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* GodzillaThreshold: Deemed even [[CorruptCorporateExecutive robber barons]] less dangerous than [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]]. After all, a robber baron has no delusions of serving the greater good (and is therefore more likely to do good in the occasional benevolent mood because what benevolence they have isn't tied up in by-any-means-necessary), and so they are more likely to have pangs of conscience and [[EvenEvilHasStandards depths to which even they are unwilling to sink]]. This ties into his long-time contention that truly nasty people without illusions about what they are are easier for the forces of good to get through to than people causing harm who've deluded themselves into thinking that they're doing the right thing.

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* GodzillaThreshold: Deemed even [[CorruptCorporateExecutive robber barons]] less dangerous than [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]]. After all, a robber baron has no delusions of serving the greater good (and is therefore more likely to do good in the occasional benevolent mood and/or for the utility of it in service of whatever because what benevolence they have isn't tied up in by-any-means-necessary), and so they are more likely to have pangs of conscience and [[EvenEvilHasStandards depths to which even they are unwilling to sink]].sink]]; even granting such a person ''zero'' goodness, they would still get tired or even ''bored'' of being nothing but pure nastiness. On the other hand, a fanatic with a cause will have no such compunctions, and even their moments of PetTheDog come off as insufferably insulting since any good they are doing in such a mood is from their own point of view and not anyone else's. This ties into his long-time contention that truly nasty people without illusions about what they are are easier for the forces of good to get through to than people causing harm who've deluded themselves into thinking that they're doing the right thing.
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* GodzillaThreshold: Deemed even [[CorruptCorporateExecutive robber barons]] less dangerous than [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]]. After all, a robber baron has no delusions of serving the greater good (and is therefore more likely to do good in the occasional benevolent mood because what benevolence they have isn't tied up in by-any-means-necessary), and so they are more likely to have pangs of conscience and [[EvenEvilHasStandards depths to which even they are unwilling to sink]].

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* GodzillaThreshold: Deemed even [[CorruptCorporateExecutive robber barons]] less dangerous than [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]]. After all, a robber baron has no delusions of serving the greater good (and is therefore more likely to do good in the occasional benevolent mood because what benevolence they have isn't tied up in by-any-means-necessary), and so they are more likely to have pangs of conscience and [[EvenEvilHasStandards depths to which even they are unwilling to sink]]. This ties into his long-time contention that truly nasty people without illusions about what they are are easier for the forces of good to get through to than people causing harm who've deluded themselves into thinking that they're doing the right thing.
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* GodzillaThreshold: Deemed even [[CorruptCorporateExecutive robber barons]] less dangerous than [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]]. After all, a robber baron has no delusions of serving the greater good (and is therefore more likely to do good in the occasional benevolent mood because what benevolence they have isn't tied up in by-and-means-necessary), and so they are more likely to have pangs of conscience and [[EvenEvilHasStandards depths to which even they are unwilling to sink]].

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* GodzillaThreshold: Deemed even [[CorruptCorporateExecutive robber barons]] less dangerous than [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]]. After all, a robber baron has no delusions of serving the greater good (and is therefore more likely to do good in the occasional benevolent mood because what benevolence they have isn't tied up in by-and-means-necessary), by-any-means-necessary), and so they are more likely to have pangs of conscience and [[EvenEvilHasStandards depths to which even they are unwilling to sink]].
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* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: Boarding schools in Lewis's works are very unlikely to be positively portrayed-- at best a necessary evil-- influenced by his own experiences with a SadistTeacher and {{Jerk Jock}}s as described in ''Surprised by Joy.''

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* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: Boarding schools in Lewis's works are very unlikely to be positively portrayed-- at portrayed--at best a necessary evil-- influenced evil--influenced by his own experiences with a SadistTeacher and {{Jerk Jock}}s as described in ''Surprised by Joy.''



* CombatByChampion: Prince Caspian features a particularly gut-churning edge-of-your-seat example. All the more so for Peter's quiet dignity.

