Growing With My Garden

  Lewis is a superb apologist for Christianity, and in “What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ” he demonstrates irrefutably that Christ is precisely what he claimed to be and his followers confirmed him to be.  He was the Son of God become man, and his Resurrection shows that “a new mode of being has arisen in the Universe.” In “The Pains of Animals” we have Prof Joad’s carefully posed objections to Lewis’s handling of the problem in “The Problem of Pain,” which is an excellent response to what is indeed a very difficult problem for the rationalist.  Then Lewis offers his response, which is certainly the best possible one. I would like to observe that the whole interchange illustrates the limits of rational thinking.  Acceptance of Christianity and fellowship with God depends ultimately on repentance and faith, not reasoned understanding.  Certainly Christian apologists can come up with reasoned defenses of Christian thought which are superior to all atheistic positions, but it does

In “Religion without Dogma” Lewis demonstrates the heights of intellectual achievement of which he was capable.  In this response to the arguments against Christianity posed by Professor H. H. Price Lewis responds with superb intellectual acumen, giving a superior point by point refutation that is immensely convincing. It must be remarked, however, and I know Lewis would agree, that any intellectual presentation, no matter how convincing, is in itself inadequate.  Christianity must be experienced.  It is in an individual giving oneself  to God in complete repentance and submission that Christianity becomes real and operative for any individual.   It also should be remarked that, superb as Lewis’s intellectual achievement is, that is only one aspect of the man.  Amazingly, his imaginative achievements are very impressive as well.  He was also the author of the Space Trilogy, the Narnia Chronicles, and such works as Til We Have Faces.  This twofold achievement renders him indeed

In “The Transmission  of Christianity” Lewis emphasizes the importance of individual testimony over against that of abstract arguments in the transmission of Christianity to the upcoming generation.  The role of a teacher is crucial: “Nothing which was not in the teachers can flow from them into the pupils. . . . As the teachers are, so they will teach.” The secular position of the state pales into insignificance so long as there are Christian teachers in the classroom. The issue this article poses is of great significance in our country today.  Since the prevailing principle is to keep Church and State completely separate, Christian teachers in classrooms in the United States are forbidden by the state to present Christianity.   WHAT SHOULD OUR CHRISTIAN TEACHERS DO?  ANY ADVICE? In “Miserable Offenders” Lewis is addressing people who use the Prayer Book and puzzle over the meaning of specific terms, such as seeing oneself as a “miserable offender.”  Lewis proceeds to define suc

  In “Christian Apologetics” Lewis, speaking to an assembly of ecclesiastics, offers them much sage advice on how they should keep their thinking is harmony with orthodox Christian doctrine.  He stresses at the outset that they be faithful to the Christianity “preached b the Apostles, attested by the Martyrs, embodied in the Creeds, expounded by the Fathers.”    A person may well have his opinions, but they must not be offered as part of Christian apologetics.  Those doctrines which he may find disagreeable must be confronted honestly and seriously, and the trends in contemporary thought must be judged by this age-old standard.  Statements beginning “Science has now proved. . . “ must be understood in terms of the reality that science is constantly changing.” Interestingly, Lewis feels that contemporary people tend to distrust history and ancient texts, lack a sense of sin, and lack a proper understanding of the terms of Christian theology.  He gives a listing of how he feels peo

  In “Answers to Questions on Christianity” Lewis responds helpfully to a range of practical concerns.  Among the things that interest me about Lewis’s writings is that he very seldom quotes Scripture or makes reference to the need for repentance and personal commitment to Jesus Christ.  This is certainly not to cast any aspersion on his faith–far be it from me to do so–but it is to observe that he does not stand in the Evangelical strain. Lewis does, however, affirm that experiencing truth is more important then seeing it abstractly; he puts the impact of personal perception over reason, and he does it very convincingly in what to me is the most important essay he wrote, “Myth Became Fact.”  Speaking of what happens when we encounter myth, he makes an interesting distinction between truth and reality: What flows into you is not truth but reality (truth is always about something, but reality is that about which truth is. And in Christianity the myth of the dying and rising god be

  In the first essay “Good and Evil” Lewis faces the very basic question of the relation of good and evil in the world.  According to the appearances of things as one contemplates the world, they may seem to be of equal power, with evil very often having the upper hand.   This essay is first because rightly understanding the answer is essential to one’s thinking about all the other issues of life, many of which Lewis will face in subsequent essays. Lewis refers to Ormuzd and Ahriman.  They are the gods of good and evil in  Zoroastrianism, a dualistic religion developed by Zoroaster in Persia in the 7th century, and having an on-going effect on the thinking of many. In “Miracles” Lewis faces the widespread denial in our materialistic world that miracles do not exist.  Anything claiming to be a miracle can be seen to be an hallucination or explained away in one way or another.  But Lewis points out that miracles are divine processes made instantaneous, rather than occurring in the