THURSDAY MORNING
STUDY GROUP
FAITH AND LIFE
A Group for In-Depth Learning and Sharing
2014
Section 1: Selected Writings of C.S. Lewis
Facilitators: John Scruggs and Art Sauer
SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
TODAY’S AGENDA
Opening Prayer: Larry Hayward
Introduction to the Life and Times of C. S. Lewis
The Journey to Christianity: From Atheist to Defender of the Faith
The “Essential” Lewis Books
Tips for Reading Lewis
Introduction to Mere Christianity
Book 1. Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe
Discussion
Closing Prayer
INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE AND
TIMES OF C. S. LEWIS
1898 Clive Staples “Jack” Lewis born in Belfast, Ireland
1908 Death of mother, Florence Sent to boarding school
1911 Ceases to self-identify as a Christian
1914 Confirmed at St. Marks “in total disbelief” Outbreak of WWI
1917 Begins University, joins Officer Training Corps, meets Paddy
Moore and his mother, Jane Moore, serves in the trenches
of France as second lieutenant in Somerset Light Infantry
1918 Wounded in Battle of Arras, death of Paddy Moore
1919 Returns to Oxford, begins classical studies eventually taking
three degrees
1925 Elected Fellow and Tutor in English, Magdalen College, Oxford
INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE AND
TIMES OF C. S. LEWIS
1926 Meets J. R. R. Tolkien
1929 Becomes a theist
1931 Comes to believe “that Jesus Christ is the Son of God”
1939 Outbreak of war with Germany, evacuees arrive at The Kilns
1941 First talks on Christianity to Royal Air Force, The Screwtape
Letters serialized, gives BBC radio broadcasts
1944 The Great Divorce serialized
1945 End of World War II
1952 BBC broadcasts published as Mere Christianity, meets Joy
Gresham
INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE AND
TIMES OF C. S. LEWIS
1957 Marries Joy Gresham in a Christian ceremony at her
hospital bedside
1963 Death of C. S. Lewis on November 22
THE JOURNEY TO CHRISTIANITY:
FROM ATHEIST TO DEFENDER OF
THE FAITH
A Loss of Faith
Church synonymous with all things dry and legalistic
“Religious experiences did not occur at all”
God as magician waving a magic wand, but prayers
unanswered, especially death of his mother
Turn to spiritualism
Lucretius: “Had God designed the world, it would not be
a world so frail and faulty as we see.”
“Northernness”
THE JOURNEY TO CHRISTIANITY:
FROM ATHEIST TO DEFENDER OF
THE FAITH
The Impact of Phantastes by George MacDonald
A fairy tale for adults by Scottish Minister
Spiritual quest that can only be achieved by surrender of
the self
Allegory about the spiritual world and spiritual things
“to convert, even baptize…my imagination. It did nothing
to my intellect nor at the time to my conscience. Their turn
came far later with the help of many other books and
men.” C. S. Lewis
See Luke 10:27
THE JOURNEY TO CHRISTIANITY:
FROM ATHEIST TO DEFENDER OF
THE FAITH
The Impact of The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton
Rebuttal to H.G. Wells’ The Outline of History
“Jesus was a penniless teacher who wandered about the dusty
sun-bit country of Judea, living upon casual gifts of food; yet he is
always represented clean, combed and sleek, in spotless raiment,
erect, and with something motionless about him as though gliding
through the air. This alone has made him unreal and incredible to
many people who cannot distinguish the core of the story from the
ornamental and unwise additions of the unintelligently devout.”
- H. G. Wells
THE JOURNEY TO CHRISTIANITY:
FROM ATHEIST TO DEFENDER OF
THE FAITH
“The critics of course try to create a different Christ from the one
portrayed in the Gospels by picking and choosing whatever they
want…But the main impression one gets from studying the
teachings of Christ is that he really did not come to teach. What
separates Christianity from other religions is that its central figure
does not wish to be known merely as a teacher. He makes the
greatest claim of all. Mohammed did not claim to be God.
Buddha did not claim to be God. But Christ did claim to be God.
The story gets stronger still. All of Christ’s life is a steady pursuit
towards that ultimate sacrifice – the Crucifixion.”
- The Everlasting Man, lecture by Dale Ahlquist, American
Chesterton Society
THE JOURNEY TO CHRISTIANITY:
FROM ATHEIST TO DEFENDER OF
THE FAITH
Accepting the Reality of a Deity (1929)
Lewis’ choice: Believe in God or deny Him
“the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England”
Still stopped short of believing in Christianity
“For I thought he projected us as a dramatist projects his
characters, and I could no more ‘meet’ Him, than Hamlet could
meet Shakespeare. I didn’t call him God either; I called Him Spirit.