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* CombatByChampion: Prince Caspian ''Prince Caspian'' features a particularly gut-churning edge-of-your-seat example. All the more so for Peter's quiet dignity.
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* AfraidOfDoctors: Lewis was afraid of dentists, specifically (having inherited [[BritishTeeth bad teeth]] nescessitating loads of long and often ardulous dental work); which he mentions or at least alludes to in some sheer toothache-inducing dentist metaphor at least [[OncePerEpisode once a]] non-fiction book, and occasionally in the fiction ones as well.

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* AfraidOfDoctors: Lewis was afraid of dentists, specifically (having inherited [[BritishTeeth bad teeth]] nescessitating necessitating loads of long and often ardulous arduous dental work); which he mentions or at least alludes to in some sheer toothache-inducing dentist metaphor at least [[OncePerEpisode once a]] non-fiction book, and occasionally in the fiction ones as well.
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* AfraidOfDoctors: Lewis was afraid of dentists, specifically (having inherited [[BritishTeeth bad teeth]] nescessitating loads of long and often ardulous dental work); which he mentions or at least alludes to in some sheer toothache-inducing dentist metaphor at least [[OncePerEpisode once a]] non-fiction book, and occasionally in the ficton ones as well.

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* AfraidOfDoctors: Lewis was afraid of dentists, specifically (having inherited [[BritishTeeth bad teeth]] nescessitating loads of long and often ardulous dental work); which he mentions or at least alludes to in some sheer toothache-inducing dentist metaphor at least [[OncePerEpisode once a]] non-fiction book, and occasionally in the ficton fiction ones as well.
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* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. In terms of InUniverse chronology, they were published in AnachronicOrder. Later editions correct the SequelNumberSnarl by numbering them chronologically, but many readers maintain that reading them in publication order is more rewarding because the prequel contains [[CallForward references that only make sense if you've read the other books first]]. As for Lewis himself, he had a slight preference for the chronological order, but ultimately he didn't care too much about reading order. The publishing order is as follows:

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* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. In terms of InUniverse chronology, they were published in AnachronicOrder. Later editions correct the SequelNumberSnarl by numbering them chronologically, but many readers maintain that reading them in publication order is more rewarding because the prequel contains [[CallForward references that only make sense if you've read the other books first]]. As for Lewis himself, he had a slight preference for the chronological order, but ultimately he didn't care too much about reading order.order as he did not think about the chronology of the series beforehand. The publishing order is as follows:

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* TheAntiGod: Defied in ''Mere Christianity'', where Lewis presents a number of arguments against the notion that an evil opposite to God could exist. Among other reasons: if God and His opposite were really exactly equal in power, then either both of them would be equally capable of deciding what morality is, in which case it would make no sense to call either one more good or more evil than the other; or else neither of them would be capable of changing the moral law, in which case who- or what-ever is powerful enough to prevent both entities from doing so would be the actual God.

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* TheAntiGod: Defied in ''Mere Christianity'', where Lewis presents a number of arguments against the notion that an evil opposite to God could exist. Among other reasons: if God and His opposite were really exactly equal in power, then either both of them would be equally capable of deciding what morality is, the moral law, in which case it would make no sense to call either one more good or more evil than the other; or else neither of them would be capable of changing the moral law, in which case the true God-like power of the Universe would not be either of them, but rather who- or what-ever is powerful enough to prevent restrain the both entities from doing so would be the actual God.of them.
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* TheAntiGod: Defied in ''Mere Christianity'', where Lewis presents a number of arguments against the notion that an evil opposite to God could exist. Among other reasons: if God and His opposite were really exactly equal in power, then either both of them would be equally capable of deciding what morality is, in which case it would make no sense to call either one more good or more evil than the other; or else neither of them would be capable of changing the moral law, in which case who- or what-ever is powerful enough to prevent both entities from doing so would be the actual God.
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* AfraidOfDoctors: Lewis was afraid of dentists, specifically (having inherited [[BritishTeeth bad teeth]] nescessitating loads of long and often ardulous dental work); which he mentions or at least alludes to in some sheer toothache-inducing dentist metaphor at least [[OncePerEpisode once a]] non-fiction book, and occasionally in the ficton ones as well.

