The Great Divorce: C.S. Lewis on God’s Truth or Your Truth

Who was George MacDonald and why did he have such a profound influence on C.S. Lewis? Before we delve into the riches of the next chapter, join us for some background on MacDonald and his mythopoeic gifts that Lewis said "baptized his imagination."

Lewis is unnerved from his encounter with the hard-bitten ghost and worried about whether this new country may be in fact impossible and dangerous to occupy. He then comes upon the ghost of a fashionable and well-dressed lady who is hiding for fear of being seen by the "Solid People." She is preoccupied only with herself and how she looks, and the Bright Spirit welcoming her seeks to help her.

Nervous in the presence of the enormous waterfall, Lewis falls into conversation with the hard-bitten ghost, a man who has traveled the world but is not impressed with any of it. HIs rampant cynicism and pessimism and complaining cause him to decide to go back to the Grey Town, as the Heavenly Country is just another example of the plot by "Them," who have failed in their duty to keep him entertained.

The focus of this chapter is the glorious beauty of Heaven, which Ikey (the entrepreneurial ghost from the bus) wants to exploit by taking a golden apple back to the Grey Town to sell. An angel and majestic waterfall are part of the overwhelming sensory experience.

The Bright Spirit in Chapter 5 has been sent to meet an apostate Church of England bishop who does not understand he has been sent to Hell. A profound yet amusing dialog ensues about the problems with progressive liberal theology--a dialog that is perhaps even more relevant today than when Lewis wrote this in the 1940s.

As the passengers from the bus are greeted by Bright Spirits, we overhear a dialog between the Big Man, who is determined to demand his rights and get what he believes he deserves, and Len, now a Bright Spirit but formerly a worker under the Big Man. Len had committed murder but through grace and the "Bleeding Charity" had come to the heavenly country. Lewis offers piercing insights into the bankruptcy of our own efforts to attain salvation based on our merits.

A tale of woe from the misunderstood and underappreciated tousle-headed poet begins Chapter 2 as the bus leaves the grey town. We learn more about that town and those who inhabit it, as well as a difference of opinion about whether the town is moving towards light or darkness. Lewis also describes what happens when the bus enters the Light--how it reveals Beauty and exposes Sin.

As we embark on Chapter 1 of The Great Divorce, Lewis is at his best, laying a foundation of descriptions and interactions that whet our curiosity to know more, while creating the framework for what will follow as the bus miraculously ascends into the air!

Lewis's preface to The Great Divorce does a masterful job of laying out some of the key themes he will address in the book. In this episode, we examine five of those themes and texts from Scripture that support them. Music link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jRGngeoilo