One fights for remaining comforts.” C. S. Lewis
THE JOURNEY TO CHRISTIANITY:
FROM ATHEIST TO DEFENDER OF
THE FAITH
Myth Becomes Truth: Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
(1931)
The difference between Christianity and other myths asserted
Tolkien is that Christianity is a particular myth that just happens to
be true – God really did come to earth as man and died so that
those who believed in Him could receive salvation.
THE JOURNEY TO CHRISTIANITY:
FROM ATHEIST TO DEFENDER OF
THE FAITH
“I was by now too experienced in literary criticism to regard the
Gospels as myths. They had not the mythical taste…If ever a
myth had become fact, had been incarnated, it would be just like
this. Myths were like it in one way. Histories were like it in
another. But nothing was simply like it…This is not ‘a religion’ nor
‘a philosophy.’ It is the summing up and actuality of them all.”
- C. S. Lewis
Lewis’ life was forever changed as he focused his future work and
writing on defending or articulating the Christian faith.
THE “ESSENTIAL” LEWIS BOOKS
The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(1950)
An allegorical tale of Biblical themes.
The Screwtape Letters (1942)
A senior devil instructs a junior devil on derailing the Christian
faith.
The Great Divorce (1945)
A group of ghosts from Hell visit Heaven.
THE “ESSENTIAL” LEWIS BOOKS
Mere Christianity (1952)
Lewis’ best known work of Christian apologetics.
apol-o-get-ics: 1) a systematic argumentative discourse in defense
(as a doctrine) 2) a branch of theology devoted to the defense of
the divine origin and authority of Christianity (Webster’s Ninth New
Collegiate Dictionary)
TIPS FOR READING LEWIS
-
Books written from the perspective of a “mere Christian.” He
aims to articulate the core beliefs that Protestant, Catholic and
Orthodox Christians embrace without disagreement
-
Lewis writes as a layman, not a theologian
-
Combines rationalism with the Christian hope of Heaven
“We are afraid of the jeer about ‘pie in the sky,’ and of being told
that we are trying to ‘escape’ from the duty of making a happy
world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere. But
either there is a ‘pie in the sky’ or there is not. If there is not, then
Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric.
If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced”
- C. S. Lewis
TIPS FOR READING LEWIS
-
Keep Lewis’ audience in mind, especially the era in which he
wrote. Writing reflects the influence of WWI and WWII.
-
Remember that while Lewis’ works may be great, they are not
Scripture. Like all of us he could be wrong about things.
MERE CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCTION
Approaches to defending the Christian faith:
Scientific evidence for the existence of God
Sharing personal experience with Christ
Demonstrate Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in New
Testament
Describe the good the Christian faith has accomplished
Lewis passes over all of these approaches.
MERE CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCTION
Lewis builds his case based on human behavior:
Discussion of philosophy, not religion
Notion of God not addressed until well into discussion
Relies on logical arguments rather than citing religious
writings
Eliminates all world views except Christianity
MERE CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCTION
“Filters” are presented at the end of each book that require the
reader’s buy-in before proceeding:
Book 1 Filter: “Christianity only speaks to a person who realizes
that there is a Moral Law, there is a Power behind that Law, he [or
she] has broken the Law and put himself [or herself] wrong with
that Power.”
Book 2 (September 11) Filter: “Christ was killed for us, that His
death washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death
itself.” This is mere Christianity according to Lewis.
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 1. THE LAW OF HUMAN
NATURE
Law or Rule about Right and Wrong has various names:
The Law or Rule of Fair Play
The Law of Decent Behavior (Morality)
The Law of Nature
The Law of Human Nature
All governed by certain laws with an important distinction:
Absolutely bound by physical laws (gravity)
We can choose to obey or disobey Law of (Human) Nature
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 1. THE LAW OF HUMAN
NATURE
Law of Human Nature called this because:
Everyone knew it and did not need to be taught it
Obvious to everyone
Different civilizations in different ages have similar ideas of
right and wrong
Lewis concludes that we are forced to believe in Right and Wrong
Some may at times be mistaken about the specifics
Law of Human Nature not a matter of taste or opinion
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 1. THE LAW OF HUMAN
NATURE
Chapter Summary:
There is a Law of Human Nature or Right and Wrong
(Moral Law)
None of us are keeping the Law of Human Nature
“These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about
ourselves and the universe we live in.”
