Tag: Lewis

Friendship: The Least Jealous of Loves

In a letter to lifelong friend Arthur Greeves, C. S. Lewis expressed his deep appreciation for the blessing of true friendship. How highly did he value it? “Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods,” Lewis declared. “Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life.” He continued with advice to young men who were contemplating where to live: “I think I shd. say, ‘sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.’ I know I am… Read more »

The Crossroads of Life

Decisions. Hard choices. Encountering a crossroad and not sure which way to go. Why is life so difficult at times? What about that little shortcut I see? Maybe I can take that and experience less pain. After all, isn’t that what life is—finding the best way to avoid pain and misery? Yet what if I’m mistaken? What if life’s pains are where I find the greatest meaning over time? C. S. Lewis, in an essay, “The Vision of John Bunyan,”… Read more »

The Journey That Never Ends

By late 1951, C. S. Lewis had written the majority of his most influential books: The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Abolition of Man, Miracles, his Space Trilogy, two of the seven Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian), and his WWII BBC broadcasts were about to be repackaged and published under the title of Mere Christianity. Why refer to this litany of Lewis’s works? One would think that… Read more »

No Excuses

“Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea,” C. S. Lewis famously remarked in Mere Christianity, “until they have something to forgive.” People then balk at forgiving someone when they think whatever has been done is unforgivable. Yet Lewis reminds us, “It is made perfectly clear that if we do not forgive we shall not be forgiven.” Not that’s a quandary. It appears we have no choice. Lewis returns to the topic in an essay called, quite plainly, “On Forgiveness.”… Read more »

We Are Not Our Own

There are some days that I’m nearly overwhelmed by the sinfulness of man. The more one appreciates the holiness of God and the absolute “rightness” of His laws, the more our deviations from His ways appear ludicrous and—well—downright stupid. C. S. Lewis dissected this abominable foolishness of sin in chapter five of his The Problem of Pain. From the first moment a creature becomes aware of God as God and of itself as self, the terrible alternative of choosing God… Read more »

Lewis & America: A Conclusion

Yesterday was the final class for my C. S. Lewis course at SEU. This is the third time I’ve taught the course, and probably the best, as I’ve grown more comfortable sharing what I’ve learned about Lewis and his writings. The students read a lot of Lewis, from autobiography to apologetics to fantasy. Some have testified that taking the course at this time was a great help to their faith, as they were struggling in different ways. That kind of… Read more »

The “Rumour” Is True: We Shall Get In

The reading assignment I gave my C. S. Lewis class for yesterday was his magnificent sermon, “The Weight of Glory.” As always, I went through with them some of Lewis’s key passages, marveling at the way he chose to express the almost-inexpressible. Looking it over again this morning, I thought I would highlight a section that didn’t stand out to me as much yesterday but most certainly did this morning. Isn’t that the way it is, whether reading someone like… Read more »