CS Lewis

[Fish and Bread]

C.S. Lewis did actually get this question, about why he wasn't a Roman Catholic, a lot during his lifetime. He answered one lady's letter by pointing out that to be Roman Catholic means to assent not only to the dogmas and doctrines that the Church teaches today, but to assent in advance to anything the Church might come up with in the future, sight unseen. Lewis felt particularly uncomfortable with assenting in advance to future dogmas and doctrines without foreknowledge of what they would be.

Those who have pointed out that Lewis seems to be counted as a Roman Catholic by Roman Catholics without any real explanation are quite correct. I read one book recently written by a conservative Roman Catholic priest that listed the great Catholic Saints and theologians of the 20th century and included C.S. Lewis amongst them in the middle of a small list. I've talked to folks I know who swear C.S. Lewis was Roman Catholic and don't believe me when I say he was Anglican. There is a really deep love for him amongst Roman Catholics, which is understandable because he was a good popular writer who shared much in common with the Roman Catholic faith, but it is interesting how he is just sort of unofficially adopted as an honorary Roman Catholic by so many even though he could have joined the Church and articulated reasons why he chose not to during his lifetime.

 

[Monica child of God 1]

Mr. Jim,

You may be interested to know that Lewis is refered to informally as "our father among the saints" at St. Vladimir's Seminary according to Fr. Thomas Hopko. I guess to some he is an honorary Orthodox as well

I know that it was reading the Great Divorce that helped me to understand the Orthodox understanding of heaven, hell and grace.

M.

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

Mr. Jim,

You may be interested to know that Lewis is refered to informally as "our father among the saints" at St. Vladimir's Seminary according to Fr. Thomas Hopko. I guess to some he is an honorary Orthodox as well

I know that it was reading the Great Divorce that helped me to understand the Orthodox understanding of heaven, hell and grace.

M.

Verrry interesting. I've always been a C.S. Lewis kind of Christian, and considered that much more to the point than what church I attended. In particular, The Great Divorce is an important book for me. But I didn't realize Lewis was quite so Catholic and quite so Orthodox! I guess this explains why, on one of those Belief-O-Matic quizzes, I recently scored a 100% match with both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, even though my church is Protestant.

 

[InTheCloud]

Just struck me odd that he'd be promoted so;are there any other noncatholic writers that enjoy this kind of status?

Well non catholic writters that I have seen promoted or comented by non catholics?
I think that other than CS Lewis, maybe John Wesley, Dietrich Bonhoffer, Martin Niedemoeller (both Lutherans), Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Roger Schultz (I think they were liberal calvinists), the russian pilgrim (EO), Nicholas Berdaev (EO). And many Hasidic Jews rabbis. I think that mainstream prostestant and EO are the most quoted non catholics.

 

[MrJim]

Well non catholic writters that I have seen promoted or comented by non catholics?
I think that other than CS Lewis, maybe John Wesley, Dietrich Bonhoffer, Martin Niedemoeller (both Lutherans), Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Roger Schultz (I think they were liberal calvinists), the russian pilgrim (EO), Nicholas Berdaev (EO). And many Hasidic Jews rabbis. I think that mainstream prostestant and EO are the most quoted non catholics.

...interesting...

 

[MrJim]

Mr. Jim,

You may be interested to know that Lewis is refered to informally as "our father among the saints" at St. Vladimir's Seminary according to Fr. Thomas Hopko. I guess to some he is an honorary Orthodox as well

I know that it was reading the Great Divorce that helped me to understand the Orthodox understanding of heaven, hell and grace.

M.

so.much.reading.to.do

 

[HumbleSiPilot77]

Mr. Jim,

You may be interested to know that Lewis is refered to informally as "our father among the saints" at St. Vladimir's Seminary according to Fr. Thomas Hopko. I guess to some he is an honorary Orthodox as well

I know that it was reading the Great Divorce that helped me to understand the Orthodox understanding of heaven, hell and grace.

M.

Well said, this is beauty of his legacy and his work... He was a mere Christian...

 

[Tigg]

Love CS Lewis! His Mere Christianity is wonderful. As is other books I have read. I imagine he is singing with the angels around God's throne. God bless him...

