He never sought authority, avoided institutions, and disliked administration, yet CS Lewis has led millions into faith. What does his influence tell us about leadership, persuasion, and belief today?
Can one quiet Oxford don, armed with books, broadcasts, and a prodigious imagination, really be called a leader?
For Dr Crystal Hurd, the answer is an emphatic yes, and her story may resonate with anyone who has ever hesitated to speak about faith in sceptical spaces.
In a recent episode of The CS Lewis Podcast, Crystal reflects on the surprising resistance she faced when proposing her doctoral research on C. S. Lewis as a transformational leader. Studying at a secular university, she was initially told the topic simply wouldn’t work. Lewis, after all, “didn’t lead anything”, did he? Yet this pushback revealed a deeper irony.
The Leadership That Changed Lives
Lewis never commanded armies or ran institutions. He disliked bureaucracy, avoided prestige, and famously preferred his pipe and students to administrative power. And yet, through books like Mere Christianity, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Till We Have Faces, he has led millions of readers worldwide into deeper faith or into Christian belief for the very first time. Crystal herself is one of them.
As a young literature graduate searching for a modern writer who took both reason and faith seriously, she encountered Mere Christianity. The effect was immediate and life-altering. “I was underlining every paragraph,” she recalls. “This man gets it.”
That is leadership of a particular kind: not coercive, but compelling; not positional, but persuasive.
Why This Matters for Today’s Christian
For Christians seeking to engage non-believing friends, Lewis remains uniquely helpful. He speaks as a fellow traveller, not an insider using religious shorthand. He dismantles objections patiently. He invites readers to think clearly and then to imagine deeply.
Lewis also permits asking questions. He models a faith robust enough to withstand doubt, curiosity, and honest struggle. For those “dipping a toe” into Christianity, this combination of intellectual rigour and imaginative warmth can be decisive.
And for believers navigating a sceptical culture, Lewis shows that influence does not require dominance. Faith can be articulated humbly, lucidly, and attractively without shouting.
From Academic Resistance to Cultural Impact
Crystal’s research ultimately succeeded. She found that Lewis met every recognised criterion of transformational leadership: shaping worldviews, inspiring moral change, and mobilising people toward a vision larger than themselves. The objections faded under the weight of evidence.
The deeper lesson is this: our culture often fails to recognise the forms of leadership that matter most.
Lewis led by translating complex truths into everyday language. He led by radio talks that caused wartime pubs to fall silent. He led by stories that still awaken longing for “another country”.
Keep Listening, Keep Exploring
Stories like Crystal Hurd’s are exactly why The C.S. Lewis Podcast, hosted by Ruth Jackson, continues to find new audiences week after week. Each episode explores how Lewis’s thought speaks into today’s questions about faith, doubt, culture, leadership, and meaning.
If you care about reaching thoughtful sceptics, nurturing curious seekers, or deepening your own Christian imagination.
