by Christians preoccupied with him as an apologist or theologian and by secularists interested in him purely as a writer of fantasies. Helpful balance from his scholarly work and inner spiritual life is much harder to come by. Lyle Dorsett has made a significant contribution to our appreciation of Lewis’s spiritual life in particular, thereby enriching and grounding more authentically our appreciation of Lewis as a day-by-day follower of Jesus Christ.–David Lyle Jeffrey, Baylor University

I can imagine no one better suited by training and temperament than Lyle Dorsett to write this book about the spiritual disciplines that shaped C. S. Lewis from the time of his conversion to his death. From a variety of angles, and drawing on a wide range of materials (including many of Lewis’s letters to his correspondents), Dorsett uncovers the manner in which Lewis learned to seek the secret place in which the believer enters ever more deeply into communion with God. Even those who know Lewis’s writings well will learn from this book.–Gilbert Meilaender, Valparaiso University