C.S. Lewis -- "An Anonymous Orthodox"?

[minasoliman]

Anything else questionable of CS Lewis?

 

[Cappadocian]

Anything else questionable of CS Lewis?

He seems to really admire the pre-Christian Greek mythologies and norse mythologies. He spoke of having difficulty resisting praying to Apollo when he visited an ancient temple:

http://www.blessedquietness.com/journal/homemake/lewisthe.htm

 

[Joykins]

He seems to really admire the pre-Christian Greek mythologies and norse mythologies. He spoke of having difficulty resisting praying to Apollo when he visited an ancient temple:

http://www.blessedquietness.com/journal/homemake/lewisthe.htm

I do not like that site

Lewis was greatly influenced by G.K. Chesterton. If you read _The Everlasting Man_ (which is well worth doing), you can see a lot of where he was coming from. In brief, Chesterton theorized that the "light" pagan gods were angels and the "dark" pagan gods were demons, and that these were hints of the Divine that lay beyond, and that in Christ all myths were fulfilled and became reality.

 

[Rilian]

That is a nasty site.

 

[minasoliman]

wow...this is interesting

 

[Theophorus]

I remember reading in Lewis that he belonged to the Anglican church because he felt heought to be involved in the major church *where you were* and since the Church of England was his national church, that was the one he joined. So if he had been Greek or Russian or Serbian, etc. he would have been Orthodox. However, he wrote in "Mere Christianity" that the various denominations/churches were like rooms in a house, and the important thing was to go into a room and start doing what you needed to do, not remain in the hallway.

I think you are right. I remember reading allusions to this in The Screwtape Letters I believe. Also, I believe it was the RC J.R. Tolkien that heavily influenced Lewis' "conversion". Was he baptised as a child into the Anglican Church, and became religious later, or was he baptised as an adult into the Anglican Church?

 

[Joykins]

I don't know if he was baptized into the Anglican Church as a child, but Lewis was born and spent his early childhood in Northern Ireland, Belfast to be precise, and religion was and is different there than in England.

 

[All4Christ]

this is interesting to read....I've been reading C.S. Lewis myself for the past week (Mere Christianity) and I've noticed bits and pieces of theology that blatantly contradict the evangelical protestant doctrine. I've started to wonder how members of my family's church can read it and think that he is the epitome of a wonderful Christian protestant. Granted, I do think that he was a wonderful Christian man, but it is interesting that people gliss over the things that don't fit into their theology.

 

[Cappadocian]

this is interesting to read....I've been reading C.S. Lewis myself for the past week (Mere Christianity) and I've noticed bits and pieces of theology that blatantly contradict the evangelical protestant doctrine. I've started to wonder how members of my family's church can read it and think that he is the epitome of a wonderful Christian protestant. Granted, I do think that he was a wonderful Christian man, but it is interesting that people gliss over the things that don't fit into their theology.

You are right, this is really quite amazing.



I remember reading in Mere Christianity where he described the Protestant notion of the atonement as a "very silly theory" and as "immoral."

"Now before I became a Christian I was under the impression that the first thing Christians had to believe was one particular theory as to what the point of this dying was. According to that theory God wanted to punish men for having deserted and joined the Great Rebel, but Christ volunteered to be punished instead, and so God let us off. Now I admit that even this theory does not seem to me quite so immoral and so silly as it used to; but that is not the point I want to make. What I came to see later on was that neither this theory nor any other is Christianity. The central Christian belief is that Christ's death has somehow put us right with God and given us a fresh start. Theories as to how it did this are another matter."


"The one most people have heard is the one about our being let off because Christ volunteered to bear a punishment instead of us. Now on the face of it that is a very silly theory. If God was prepared to let us off, why on earth did He not do so? And what possible point could there be in punishing an innocent person instead? None at all that I can see, if you are thinking of punishment in the police-court sense."

​

There is a chapter in Reflection on the Psalms where he states that a Protestant notion of hell is mischievous superstition and can only produce mental patients and Inquisitors.

