21 Lessons for the 21st Century: Lesson 8

C.S. Lewis & Francis Schaeffer: Lessons ... from the Most Influential Apologists of Our Time | 1998 | Scott R. Burson & Jerry L. Walls

[logos]

Today we enter a new topic:

Enchanting the Emotions

8. Emotional redemption

A central point of The Abolition of Man is that true virtue is impossible without trained emotions. Without the support of such trained emotions, we are powerless to do what is right in a consistent fashion, even if we know intellectually what we ought to do. The key to real character, then, is for the emotions to be trained so they follow the lead of the intellect. This requires that our heart, our "chest" as Lewis put it, must be shaped and schooled by the perception of objective truth and value as surely as our intellect grasps it.

This point is of particular relevance for our culture, which has still not recovered its balance after the age of Romanticism. Our culture is unhealthily preoccupied with the emotional, the experiential and the affective, at the expense of the rational and the moral. The answer is not to suppress emotion or to minimize its significance; rather, it is to recover the notion that there are both appropriate and inappropriate emotional responses just as there are true and false beliefs. Which is which is determined by what is objectively true and valuable. The church needs to help train the emotions and recognize the role of emotion in holistic faith. The answer is not to restrain emotion but to train it.

It is worth remarking here that part of the appeal of Schaeffer's writings is his palpable passion. The reader senses that Schaeffer feels deeply what he is saying and writing and that his emotion is fully commensurate with the matters he is addressing. As he stated explicitly, "If we fight our philosophic battles, our artistic battles, our scientific battles, our battles in sociology, our battles in psychology, our battles in literature, our battles in drama coolly, without emotional involvement, do we really love God?" In short, emotional deserts are no more to be preferred than emotional floods that recognize no boundaries.

[logos]

NEXT: The marriage of myth and fact

[logos]

After the mind, come the emotions...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for this next installment!

Our culture is unhealthily preoccupied with the emotional, the experiential and the affective, at the expense of the rational and the moral. The answer is not to suppress emotion or to minimize its significance; rather, it is to recover the notion that there are both appropriate and inappropriate emotional responses just as there are true and false beliefs. Which is which is determined by what is objectively true and valuable.

So very true.

[Alex Murphy]

Our culture is unhealthily preoccupied with the emotional, the experiential and the affective, at the expense of the rational and the moral. The answer is not to suppress emotion or to minimize its significance; rather, it is to recover the notion that there are both appropriate and inappropriate emotional responses just as there are true and false beliefs. Which is which is determined by what is objectively true and valuable.

Good catch, Alamo-Girl! My eye was drawn to this section, too!

[Alamo-Girl]

I'm so glad we are in agreement to the importance of it! Thank you for your reply!

[betty boop]

The answer is not to restrain emotion but to train it.

Thank you so much for today's installment, logos. Wonderful insights! I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's installment on myth.... :^)

[grame]

I always liked the word picture that the engine is our will and our emotions are the caboose. The caboose has to follow the engine.

thanks for the post