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Another odd bit of trivia: the day after he died, ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild aired its first episode]].



Another odd bit of trivia: the day after he died, ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild aired its first episode]].
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Another odd bit of trivia: the day after he died, ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild aired its first episode]].
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-->--'''C.S. Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy''

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-->--'''C.-->-- '''C.S. Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy''
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* AuthorAppeal: He was apparently fond of [[DoesNotLikeShoes characters who go barefoot]], due to [[BarefootSage religious and mystical]] [[MagicalBarefooter symbolism]] behind it, and probably also [[BarefootLoon free-spiritedness and nonconformism]] (besides, Lewis drew inspiration from his idols Creator/GeorgeMacDonald and Creator/ENesbit, whose writings also feature plenty of barefoot characters). The number of barefooters is especially high in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' (the Narnia wiki even has [[https://narnia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Characters_who_go_barefoot a specific category for them]]): Lucy Pevensie (her brothers and sister also like to do it sometimes), Coriakin and Ramandu from ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Ramandu's daughter and Queen Jadis (at least in the illustrations), Shasta and the Hermit of the Southern March from ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' (though with Shasta, it's just BarefootPoverty), and Puddleglum from ''Literature/TheSilverChair''. Merlin from ''[[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy That Hideous Strength]]'' is also barefooted.

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* AuthorAppeal: He was apparently fond of [[DoesNotLikeShoes [[PrefersGoingBarefoot characters who go prefer going barefoot]], due to [[BarefootSage religious and mystical]] [[MagicalBarefooter symbolism]] behind it, and probably also [[BarefootLoon free-spiritedness and nonconformism]] (besides, Lewis drew inspiration from his idols Creator/GeorgeMacDonald and Creator/ENesbit, whose writings also feature plenty of barefoot characters). The number of barefooters is especially high in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' (the Narnia wiki even has [[https://narnia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Characters_who_go_barefoot a specific category for them]]): Lucy Pevensie (her brothers and sister also like to do it sometimes), Coriakin and Ramandu from ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Ramandu's daughter and Queen Jadis (at least in the illustrations), Shasta and the Hermit of the Southern March from ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' (though with Shasta, it's just BarefootPoverty), and Puddleglum from ''Literature/TheSilverChair''. Merlin from ''[[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy That Hideous Strength]]'' is also barefooted.
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** Discussed in his non-fiction work ''Studies in Words'',

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** Discussed in The focus of his non-fiction work ''Studies in Words'', Words''. In this work, Lewis looks at a couple of words and shows how their meanings have changed throughout the centuries.



* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Appears to some extent in practically all his work, but his non-fiction dedicates entire chapters to expounding on how and why humans are bastards, and how the bastardliness can be reduced. In one of his essays, he mentions Dark-Gods-of-the-Blood which comes down to how we must always fight off the desire to give into the baser desires we feel as we go through daily life.

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* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Appears to some extent in practically all his work, but his non-fiction dedicates entire chapters to expounding on how and why humans are bastards, bastards and how the bastardliness can be reduced. In one of his essays, he mentions Dark-Gods-of-the-Blood which comes down to how we must always fight off the desire to give into the baser desires we feel as we go through daily life.

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-->-- ''Surprised by Joy''

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-->-- -->--'''C.S. Lewis''', ''Surprised by Joy''



Lewis was born and raised in [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Ulster]]. [[MissingMom His mother died]] when he was young. He was educated in a series of English {{Boarding School}}s, the first of which was run by a SadistTeacher. He fought in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Great War]]. He was a member of UsefulNotes/TheInklings and a friend of Creator/CharlesWilliams and Creator/JRRTolkien, whose influence partially led him to rediscover Christianity (though Lewis being an Anglican and Tolkien a Roman Catholic led to some friction). He published an autobiography of his early life and conversion titled ''Surprised by Joy'', which was edited by his friend, the American writer Joy Davidman Gresham. After he [[CitizenshipMarriage married her so she could remain in the UK]], they [[MarriageBeforeRomance fell desperately in love]] and had an Anglican ceremony after Joy was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. She died four years later, leaving Lewis so heartbroken that he ended up writing ''A Grief Observed'' to work through his struggle with his faith. Lewis himself died on the same day as [[Literature/BraveNewWorld Aldous Huxley]] and UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy; this led to his passing being almost unpublicized.

