Growing With My Garden

  In both articles “Rejoinder to Dr. Pittenger” and “Must Our Image of God Go?” Lewis engages fellow theological scholars to differ from them in the positions they take.  The differences are not that large; in either case most lay readers may well see them as quibbles that have little relevance to Christian life and experience.  While a few readers may find them interesting, one may wonder why Walter Hooper included them in this collection, which does contain several exceedingly fine presentations of Lewis’s thought.   I intend to take a break now to enjoy the spring and do some gardening work.  The Wade Center will send an announcement when we resume our readings, probably in June.   I would welcome any suggestions as to any of the works of the Wade authors you would enjoy considering.  Please email me at rolland.hein@dwheaton.edu.  It is always so good to hear from you.  I have no way of knowing if I have any followers unless you place a comment or write me a note.

  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