 

[Catholic Christian]

C. S. Lewis coined the popular name "Mere Christianity", but can there be a "mere" form of Christianity that contains only the "essentials" and yet is common to all forms of Christianity? Here is a good article about it:

IS THERE A "MERE CHRISTIANITY"?
By K.D. Whitehead
link:
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1995/9512fea1.asp

 

[AwedbyTruth]

It is commonly believed that Lewis did not convert because of the prejudices that he grew up with. Prejudices are scary things. They can control you even when you don't realize it.

 

[Globalnomad]

C. S. Lewis coined the popular name "Mere Christianity", but can there be a "mere" form of Christianity that contains only the "essentials" and yet is common to all forms of Christianity? Here is a good article about it:

IS THERE A "MERE CHRISTIANITY"?
By K.D. Whitehead
link:
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1995/9512fea1.asp

Nice - except that it makes a fundamental mistake. Lewis was NOT advocating that people should limit themselves to "mere Christianity" in the famous book of that name. I don't have it in front of me and I haven't read it for a while, but I remember its fundamental metaphor:

Lewis compared Christianity to a home. A home with a large hall out of which opened many rooms. Food and beds could be found only in the rooms, so you had to choose a room for yourself eventually, because if you remained in the hall, you would not get rest and sust'enance. He saw his job, with that book, as getting you inside the house - no more. But afterwards, you WOULD have to choose a room, he said that clearly. He just didn't want to get into that aspect.

 

[WarriorAngel]

It is commonly believed that Lewis did not convert because of the prejudices that he grew up with. Prejudices are scary things. They can control you even when you don't realize it.

That probably describes my husband...

 

[Lady Bug]

It is commonly believed that Lewis did not convert because of the prejudices that he grew up with. Prejudices are scary things. They can control you even when you don't realize it.

it wouldn't surprise me if that had some truth to it. but when I see myself thinking the same thing, Jesus' words about "he who tries to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life will find it," come back to bite me.

i.e. if you try to please others by not converting, you risk the loss of eternal life. but in some other cultures it seems, although I could be wrong, that pleasing other men is part of pleasing God, not mutually exclusive, and you cannot reason with people who think that an important part of pleasing God is pleasing other men. What does one do to attempt to persuade them otherwise? The psychological warfare you could encounter can be pretty debilitating...This is what is on my mind as of now.

 

[AwedbyTruth]

I don't think it was necessarily to please others, rather he could get himself to accept it. Either way we are not supposed to make speculations of who is and not in Heaven

 

[Mary of Bethany]

so.much.reading.to.do

LOL! Move The Great Divorce to the top of your stack! Seriously, it is a wonderful book. Very short, very readable, but full of so much to ponder. It's my favorite Lewis book, and that's saying a lot.

My (EO) priest often quotes C. S. Lewis. He's convinced that he would have become Orthodox had he had a little more time.

Mary

 

[Globalnomad]

LOL! Move The Great Divorce to the top of your stack! Seriously, it is a wonderful book. Very short, very readable, but full of so much to ponder. It's my favorite Lewis book, and that's saying a lot.

My (EO) priest often quotes C. S. Lewis. He's convinced that he would have become Orthodox had he had a little more time.

Mary

Awww come on! Surely "The Screwtape Letters" has GOT to be everyone's favourite CS Lewis book! (Mere Christianity is the most complete, his great work if you like, but its appeal is too intellectual to make it a candidate for "everyone's favourite")

Wishful thinking on the part of the Orthodox. CS Lewis valued his Western rationality and freedom of thinking far too much. But then, wishful thinking on our part too, to think that he would have become a Catholic. There's no way he would have accepted Papal infallibility. The Orthodox concept of Conciliar infallibility, or of long-term infallibity, yes, but not our idea of single infallible statements.

 

[stephenc]

Maybe he just didn't want to pass through a load of red tape because he'd married a Jewish woman?

 

[Globalnomad]

He married late and she died a few years later. He would have had plenty of opportunities to convert afterwards, if he had not done so before meeting her. No, I don't think that was the reason.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

Maybe he just didn't want to pass through a load of red tape because he'd married a Jewish woman?

But she converted to Christianity before she met him. (I don't know what the regulations in the CC are.)

Mary

 

[Fish and Bread]

I think it's natural for people to want to think people they respect for their religious writings had somehow wished to be a member of the same religious group as them, or would have been under slightly different circumstances, but I think we show the most respect to a person's memory when we acknowledge that they believed what they believed and worshiped where they worshiped.