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Lewis was born and raised in [[UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland Ulster]]. [[MissingMom His mother died]] when he was young. He was educated in a series of English {{Boarding School}}s, the first of which was run by a SadistTeacher. He fought in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Great War]]. He was a member of UsefulNotes/TheInklings and a friend of Creator/CharlesWilliams and Creator/JRRTolkien, whose influence partially led him to rediscover Christianity (though Lewis being an Anglican and Tolkien a Roman Catholic led to some friction). He published an autobiography of his early life and conversion titled ''Surprised by Joy'', which was edited by his friend, the American writer Joy Davidman Gresham. After he [[CitizenshipMarriage married her so she could remain in the UK]], they [[MarriageBeforeRomance fell desperately in love]] and had an Anglican ceremony after Joy was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer. She died four years later, leaving Lewis so heartbroken that he ended up writing wrote ''A Grief Observed'' to work through his struggle with his faith. Lewis himself died on the same day as [[Literature/BraveNewWorld Aldous Huxley]] and UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy; this led to his passing being almost unpublicized.



* ''Dymer'' (1926): A narrative poem, published under the pseudonym Clive Hamilton.

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* ''Dymer'' (1926): A narrative poem, poem published under the pseudonym Clive Hamilton.



* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. In terms of InUniverse chronology, they were published in AnachronicOrder. Later editions correct the SequelNumberSnarl by numbering them chronologically, but many readers maintain that reading them in publication order is more rewarding because the prequel contains [[CallForward references that only make sense if you've read the other books first]]. As for Lewis himself, he had a slight preference for the chronological order but ultimately didn't care too much about reading order.

to:

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. In terms of InUniverse chronology, they were published in AnachronicOrder. Later editions correct the SequelNumberSnarl by numbering them chronologically, but many readers maintain that reading them in publication order is more rewarding because the prequel contains [[CallForward references that only make sense if you've read the other books first]]. As for Lewis himself, he had a slight preference for the chronological order order, but ultimately he didn't care too much about reading order.order. The publishing order is as follows:



For a complete list of Lewis' writings, non-fiction and fiction, see [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis_bibliography the other wiki]].

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For a complete list of Lewis' writings, non-fiction non-fiction, and fiction, see [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis_bibliography the other wiki]].



* AllJustADream: In [[spoiler: ''The Great Divorce'']], he has the whole thing be a dream in order to remind readers that the depictions of Heaven and Hell are merely to give a setting for the scenes, and not actual depictions of Heaven and Hell's environments.

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* AllJustADream: In [[spoiler: ''The Great Divorce'']], he has the whole thing be a dream in order to remind readers that the depictions of Heaven and Hell are merely to give a setting for the scenes, scenes and not actual depictions of Heaven and Hell's environments.



* AuthorAvatar: Strange case in that it's the avatar of another author. The old man who owns the warderobe (aka. an old Digory Kirke) is supposedly inspired by Lewis' best friend Ronald (you may know him better as Tolkien).

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* AuthorAvatar: Strange case in that it's the avatar of another author. The old man who owns the warderobe (aka. an wardrobe (an old Digory Kirke) is supposedly inspired by Lewis' best friend Ronald (you may know him better as Tolkien).



** In ''Perelandra'', Ransom encounters flies and beetles larger than himself in the caverns of Venus. Subverted in this case. Once the [[{{Satan}} Un-man's]] presence is gone, Ransom ceases to find them frightening, and speculates that they may, in fact, be sentient.

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** In ''Perelandra'', Ransom encounters flies and beetles larger than himself in the caverns of Venus. Subverted in this case. Once the [[{{Satan}} Un-man's]] presence is gone, Ransom ceases to find them frightening, frightening and speculates that they may, in fact, be sentient.



