clipped from: www.rapidnet.com   

At the age of twenty-seven, after having been elected Fellow and Tutor in English Language and Literature at Magdalen College, C.S. Lewis met John Ronald Reuel Tolkien at a meeting of the English faculty at Menton College (5/11/26). J.R.R. Tolkien, though wary of Lewis at first, enrolled him in the "Coalbiters," a club founded by Tolkien for the study and propagation of Norse mythology. The two became close friends, sharing their common interest in occult fantasy. Tolkien argued that there is an inherent truth of mythology: that all pagan religions point in the direction of God. Through this faulty argument, Lewis reasoned the story of Christ to be a "true myth" -- a myth much the same as others, but a myth that really happened.


It is argued that in presenting a blend of fantasy with analogy to Christian truth, Lewis hoped to encourage his readers to search out the truth further.* This, however, was not Lewis's intention in writing his fantasies.