For example, Lewis describes the ruler of Malacandra as an angel-like figure called Oyarsa, and explains that this oyarsa serves more powerful figures who are rough analogues of the Christian figures God the Father and Jesus Christ. Towards that goal, much of the religious discussion that Ransom, Lewis’s main character, encounters on Malacandra loosely resembles the basics of the Christian faith.

Away from the reverence of “stained-glass and Sunday school” that Lewis perceives as obstructing the true potency of Christian thought, Lewis hopes that Out of the Silent Planet can open the imaginations of his readers so that they are better able to accept the amazing truths he himself has found in Christian life.

Indeed, Lewis sees this fantastic setting as absolutely critical to his goal of influencing his readers to think about and engage with Christian ideas and beliefs, disrupting the “stuffy” lectures and moralistic plays that Lewis assumes most people associate with Christian teaching. Elwin Ransom’s experiences on the new planet Malacandra (Lewis’s name for Mars). In Out of the Silent Planet, Lewis uses the creative and exciting framework of a science fiction adventure to offer a new way for readers to think of Christianity through his protagonist Dr. Lewis, a devout Christian for much of his adult life, includes his interpretation of the fundamentals of Christian belief in all his novels.

Out of the silent planet series