Posted on 11/29/2004 9:41:23 AM PST by The Great Yazoo
C. S. Lewis was born on this date in 1898, and forty-one years after his death, one thing has become startlingly clear: This Oxford don was not only a keen apologist but also a true prophet for our postmodern age.
For example, Lewis’s 1947 book, Miracles, was penned before most Christians were aware of the emerging philosophy of naturalism. This is the belief that there is a naturalistic explanation for everything in the universe.
Naturalism undercuts any objective morality, opening the door to tyranny. In his book The Abolition of Man, Lewis warned that naturalism turns humans into objects to be controlled. It turns values into “mere natural phenomena”—which can be selected and inculcated into a passive population by powerful Conditioners. Lewis predicted a time when those who want to remold human nature “will be armed with the powers of an omnicompetent state and an irresistible scientific technique.” Sounds like the biotech debate today, doesn’t it?
Why was Lewis so uncannily prophetic? At first glance he seems an unlikely candidate. He was not a theologian; he was an English professor. What was it that made him such a keen observer of cultural and intellectual trends?
The answer may be somewhat discomfiting to modern evangelicals: One reason is precisely that Lewis was not an evangelical. He was a professor in the academy, with a specialty in medieval literature, which gave him a mental framework shaped by the whole scope of intellectual history and Christian thought. As a result, he was liberated from the narrow confines of the religious views of the day—which meant he was able to analyze and critique them.
Lewis once wrote than any new book “has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages.” Because he himself was steeped in that “great body of Christian thought,” he quickly discerned trends that ran counter to it.
But how many of us are familiar with that same panorama of Christian ideas “down the ages”? How many of us know the work of more than a few contemporary writers? How, then, can we stand against the destructive intellectual trends multiplying in our own day?
The problem is not that modern evangelicals are less intelligent than Lewis. As Mark Noll explains in his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, the problem is that our sharpest intellects have been channeled into biblical scholarship, exegesis, and hermeneutics. While that is a vital enterprise, we rarely give the same scholarly attention to history, literature, politics, philosophy, economics, or the arts. As a result, we are less aware of the culture than we should be, less equipped to defend a biblical worldview, and less capable of being a redemptive force in our postmodern society—less aware, as well, of the threats headed our way from cultural elites.
You and I need to follow Lewis’s lead. We must liberate ourselves from the prison of our own narrow perspective and immerse ourselves in Christian ideas “down the ages.” Only then can we critique our culture and trace the trends.
The best way to celebrate Lewis’s birthday is to be at our posts, as he liked to say—with renewed spirits and with probing and informed minds.
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For further reading and information:
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001 version).
C. S. Lewis, Miracles (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001 version).
C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001 version).
Charles Colson, “ The Oxford Prophet ,” Christianity Today, 15 June 1998 .
Charles Colson, “ Cultural Prophecy: Lewis learned from the greats ,” Boundless, 25 August 1998 .
Charles Colson, “ C. S. Lewis: Prophet of the Twentieth Century ,” Wilberforce Forum.
James Tonkowich, M. Div., “ In Praise of Old Books ,” BreakPoint WorldView, March 2004.
BreakPoint Commentary No. 040412, “ Everything Old Is New Again: C. S. Lewis and the Argument from Reason .”
BreakPoint Commentary No. 031121, “ Three Died That Day: Reflections on November 22, 1963 .”
Dr. Armand Nicholi, The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life (Free Press, 2002).
Mark A. Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (Eerdmans, 1994).
Mark A. Noll, “ The Evangelical Mind Today ,” First Things, October 2004.
Chuck Colson is founder and chairman of BreakPoint Online, a Townhall.com member group.
I believe he also said that one should read four "old" books (very least, author deceased?) to every one contemporary book.
Self-ping
Mine, too. ;o)
All that and no mention of the Chronicles of Narnia. Some of the best childrens books ever.
Protestant, but I've always thought we share far more with our Catholic brethren than really should divide us, so I expect I'll be able to handle it. The only folks who are going around burning heretics and cutting off heads these days are not Christians of any stripe, if you get my drift.
Chesterton inspired Lewis, who had become increasingly agnostic after reading the works of Nitche.
Chesterton wrote a great little parable (or did he just cite it?) about walls. Do you remember the one to which I refer?
And this from Luke 17: 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."[4] 37"Where, Lord?" they asked. He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather."
Somehow, the vulture in the story doesn't make me think this is a good thing that's happening.
So, I have lots of this stuff up on my "shelf" to think about and wait for understanding.
I read The Great Divorce and The Screwtape Letters as a teen, Dad had bought them. They are both excellent--they've stayed with me ever since I read them.
Peter Kreeft has written some excellent books as well.
Same here.
Read it (it's not long, I'll bet you read it in one setting).
I have my own "one sentence" synopsis, but I'd like you to read it first and then we could freepmail our exchange of impressions.
I believe what's up is correct.
I was reading everything connected to Lewis, so I wound up reading his stuff. The Place of the Lion and All Hallows Eve are probably the best.
Think Eros and Psyche. It's a very classical book.
How can you not mention the Father Brown stories?
I think he would have finally converted (not that he'd be all that much happier, at the moment)! ;o)
For him to have Catholic friends like Tolkien was a big enough step for a Church-of-Ireland man from Belfast in the 1890s (with all that implies). That sort of upbringing is very hard to overcome. Had he been your ordinary Englishman, I think he might well have become Catholic - much of his thought was of course rooted in the medieval literature that he taught.
Thanks for the info. Are Charles' books as Christian as Lewis and Chesterton? (not that it matters, I will probably read his books either way)
Their is a book "lewis and the Catholic church" (or a title along those lines). I guess he was interested in Catholism but never converted.
Happy birthday indeed, to a great man. I want to be C.S. Lewis when I grow up.
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