Reflections on God … Man … Life
One of the more interesting things to me about C. S. Lewis was his unique blend of the scholarly, academic side of life with what might be called the common touch. His scholarly publications were superb, and acknowledged as such by nearly everyone; yet his reach with his Christian message has gained a wide following in the general population. Perhaps I’m drawn to this aspect of him because I find myself in the same situation. Not that I’ve written a… Read more »
How often, when we think about the Ten Commandments, do we see them in the negative light of prohibitions? What if we were to consider instead that their main purpose was to point to a life of fulfillment in God? Joy Davidman (who later became the wife of C. S. Lewis) wrote a book back in 1953 that is little read today. That’s a shame. In it, she takes a fresh look at those Ten Commandments and shows how we… Read more »
C. S. Lewis didn’t write extensively on government or economics; in fact, he had a hard time being interested in either. Yet he did have a grasp of the basics. In this excerpt from Mere Christianity, he offers what may seem to be a simplistic solution to our problems, but, if followed, really would take care of them: Some Christians—those who happen to have the right talents—should be economists and statesmen, and . . . all economists and statesmen should… Read more »
The Christian faith is reasonable. It’s also based on believing in miracles: the virgin birth of Christ, walking on water, healings, resurrection after the crucifixion. How can one believe in miracles and still be reasonable? It’s not difficult if you consider the attributes of the God who created all things. Once you grasp His very nature, miracles are to be expected. C. S. Lewis, in his Reflections on the Psalms, succinctly summed up his view, as well as that of… Read more »
Some people think that scientific knowledge is somehow better than other types of knowledge. While it’s true that the scientific method is important, we need to have the proper perspective. I think C. S. Lewis provides that in an address he gave during WWII that showed up later in a collection of his essays as “De Futilitate”: The physical sciences, then, depend on the validity of logic just as much as metaphysics or mathematics. If popular thought feels “science” to… Read more »
I’ve been reading the letters of Joy Davidman, who, before her untimely death from cancer at the age of 45, was, for the last few years of her life, the wife of C. S. Lewis. If you’ve ever seen the movie Shadowlands, you’ve seen an attempt by Hollywood to portray the relationship between the two, but it falls far short of reality. There are historical inaccuracies—even for the sake of artistic license, one must not stray too far—and C. S…. Read more »
C. S. Lewis was an atheist in his younger days, but eventually had to abandon his materialism and come face-to-face with the reality of the spiritual. Ten years after his conversion, in an essay called “Religion: Reality or Substitute,” he explained why the spiritual world is not just a figment of men’s imagination: Authority, reason, experience; on these three, mixed in varying proportions, all our knowledge depends. The authority of many wise men in many different times and places forbids… Read more »