* DeconstructedTrope: In 1955, a psychologist (to whom the idea of female astronauts had not occurred) suggested that Mars astronauts might need ladies of the evening to keep them sexually satisfied. In his short story "Ministering Angels," Lewis (taking [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+26%3A5&version=NIV Proverbs 26:5]] to heart) shows how the implementation would fail; the only women who volunteered were a fashionable psychologist who bought this (and would talk the hind leg off a donkey) and a washed-up tart who has lost all her charms with age. Furthermore, the men on Mars are not nearly as horny as supposed (and Paterson is AmbiguouslyGay), the professor-whore is unlikeable, and the crew of the ship that brought the two are fed up with them.

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* DeconstructedTrope: In 1955, a psychologist (to whom the idea of female astronauts had not occurred) suggested that Mars astronauts might need ladies of the evening to keep them sexually satisfied. In his short story "Ministering Angels," Lewis (taking [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+26%3A5&version=NIV Proverbs 26:5]] to heart) shows how the implementation would fail; the only women who volunteered were a fashionable psychologist who bought this (and would talk the hind leg off a donkey) and a washed-up tart who has lost all her charms with age. Furthermore, the men on Mars are not nearly as horny as supposed (and Paterson is AmbiguouslyGay), the professor-whore is unlikeable, and the crew of the ship that brought the two are is fed up with them.



** ''{{Literature/Perelandra}}'': Towards the end the Oyeresu of Malacandra and Perelandra both appear to Ransom in different forms in preparation for the final ceremony and ask him to choose which ones are most suitable for human eyes/ears. They end up with vaguely anthropomorphic shapes with Malacandra as male and Perelandra as female
* ForTheEvulz: Deconstructed in ''Mere Christianity'': although it is possible to do good for the sake of doing good, nobody does evil for the sake of doing evil. A person might give money to the needy even when they are not feeling particularity generous that day, simply because it was the right thing to do, and they might even do it reluctantly. But who ever heard of [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat someone who reluctantly cheated on their spouse in spite of being perfectly content with the partner they already had, purely because it was the wrong thing to do?]] Evil deeds are merely the pursuit of some good in the wrong way; anyone you might consider a villain either A) genuinely thinks they are doing the right thing, B)Thinks their villainous acts are justified, or C) doesn't give a crap.

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** ''{{Literature/Perelandra}}'': Towards the end the Oyeresu of Malacandra and Perelandra both appear to Ransom in different forms in preparation for the final ceremony and ask him to choose which ones are most suitable for human eyes/ears. They end up with vaguely anthropomorphic shapes shapes, with Malacandra as male and Perelandra as female
* ForTheEvulz: Deconstructed in ''Mere Christianity'': although it is possible to do good for the sake of doing good, nobody does evil for the sake of doing evil. A person might give money to the needy even when they are not feeling particularity particularly generous that day, simply because it was the right thing to do, and they might even do it reluctantly. But who ever heard of [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat someone who reluctantly cheated on their spouse in spite of being perfectly content with the partner they already had, purely because it was the wrong thing to do?]] Evil deeds are merely the pursuit of some good in the wrong way; anyone you might consider a villain either A) genuinely thinks they are doing the right thing, B)Thinks their villainous acts are justified, or C) doesn't give a crap.



* HaveAGayOldTime: Lampshaded. In one of the essays from ''God In the Dock'', he gives a LongList of old ecclesiastical terms that have changed meaning.

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* HaveAGayOldTime: Lampshaded. HaveAGayOldTime:
**
In one of the essays from ''God In the Dock'', he gives a LongList of old ecclesiastical terms that have changed meaning.meaning.
** Discussed in his non-fiction work ''Studies in Words'',



* ReligionRantSong: His first published book ''Spirits In Bondage'' (under the PenName Clive Hamilton) is a collection of lyric poems with a very cynical, negative view of religion. They were written before his conversion, of course.

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* ReligionRantSong: His first published book ''Spirits In Bondage'' (under the PenName Clive Hamilton) is a collection of lyric poems with a very cynical, negative view of religion. They were written before his conversion, of course.

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