On C.S. Lewis

The Abolition of Man has been named by the National Review as one of the ten most important books of the 20th century, and Lewis expressed the same tenets fictionally in That Hideous Strength. In this episode, we will explore how C.S. Lewis came to write these two books, what was the context at the time, and how the two books are connected. In this series. we will seek to unpack the meaning of Lewis’s works, explore their remarkable relevance for today, and consider how we can respond with practices of Hope and Wisdom rooted in the Scriptures.

Lewis concludes Book 4 with a polemic on the difference between "being nice" and being redeemed, as well as the necessity of losing oneself in order to find real Life in Christ: Give up your self, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

Lewis continues his reflections on what it means to the believer to have Christ's life within and transforming priorities and understandings, and these chapters contain some of his most memorable analogies for understanding that we are being remade into the image of God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM2yUH3E4JA&list=RDOM2yUH3E4JA&start_radio=1&rv=OM2yUH3E4JA&t=107

These chapters of Book 4 focus on how the begotten spiritual life of God is given to us through the wondrous miracle of the Incarnation, and how that new life can be lived into by beginning to practice those qualities and habits that are commanded in the Scriptures regardless of whether we "feel" them at the moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KvrbYZB2vY Latin text O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, iacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Iesum Christum. Alleluia! English translation O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in a manger! Blessed is the virgin whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord, Jesus Christ. Alleluia! https://www.amazon.com/Surprised-Hope-Rethinking-Resurrection-Mission/dp/0061551821 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12892/the-magi

With his remarkable gift for analogy, Lewis in these chapters first explores what it means that God exists in multiple dimensions and is outside of Time in an eternal Now, and then moves to discussing the joyous and loving union of the Three Persons of the Trinity. Music link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiNktUBcvNs

Book 4 of Mere Christianity, entitled "Beyond Personality: or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity" delves into some great theological doctrines. Lewis is intent on explaining that is all about a new kind of life. "If Christianity only means one more bit of good advice, then Christianity is of no importance. There has been no lack of good advice for the last four thousand years. A bit more makes no difference. But as soon as you look at any real Christian writings, you find that they are talking about something quite different from this popular religion. ...Now the point in Christianity which gives us the greatest shock is the statement that by attaching ourselves to Christ, we can "become Sons of God." Music link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5Hin4swdKg

Lewis closes out Book 3 on Christian Behavior with a robust discussion of the dual meanings of Faith: Faith, the theological virtue, as well as Faith, the fruit of the Spirit. Music link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7BfP_zcvvc

Moving from the topic of Pride, the great sin, to a discussion of the theological virtues of Charity (Love) and Hope, Lewis's trenchant analysis of why we need to reclaim these virtues is an important word for the church today. "Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance

In his famous teaching on the sin of Pride in this chapter, Lewis builds a strong argument on why this particular sin is the most insidious and deadly for Christians: "According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind."

In the quest to determine the most unpopular virtue, Lewis says Forgiveness may even eclipse Chastity in terms of most people's reluctance to practice the virtue. Yet, Jesus taught about how hugely important forgiveness is in the life of the Kingdom of God, not only in parables but also in the central part of the Lord's Prayer. Lewis examines why this virtue is so important in the life of the Christian.