God in the Dock: 5th 3 Essays
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 a unique individual. Interestingly, he wrote:
The imaginative man in me is older, more continuously operative, and in that sense more basic than either the religious writer or the critic. It was he who made my first attempt (with little success) to be a poet. It was he who, in response to the poetry of others, made me a critic, and in defense of that response, sometimes a critical controversialist. It was he who, after my conversion led me to embody my religious belief in symbolic or mythopoetic forms, ranging from Screwtape Letteers to a kind of theological science fiction. And it was, of course, he who has brought me. . . to write the series of Narnian stories for children; not asking what children want and then endeavoring to adapt myself (this was not needed) but because the fairy-tale was the genre best fitted for what I wanted to say. (Letters 444)
In “Some Thoughts” Lewis ponders the seeming paradoxes of Christianity. Nature as created by God is pronounced to be good, yet it is seen to be fallen and we should seek constantly to correct it. In “The Trouble with ‘X’” Lewis very perceptively helps us see ourselves God and others see us.
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Comments
About "some thoughts" I really enjoyed this one in being made aware of the bewilderment brought on to those that look at Christianity thru each perspective ... Or even more to those that see the paradox and don't understand it. I only wish he would have gone further in explaining how the paradox can be resolved.
"X"... Okay, okay, we all need to study this one and honestly begin to see our own "X-ness" ... The log in our own eyes. This one seemed really practical and insightful.