God in the Dock: 2nd 3 Essays

  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 becomes fact.  It enters history, but in so doing it does not cease to be myth; that is, it has a profound impact upon personal perception.  The result is not simply understanding, but wonder and delight as well.  

It is because Lewis is fascinated with the power of myth that he writes the Space Trilogy,  the Narnia Chronicles, and Til We Have Faces.  He is  endeavoring to capture through his imagery, such as Aslan and the White Witch,  the power of myth, and quite succeeds.

In “‘Horrid Red Things’” Lewis reminds us of the very basic principle that all language is metaphorical. We may wish that he had further affirmed the implications of the above basic principles by saying that specific physical imagery, such as God sitting on a throne or Christ taking a seat after he had ascended, is necessary for our perception.  The nature of supernatural spiritual reality must be accommodated to us in  metaphorical physical imagery because our perceptions are limited to what our senses perceive.

REACTIONS?  PLEASE COMMENT

Comments

Tim M said…
What strikes me in the essays is how deeply Lewis thinks and how inadequate is language to convey thoughts this deeply ... And how limited is the time it would take to thoroughly discuss them. On top of that is the challenge of trying to understand what someone said whose culture and definitions of thoughts are colored so differently from our own today. Certainly these essays are not fully grasped in an evening of pleasurable reading by the fireplace but would take hours (days??) To really work thru all of the nuances. I'm not enough of a philosopher to battle on this plane.

But I did appreciate a couple thoughts: one was how he stressed the difference between analysis and experience. We can only truly know something we experience and to simply live in the analysis of that experience isn't the same. I wonder if this is truly the basis of his novels ... To try to help us be in the experience rather than just reading about it. With that being said, are not today's video games much the same as they try to give us the experience that we can enter into without the risk of actually getting vaporized? Is there a danger ... In both actually ... Of losing touch with reality?

Secondly, I enjoyed his thinking on how God coming in flesh brings into focus many things brought down thru the ages and pages of the Old testament. The old was a foreshadowing of what was to be ... And I suppose even these times are but a shadow of what His second coming will be.

March 19, 2022 at 6:56 PM
Rolland Hein said…
The genius of Lewis's thought lies in his ability to comprehend and master the difficult subjects of which you speak and express insightful conclusions in the language of ordinary people. There are of course many implications that could be explored but they are not essential to the overview which he communicates so clearly.

Yes, the distinction between analysis and experience is a crucial one. In Christianity experience is essential. Myth arouses the imagination and leads to the experiencing of truth. This is such a vital point; would that more people understood it.

It is fascinating indeed how crucial divine events are foreshadowed. One thinks of Christ's several admonitions that we should be alert to the times.
March 22, 2022 at 7:58 AM
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