Christianity and Culture (CS Lewis)
What is the value of culture?
This is the question that Lewis is addressing in this essay. He wrote this collection of
papers for a periodical called Theology. They were published in March 1940. He seems to
have wrestled with the amount of attention he should be giving to culture because of his
faith.
Was culture a means of salvation? That is to say is the more cultured person more able to
understand the claims of the gospel and come to faith in Christ?
Or is the other way around? The cultural minded person is less able to come to Christ and he must
lay down all of his cultural understanding to come to Christ?
The argument he is putting forward goes something like this, culture is a reflection of
Christian values. These values are not explicitly the same as Christian virtues, they are
shadows or remembrances of the real thing. The illustrations he uses are very good.
Lewis says, "They resemble the regenerate life only as affection resembles charity, or
honour resembles virtue, or the moon the sun. But though the 'like is not the same', it is
better than unlike." In this sense culture can be an instrument of salvation for some, though
not all. This will also give a good reason for the pursuit of a better cultural understanding,
through the understanding of culture we better understand how the biblical truths become
relevant in society.
His argument, as always, seems to be sound. He is addressing people who are interested in
theology and he is making a strong theological argument. As far as problems or weaknesses
in it I would say I wished he held to the total depravity of man because from my own
perspective I don't see that as a contradiction to what he is saying. We from a reformed
perspective do believe that man still shows forth in some degree the Glory of God. This
doesn't mean the same thing as total depravity which I think Lewis assumes it does. In
Lewis' mind I think he would say that if man was totally depraved there would not be any
of the image of God left in him. I just think Lewis didn't completely understand the
reformed position.