- C .S. Lewis
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 2. SOME OBJECTIONS
Chapter 2 addresses some objections:
Herd Instinct
Instinct means having a strong urge to act in some way
Moral Law involves feeling that one ought to act in a
certain way
The thing which judges between the two cannot be either
one
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 2. SOME OBJECTIONS
Social Convention
Something put into us by education
Some are social conventions, but some are real truths, like
physical and mathematical principles
Moral Law is real truth because:
Moral laws of one time or country are similar to those of
other times and countries
We can judge between morality of one people or country
and another. If one were not truer or better we would be
indifferent to differing ideas of morality
Thus, Lewis completely rejects “to each his own.”
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 2. SOME OBJECTIONS
Lewis sums up his argument as follows:
“What was the sense in saying that the Nazis were in the wrong
unless Right is a real thing which they at bottom knew as well as
we did and ought to have practiced? If they had had no notion of
what we mean by right, then, though we still have had to fight
them, we could no more have blamed them for that than for the
color of their hair.”
- C. S. Lewis
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 3. THE REALITY OF
THE LAW
Lewis asserts that men and women ought to be unselfish and
ought to be fair, period. Law of Human Nature has these
characteristics:
Not just a fact about human behavior, there is a different
kind of reality
Not a mere fancy – we can’t get rid of the idea
Not just how we would like others to behave for our own
convenience
A real thing, not something invented, that is pressing in on
us
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 4. WHAT LIES BEHIND
THE LAW
The Materialistic View
Matter and space just happen to exist
Matter behaves in certain ways, why this happens is
unknown
Our solar system is another fortuitous happenstance
Matter on Earth came to life
Living creatures on Earth ultimately developed into
humans
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 4. WHAT LIES BEHIND
THE LAW
The Religious View
What is behind the universe is more like a mind than it is
like anything we know
It made the universe partly for purposes we don’t know,
but partly to produce creatures like itself – with the
ability to reason
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 4. WHAT LIES BEHIND
THE LAW
Does the universe simply happen to be the way it is for no reason
or is there a power behind it that makes it what it is? No mere
observation of facts can reveal it.
-
If there is such a controlling power, it could not show itself as
one of the facts inside the universe.
-
The only way it could show itself would be inside ourselves as
an influence to get us to believe in a certain way.
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 4. WHAT LIES BEHIND
THE LAW
Summary of Chapter 4. No God of Christian theology yet. All we
have is:
-
Something like a mind is directing the universe – it couldn’t be
matter because matter doesn’t give direction
-
This something appears to us as a law urging us to do right and
making us feel responsible when we do wrong
-
The fact that we have something in us urging us to “do the right
thing” is evidence that the second view of how the universe
came to be is correct
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 5. WE HAVE CAUSE TO
BE UNEASY
Two bits of evidence about the Somebody behind the law:
First the Universe – based on this we can conclude:
He is a great artist – the universe is beautiful
He is merciless and no friend of Man – the universe is a
very dangerous and terrifying place
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 5. WE HAVE CAUSE TO
BE UNEASY
Second the Moral Law in our mind, from which we can conclude:
-
He is intensely interested in right conduct
-
He is not ‘good’ in the sense of being indulgent, Moral Law is
hard as nails
-
Not yet discussing a personal God, only as far as a power
behind the Moral Law which is more like a mind than anything
else
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 5. WE HAVE CAUSE TO
BE UNEASY
Summary of Chapter 5.:
-
Christianity does not make sense until one has faced the sort of
facts Lewis has been addressing.
-
Christianity tells us to repent and promises forgiveness. It has
no appeal to people who do not know they have done anything
to repent of and so do not feel they need forgiveness.
-
Christianity only speaks to a person who realizes that there is a
Moral Law, there is a Power behind the Law, he has broken the
Law and put himself wrong with that Power. (First Filter)
BOOK 1.
CHAPTER 5. WE HAVE CAUSE TO
BE UNEASY
Summary of Chapter 5.:
-
Christianity offers explanations to our dilemma. It explains how
God Himself becomes a man to meet the demands of this Law,
which we cannot meet.
-
Christianity in the end is a thing of unspeakable comfort.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) In Mere Christianity, Lewis attempts to describe a bare-bones
Christianity without getting into the theological differences
between denominations. Does this approach help or hinder
you in your search for understanding of Christianity?
2) Lewis uses a “First Cause” argument similar to that of St.
Augustine to argue for the existence of a supernatural force
that existed prior to creation. After establishing that such a
force exists, he uses it to develop the concept of God. Does
this argument convince you or do you need additional proof?
3) Lewis says that “Christianity tells people to repent and
promises them forgiveness.” Is this an appealing argument to
you? Are there people that would not be affected by this
because they feel no reason to repent?