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I have not read many of his books. Maybe the first Narnia book and parts of his religious books. I liked him when I was a kid. I remember an animated special of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I used to be a fundamentalist Christian and I was a big fan of the movie about him starring Anthony Hopkins. My appreciation of him was very much tied into my faith.
But now, my faith has changed. I have a more liberal view of Christianity. I feel like I would like to read his books more now, but I just feel like there is too much of a "religious" aspect to them. (Kind of the same with Tolkien).
Does anyone understand where I'm coming from? I would like to hear from fans of Lewis who don't necessarily share the type of faith that he had. Or even from those who do share the faith. Thanks.
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Lewis and Tollkien were good friends, they used to meet up at The Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford with the rest of the so-called Inklings. I am sure that many of the inklings had very different theological views. It should be noted that Lewis only really discovered his faith later in life, although I am sure no matter what your faith you can still enjoy the works of Lewis and Tolkien.
Let your actual reading of his work guide you. I think you'll realize he was not a fundamentalist in the way you're associating him to your own past, particularly pertaining to scriptural inerrancy.
Yes. I think the Inklings formed shortly after his conversion. I'm just trying to understand the appeal of his writing. I know that a lot of Christians still like him, but many Christians have a religious attitude which dictates who they should or should not be reading. They think it is "dangerous" to read something written by a nonbeliever. The idea is that reading any fictional (especially) author not found at the Christian bookstore is basically a sin and could lead people astray from the faith.
I just wonder if Lewis's popularity extends beyond them. Actually, I know that it does. I would just like to hear from those people about what they like about him.
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I remember a BBC Documentary about his books, in which it was suggested that C.S Lewis's work was actually coded and each book represented a planet in the solar system. It was aptly called the Narnia Code.
Huge fan here! Probably my all-time favorite ever is C.S. Lewis.
I find his writings to be anything BUT fundamentalist which is exactly WHY I love him. Have you ever read the entire Chronicals of Narnia?
Reading them as an adult will give you an appreciation of his genius...they reflect his very un-fundamentalist view of Christianity:
The references to the "Deep Magic" that everything both good & evil must ultimatley bow to...
The use of mythological creatures; Pans, Centuars, Druids etc as harbingers of God (different paths that lead to the top of the same mountain)...
The tale of a young man from a land of sand dunes & palm trees, with dark skin & eyes & wearing robes & turbans...he worshipped a "God" of a different name but with a pure heart & unconditional faith.
When "God" revealed himself to this young man, he was shaken because he thought he had lived his life worshipping the "wrong God" but was instead called "Son" & told that everything good & pure he had done in the other God's name was actually done in the name of the true God.
I cannot imagine anything more UN-fundamentalist than that!
I could go on about this for hours; but it's 3am for me now (I'm up with my 12yr old disabled child) & it will have to wait!
Huge fan here! Probably my all-time favorite ever is C.S. Lewis.
I find his writings to be anything BUT fundamentalist which is exactly WHY I love him. Have you ever read the entire Chronicals of Narnia?
Reading them as an adult will give you an appreciation of his genius...they reflect his very un-fundamentalist view of Christianity:
The references to the "Deep Magic" that everything both good & evil must ultimatley bow to...
The use of mythological creatures; Pans, Centuars, Druids etc as harbingers of God (different paths that lead to the top of the same mountain)...
The tale of a young man from a land of sand dunes & palm trees, with dark skin & eyes & wearing robes & turbans...he worshipped a "God" of a different name but with a pure heart & unconditional faith. When "God" revealed himself to this young man, he was shaken because he thought he had lived his life worshipping the "wrong God" but was instead called "Son" & told that everything good & pure he had done in the other God's name was actually done in the name of the true God.
I cannot imagine anything more UN-fundamentalist than that!
I could go on about this for hours; but it's 3am for me now (I'm up with my 12yr old disabled child) & it will have to wait!
Thanks for your comments. I bolded the part above which is how I see Lewis. That is just speculation on Lewis's part. Many Christians would disagree with him, and he would have no way of defending his theory. If he really did believe that then why did he align himself so exclusively to this one religion? His fiction seems like it might be full of these little theories that contradict orthodox Christianity, so I just don't understand where he is coming from, because he said he believes all the miracles in the gospel stories that fundamentalists believe. It seems like Christians would consider him a heretic if he didn't fully accept the Christian doctrine.
I have not read many of his books. Maybe the first Narnia book and parts of his religious books. I liked him when I was a kid. I remember an animated special of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I used to be a fundamentalist Christian and I was a big fan of the movie about him starring Anthony Hopkins. My appreciation of him was very much tied into my faith.
But now, my faith has changed. I have a more liberal view of Christianity. I feel like I would like to read his books more now, but I just feel like there is too much of a "religious" aspect to them. (Kind of the same with Tolkien).
Does anyone understand where I'm coming from? I would like to hear from fans of Lewis who don't necessarily share the type of faith that he had. Or even from those who do share the faith. Thanks.
There is no religious aspect with Tolkien whatsoever. Heathen, naturalistic spirituality maybe.
If you want books by Lewis that would be in tune with your liberal view of Christianity, a good idea would be to start with the Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength. One of its underlying motives is the struggle of pure hearts against authoritarian, dehumanizing, controlling forces. Some Christians would consider him a heretic if only because he describes magic and creatures of pagan myth in his books.
I used to have the sort of faith Lewis had, maybe more rigid still, and now I don't. But who cares, great art is great art no matter what. And he was a fellow Wagnerian
If you want books by Lewis that would be in tune with your liberal view of Christianity, a good idea would be to start with the Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength. One of its underlying motives is the struggle of pure hearts against authoritarian, dehumanizing, controlling forces. Some Christians would consider him a heretic if only because he describes magic and creatures of pagan myth in his books.
I think his faith was very conservative. He did acknowledge other "myths" but at the same time it was only he said they were just reflections of the one true story found in Christianity, which he did not consider to be a myth.
My belief is that the reason Christianity is so popular is because it is a retelling of all the same myth stories. But that does not mean it was literally true. That's not at all what Lewis seemed to be saying.
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"“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”"
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Location: Great Britain
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Lewis was an atheist for a period of his life who became a Christian apologist, and defended the faith but was liberal in his viewpoint and arguments. Lewis was known as a Apostle to the Skeptics due to his approach to religious belief as a sceptic, and he wrote a defence of the Christian faith on an argument very much based on morality.
Lewis was very interested in presenting a reasonable case for Christianity which was usually based around universal morality and natural laws. Lewis claims that people all over the earth know what these natural and universal laws are and when they break them and that there must be someone or something behind such a universal set of principles.
It should be noted that 'Mere Christianity' by C.S Lewis was voted best book of the twentieth century by Christianity Today in 2000.
Last edited by Brave New World; 08-01-2016 at 07:10 AM..
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