"There is, hidden or flaunted, a sword between the sexes till an entire marriage reconciles them. It is arrogance in us [men] to call frankness, fairness and chivalry 'masculine' when we see them in a woman; it is arrogance in them [women] to describe a man's sensitivities or tact or tenderness as 'feminine.'. . . Marriage heals this. Jointly the two become fully human."—C. S. Lewis (from A Grief Observed)

This statement and others like it in C. S. Lewis's later writings mark an extraordinary shift from his earlier and frequent defense of fixed gender roles and gender hierarchy. How did Lewis get to this point? And why have so many of his followers not better assimilated his final position?

This is the first book to provide a close examination of Lewis's understanding and presentation of gender. Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen evaluates Lewis's attitude toward the social sciences in the context of his slowly changing views on gender relations. She finds Lewis surprisingly prescient in his anticipation of the postmodern turn in the philosophy of science and surprisingly open, especially in his final works, to a more mutuality-based and generically human reading of gender relations. A Sword between the Sexes? addresses the tension between faith and science, suggesting how it may best be eased, and offers insight into the continuing debate over gender relations, egalitarianism, and complementarianism.

Brazos Press, 2010
9 x 6 inches 264 pages

	MARY STEWART VAN LEEUWEN (PhD, Northwestern University) is professor of psychology and philosophy at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, where she is also resident scholar at the Center for Christian Women in Leadership. She is the author of Gender and Grace and My Brother's Keeper.