Nov 29, 2023·edited Nov 29, 2023Liked by Addison Hodges Hart
Thank you for this. I have noticed the rather dismissive tone toward Lewis, which seems to be quite prevalent right now. Perhaps it is partly an overcorrection in response to the sometimes intemperate veneration by some Evangelicals, who also tend to have a rather sanitized version of Lewis' thought. But it has a bit of the tone of hipster superiority about it.
Lewis was wrong on some things, and had some odd gaps in his theological thought. So it is with all of us. I have come to find his version of the free will defense of hell, for example, quite inadequate. On the other hand, how many people have been helped toward a more capacious understanding of the grace of God, rescued from appalling fundamentalist visions of retributive punishment?
Of course, I can't prove it, but I suspect the current renaissance of universalism would not have happened without Lewis' influence.
I am currently on my third read through of the Narnia books with my 7 year old daughter, who adores them. And even as an adult I find myself often moved to tears by these simple books. Lewis had profound gifts as a mythopoetic storyteller, and for many of us, our initiation into the Christian imagination came through his books. His vast influence has been almost entirely to the good.
I agree. The defecne of hell aside (and I feel sure he would have changed his mind had he encountered David Bentley Hart's definitive arguments against this morally repulsive idea) he has welcomed so many children into the world of Narnia and thereby subtly introduced them to realms beyond the quotidian. I, the child of militant atheists, read them avidly, and their influence is detectable in my own novels to this day. My nineteen-year-old granddaughter and I often sign off our exchanges with 'Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia'. He was also a considerable literary critic. His lecture "Hamlet: the Prince or the Poem" is one of the great critical insights into that play
"I have come to find his version of the free will defense of hell, for example, quite inadequate."
I can't disagree, but I hear his "locked from the inside" as the consensus apologia offered by defenders of eternal punishment. I wonder if this framing was at all controversial when originally stated. Doesn't his model leave space for a purgatorial universalism? It doesn't seem far from it unless he definitively states that upon death the trajectory is permanently fixed.
Oh, yes, I think it does have that space. That's why I also think it paved the way for so many contemporary universalists, but I tend to think of Lewis himself as at most a 'hopeful universalist' (I'm no expert, to be fair). Still, he often seems to suggest that the human will can become so fixed, whether before or after death, that nothing God can do could break through it's stubborn refusal of love.
His discussion of Matthew's "be ye perfect" in Mere Christianity jingles around in my head - I signed up for a bit of spiritual growth and here I am revisiting the entirety of my life, all of my shortcomings and the people I have hurt, and trying to find ways to life faithfully in areas I never even imagined... it started small and here I feel like the rug is being pulled out!
Similar thoughts for the Christian evaluation of pride as the root of our sin. I can't say definitively as he did that no other religion sees pride as Christianity does, but I can say that seeing my shortcomings through the lens of my own pride has been most helpful in growing in love of God, neighbor, and self.
Whatever worries one may carry about associations with American evangelicals, Lewis was a master of his craft and such a pleasure to read.
Like Anodos, I too am rereading the Narnia books, though unlike him I'm not reading them to a child, but only to my 55 year old self. They are marvelous all the same. I love his sci-fi trilogy almost as much. What a talent he had!
I recently learned that the Screwtape Letters is the prequel to the 3 space books and that the Dark Tower (unfinished) is the fifth volume. I’m excited to read them all again in this order to see the vision he was trying to articulate.
He definitely is a great introduction for christians but I do alway here every now and again good one liners or more occluded and interesting side or connections to and about him. Thanks for sharing the recommendations
Thank you for this. I have noticed the rather dismissive tone toward Lewis, which seems to be quite prevalent right now. Perhaps it is partly an overcorrection in response to the sometimes intemperate veneration by some Evangelicals, who also tend to have a rather sanitized version of Lewis' thought. But it has a bit of the tone of hipster superiority about it.
Lewis was wrong on some things, and had some odd gaps in his theological thought. So it is with all of us. I have come to find his version of the free will defense of hell, for example, quite inadequate. On the other hand, how many people have been helped toward a more capacious understanding of the grace of God, rescued from appalling fundamentalist visions of retributive punishment?
Of course, I can't prove it, but I suspect the current renaissance of universalism would not have happened without Lewis' influence.
I am currently on my third read through of the Narnia books with my 7 year old daughter, who adores them. And even as an adult I find myself often moved to tears by these simple books. Lewis had profound gifts as a mythopoetic storyteller, and for many of us, our initiation into the Christian imagination came through his books. His vast influence has been almost entirely to the good.
I agree. The defecne of hell aside (and I feel sure he would have changed his mind had he encountered David Bentley Hart's definitive arguments against this morally repulsive idea) he has welcomed so many children into the world of Narnia and thereby subtly introduced them to realms beyond the quotidian. I, the child of militant atheists, read them avidly, and their influence is detectable in my own novels to this day. My nineteen-year-old granddaughter and I often sign off our exchanges with 'Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia'. He was also a considerable literary critic. His lecture "Hamlet: the Prince or the Poem" is one of the great critical insights into that play
And his scholarly books have stood the test of time, too. All of them are to be highly valued.
"I have come to find his version of the free will defense of hell, for example, quite inadequate."
I can't disagree, but I hear his "locked from the inside" as the consensus apologia offered by defenders of eternal punishment. I wonder if this framing was at all controversial when originally stated. Doesn't his model leave space for a purgatorial universalism? It doesn't seem far from it unless he definitively states that upon death the trajectory is permanently fixed.
Oh, yes, I think it does have that space. That's why I also think it paved the way for so many contemporary universalists, but I tend to think of Lewis himself as at most a 'hopeful universalist' (I'm no expert, to be fair). Still, he often seems to suggest that the human will can become so fixed, whether before or after death, that nothing God can do could break through it's stubborn refusal of love.
His discussion of Matthew's "be ye perfect" in Mere Christianity jingles around in my head - I signed up for a bit of spiritual growth and here I am revisiting the entirety of my life, all of my shortcomings and the people I have hurt, and trying to find ways to life faithfully in areas I never even imagined... it started small and here I feel like the rug is being pulled out!
Similar thoughts for the Christian evaluation of pride as the root of our sin. I can't say definitively as he did that no other religion sees pride as Christianity does, but I can say that seeing my shortcomings through the lens of my own pride has been most helpful in growing in love of God, neighbor, and self.
Whatever worries one may carry about associations with American evangelicals, Lewis was a master of his craft and such a pleasure to read.
Like Anodos, I too am rereading the Narnia books, though unlike him I'm not reading them to a child, but only to my 55 year old self. They are marvelous all the same. I love his sci-fi trilogy almost as much. What a talent he had!
I recently learned that the Screwtape Letters is the prequel to the 3 space books and that the Dark Tower (unfinished) is the fifth volume. I’m excited to read them all again in this order to see the vision he was trying to articulate.
I haven't heard that before.
He definitely is a great introduction for christians but I do alway here every now and again good one liners or more occluded and interesting side or connections to and about him. Thanks for sharing the recommendations