J.R.R. Tolkien helped C.S. Lewis return to Christianity during conversations in the early 1930s. Lewis had moved away from the Christianity of his childhood and described himself for a period as an atheist before reconsidering his beliefs.
Tolkien and Lewis discussed mythology, literature, and Christianity, especially the relationship between stories and the Christian account of redemption. Their conversations contributed to Lewis’s intellectual and spiritual change. Lewis became a theist in 1930 and returned to Christian belief in 1931, later becoming one of the twentieth century’s most influential Christian apologists.
Tolkien was not the only person involved in Lewis’s conversion. Lewis also credited other friends and writers, including Owen Barfield, and his reading of Christian authors played an important role. The two men remained close colleagues at Oxford, though their friendship later experienced tensions.