Tag: Lewis

Lewis on the Decline of Christian Faith in Society

  

I’m of the decided opinion that Christian faith is under attack in our nation. I’m also convinced that the influence of that faith in the public sphere has declined precipitously in the last seven years (I wonder what that coincides with?). Yet there is another angle of vision on this outward decline of which C. S. Lewis aptly reminds us. In one of his short essays found in God in the Dock, “The Decline of Religion,” he offers his perspective… Read more »

Jesus & Anxiety: A Lewis Primer

  

Another C. S. Lewis book that I read recently—for the first time—is Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. One section speaks directly to me with respect to a hard time I’m going through at the moment. We would like the world to be predictable, something we can manage according to our expectations. Lewis says we have to lay that expectation aside: But is it not plain that this predictable world . . . is not the world we live in?… Read more »

Lewis on the Proper Christian Spirit

  

Last Saturday, I wrote about how C. S. Lewis warned against what he called a type of “band-wagoning,” in which we can, at the expense of our principles, decide to become part of a system with which we say we disagree. He continues the discussion in Reflections on the Psalms with what he believes are more subtle forms of the problem that can easily deceive us. Many people have a very strong desire to meet celebrated or “important” people, including… Read more »

Lewis: On Bandwagons & Integrity

  

In Reflections on the Psalms, C. S. Lewis takes aim at people who jump on bandwagons for their own personal benefit. In a chapter he titled “Connivance,” he writes of those in ancient Judea “who fleeced their fellow-countrymen to get money for the occupying power in return for a fat percentage” of the take. He was, frankly, astounded by the attitude he witnessed in one young man who had studied at Oxford. The man had been an avowed socialist during… Read more »

My Forthcoming Lewis Book

  

During my sabbatical year in 2014-2015, I finally had the time to fulfill a dream—research and write about C. S. Lewis. Out of that sabbatical emerged a book-length manuscript that I hoped would find a publisher. That hope has now come to fruition. A Christian publisher, Wipf & Stock, has accepted my manuscript, and the probable date for publication is late summer-early autumn. My goal in this book was to shed light on how Lewis has influenced/impacted Americans. No one… Read more »

Lewis on Gnat-Straining & Camel-Swallowing

  

I’m not a seminary-trained theologian. Everything I’ve learned about Scripture is the result of deep personal interest inspired by a desire to get closer to the One behind the Scripture. That’s why, as a young man just out of college (with a degree in radio, TV, and film production), I spent countless hours with a cassette-based course learning Koine Greek. (Anybody remember cassettes?) Some might say that I shouldn’t be so theological in my commentary because I don’t have the… Read more »

Lewis: God & Chocolate Easter Eggs

  

I think I’m doing what C. S. Lewis wanted readers of his Reflections on the Psalms to do: I’m reflecting. He provides such good material for reflection as he shares insights in this little book. For instance, he refers to how the psalms always talk about seeing the beauty of the Lord, yet it’s not the Lord directly that the typical Jew saw, but rather the rituals in the Temple or some other aspect of the outward symbols of God’s… Read more »