85 YEARS AGO TODAY: J. R. R. TOLKIEN CONVINCES C. S. LEWIS THAT CHRIST IS THE TRUE MYTH

The Gospel Coalition ^ | September 20, 2016 | Justin Taylor

[SoFloFreeper]

On an early Sunday morning, September 20, 1931, three 30-something English professors took a stroll together on Addison’s Walk in the grounds of Magdalen College at the University of Oxford:

32-year-old C. S. Lewis (Fellow and Tutor of English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford),

39-year-old J. R. R. Tolkien (Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford),

and 35-year-old Hugo Dyson (Tutor and Lecturer at Reading University).

Their time together had begun the evening before at dinner, but their conversation went late into the night.

[agere_contra]

A story can be 100% true and still carry nuances, ramifications and impact on the human psyche that give it the force of myth, but with the certainty of fact.

Very well put!

I'm trying to think of good examples from history (apart from the Greatest Story Ever Told, of course).

I guess the story of the Titanic has true mythic qualities. It really happened, and it impacts our thoughts and memes even today. How would we refer to futile activity if it wasn't for the Deckchairs on the Titanic?

Also: there are so many stories from war with true mythic qualities. The seige of Malta. The battle of Iwo-Jima. The Battle of Britain from a UK perspective, or Stalingrad from a Russian one.

These stories aren't just dusty history: they live in us as models of defiance, resistance, self-sacrifice, and of course sheer bloody terror. These are profoundly spiritual things.

[agere_contra]

See, I thought your post about Assault Mistletoe was an allusion to the death of Balder. Which so fits this thread.

[killermosquito]

Sheldon van Auken was a friend of Lewis. He wrote A Severe Mercy. Also a great book.

[SouthParkRepublican]

Bump for later.

[Robert DeLong]

There are 2 meanings for myth:

1. a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.

2. a widely held but false belief or idea.

I know that I myself usually identify myth with the 2nd meaning, however, the 1st meaning leaves the possibility for a myth to be a real story.

[Skooz]

bfl

[tired&retired]

Thank you for posting this excellent article.

Here is a poem by Lewis that is at the link. It is beautiful.

Lewis wrote a poem entitled “What the Bird Said Early in the Year,” which not coincidentally is set in Addison’s Walk, and has to do with a spell becoming undone.

I heard in Addison’s Walk a bird sing clear:
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year, nor want of rain destroy the peas.

This year time’s nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.

This time they will not lead you round and back
To Autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.

This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.

Often deceived, yet open once again your heart,
Quick, quick, quick, quick!—the gates are drawn apart.

[rlmorel]

“The Screwtape Letters” is brilliant. I listen to an audiobook read by John Cleese...I know he is a libtard, but...his voice is quite well suited to the book.

[Covenantor]

A+++

[RedWing9]

Bkmrk

[Gadsden1st]

Bkmrk

[Gil4]

I was wondering how that fit. I hadn’t clicked any of the links yet, but I was picturing Lewis taking some mistletoe down and beating Tolkien with it during their debate/discussion. “Wrong thread” isn’t nearly as interesting an answer.

[awelliott]

Is the story of Christ a myth? Certainly it is, the most powerful myth ever. Why? Because it is true. Christ is the Son of God. All other truth, all other myth, crashes upon the shore of Christ as Savior of the world.

Well said. The clincher for me is his apostles. At His death, they abandoned and denied Him. Afterwards, in the face of murderous persecution that resulted in all but one of their deaths as martyrs, they proclaimed Him and carried His gospel to the world. The only thing that could effect such a transformation is an empty tomb.

[Hostage]

Excellent, thank you.

[Kommodor]

Ping to read later.

[willyd]

God In The Docks is another good read about the debates that CS Lewis took part in. Also, the writer fails to mention that JRR Tolkein became a Christian and was saved later in life... mostly due to this “myth” and the affect that CS Lewis had on him.