“It is even arguable that the moment ‘Heaven’ ceases to mean union with God and ‘Hell’ to mean separation from Him, the belief in either is a mischievous superstition; for then we have, on the one hand, a merely ‘compensatory’ belief (a ‘sequel’ to life’s sad story, in which everything will ‘come all right’) and, on the other, a nightmare which drives men into asylums or makes them persecutors.”


​

Do Protestants blithely underline the words in their copies of his books without actually reading them or processing them mentally?

 

[Philip]

Also, I believe it was the RC J.R. Tolkien that heavily influenced Lewis' "conversion".

Tolkien and another whose name escapes me. IIRC, the CSL 'got saved' on a ride through the county.

Was he baptised as a child into the Anglican Church, and became religious later, or was he baptised as an adult into the Anglican Church?

Don't recall.

 

[Cappadocian]

That is a nasty site.

I agree, nasty in the tone, but interesting in the substance.

Sometimes Protestant heretic hunters are the most helpful in unearthing and identifying Christians who have Orthodox rather than Heterodox theologies. For example, this paper notes that, although Lewis never said so explicitly, he denied a soteriology of "Justification by Faith" in the Latin sense:

http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/205a-DidCS.LewisGotoHeaven.pdf

 

[Llauralin]

Tolkien and another whose name escapes me.

Are you thinking of George MacDonald?

 

[Joykins]

Tolkien and another whose name escapes me. IIRC, the CSL 'got saved' on a ride through the county.

Lewis, Tolkien, and Charles Williams were "The Inklings" and bounced their writings off each other. Tolkien's Numenor is Lewis's Numinor...

Other influences on Lewis, who were not contemporary, include Chesterton and MacDonald (among others--Lewis was after all a Medieval/Renaissance literary scholar).

 

[All4Christ]

Do Protestants blithely underline the words in their copies of his books without actually reading them or processing them mentally?

I'm not quite sure....I know several who have all C.S. Lewis' books, who they claim to admire...but they never end up reading it....it gathers dust on their shelves. Maybe they admire his reputation and maybe they possibly read the book, but they just avoid thinking about the parts that don't add up...since so many other Protestants admire him?? I don't know...it's confusing

 

[minasoliman]

I agree, nasty in the tone, but interesting in the substance.

Sometimes Protestant heretic hunters are the most helpful in unearthing and identifying Christians who have Orthodox rather than Heterodox theologies. For example, this paper notes that, although Lewis never said so explicitly, he denied a soteriology of "Justification by Faith" in the Latin sense:

http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/205a-DidCS.LewisGotoHeaven.pdf

I hope however that these Protestants aren't taking everything totally off context in that website. Historically, whenever there's a "heretic" one hates, one has to find five hundred "subtle" heresies to further assassinate one's character.

It's not a healthy thing.

God bless.

 

[Joykins]

Oh, just as a reference point, I knew right away that C.S. Lewis wasn't a evangelical Protestant because of the way he defended asking intercession of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. His viewpoint opened my tiny little mind on the subject a tiny little bit...

 

[countrymouse33ad]

...Was he baptised as a child into the Anglican Church, and became religious later, or was he baptised as an adult into the Anglican Church?

y'all.

Lewis was baptized Anglican as an infant, but in his later childhood/teen years rejected his early faith.

 

[Matrona]

y'all.

Lewis was baptized Anglican as an infant, but in his later childhood/teen years rejected his early faith.

Countrymouse!!!!!!! I missed you! I hope you've been well!

 

[countrymouse33ad]

Countrymouse!!!!!!! I missed you! I hope you've been well!

Thanks, Matrona - fairly well. And I've missed you too. Been busy, and still am, but I will make the occasional foray into TAW as I can.

[/off topic] Er, umm... carry on.

 

[minasoliman]

Oh, just as a reference point, I knew right away that C.S. Lewis wasn't a evangelical Protestant because of the way he defended asking intercession of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. His viewpoint opened my tiny little mind on the subject a tiny little bit...

Nice...this guy deserves mad props

God bless.