A new book follows C.S. Lewis from RAF airmen to Aslan
In "From Airmen to Aslan with C. S. Lewis", American pastor and Lewis scholar Bruce R. Johnson explores a little-known part of Lewis's life: his talks to Royal Air Force aircrews during the Second World War.
Lewis's wartime voice was not only heard on the BBC. At the invitation of RAF chaplains, he travelled to air bases to speak to young airmen facing fear and death. These were his first sustained attempts to address an audience outside the university.
Bruce R. Johnson, president of the Arizona C. S. Lewis Society and general editor of Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal, devotes a 256-page book to this period, drawing on archival research. According to the publisher, it shows how those encounters sharpened the clear voice of Mere Christianity and fed the imagination behind Narnia. The book also looks at Narnia's beginnings through the eyes of the children evacuated from London who lived at The Kilns, Lewis's home near Oxford.
It was published on October 1, 2026 by SPCK in London, in hardback (£24.99) and as an ebook. The Church Times highlighted it on November 13 in its round-up of new titles.
See also
Sources
- SPCK, listing for “From Airmen to Aslan with C. S. Lewis”.
- Church Times, “New books just published”, 13 November 2026.
- Google Books, listing for “From Airmen to Aslan with C. S. Lewis”.
- Blackwell's, hardback listing.
- Logos, ebook edition.