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.
For those starting out on Chesterton, the best sequence is: Maisy Ward's Biography of him; then Heretics; then Orthodoxy; then Everlasting Man. Then anything else. After Orthodoxy (one of the great literary works of all time IMHO), my favorite is Sidelights on New London and Newer York; it is side-splittingly funny.
Naturalism weakens Western culture and Islam takes over.
I also recommend Til We Have Faces. It deals with the differences in ritual and psychology between nature religion and philosophy. Or something like that. I've read it twice, and it's still a mystery to me.
If I remember correctly, Lewis was an English professor because that was the first open position for which he could apply. He was equally prepared to become a lecturer in Philosophy, and had a keen eye trained on the Ancients/Moderns debate during his education. Naturalism and Spencerism would have fallen under his notice, I think.
Can you imagine what C.S. Lewis, who was an Anglican, would say about the current state of the Episcopal Church in the USA?
And didn't he write the Father Brown series...or was that someone else?
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C. S. Lewis
Oh, yes, he did write "The Dumb Ox." Anecdote: when the famous Thomistic scholar Etienne Gilson read it, he flung the book across the room and uttered, "That simple man has made my work obsolete!" And, yes, the great GKC did write the Father Brown stories.
(ahem!)
Lewis converted to Catholicism in his 40s or early 50s.
He and his friend Tolkein had debates about Catholicism for years. Even tho Tolkein (a Catholic) had a hand in converting Lewis, Lewis was a die-hard Anglican.
If you have proof to the contrary, I would be interested in reading it.
You are correct. Lewis never converted to the Church of Rome.
I once commented to a good (and devoutly evangelical - completely lapsed Catholic) friend that I didn't care for the Left Behind series as the first book (the only one I've read) was annoyingly poorly written and I have doubts about the scriptural basis of "The Rapture". I think the phrase she used was "you are so FOS!"
She's normally a dear but with a highly volatile temper. We're still friends (she asked for forgiveness afterwards - freely given I might add) but my opinion of the series remains the same. I haven't read much by C.S. Lewis but what I have seen is very satisfying. I'll have to look up Chesterton as well.
Well as long as we are discussing Lewis and Chesterton has anyone read Charles Williams?? I haven't read any of his works, but I often hear his name along with Lewis, so I am just wondering if he is worth checking out.
I don't know if you are Catholic or not but beforwarned Chesterton is VERY Catholic. I understand alot of people dislike his work because of this.
I am certain you are wrong about this, sir. I say this respectfully: Lewis never converted to Catholicism. He died an Anglican.
Actually, I've often felt that "That Hideous Strength" was a more accurate picture of today than anything Orwell ever penned. Worship of the Macrobes is upon us!
And "The Last Battle" definitely captures the spirit of our age. The Great Ape is the Media, Hollywood, and the Left, without a doubt.
C. S. Lewis has been an important person in my life. IMO, he is a theosophical genius/saint. He was important in leading me from "skimmed milk" Christianity to the whole-bodied, orthodox real thing.
I would not know with which of his books one who is unfamiliar with his works should start. Chances are that person will wind up reading them all, as I did.
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