What discussion society did C.S. Lewis serve as the first president of at Oxford?

C.S. Lewis served as the first president of the Socratic Club at Oxford. The society was founded in 1942 to provide a forum where Christian and non-Christian students could discuss religious and philosophical questions.

The club was named after Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher associated with questioning and dialogue. Its meetings encouraged speakers and students to test arguments publicly rather than treating belief as a subject beyond rational examination.

Lewis chaired the club’s meetings for many years and became one of its best-known participants. The discussions reflected his wider aim of presenting Christianity as intellectually defensible, a theme also found in books such as Miracles and Mere Christianity.

The Socratic Club is sometimes confused with the Inklings, a private literary circle that included Lewis and Tolkien. The groups were different: the Inklings focused largely on reading and discussing creative work, while the Socratic Club centered on debate about belief and reason.