C. S. Lewis' _The Great Divorce_

[Gavin]

My hands down favorite book of all time.

Have you read it and if so what are your thoughts?

[Patroclus]

It is in my personal library. However, I have not yet read it.

[Piebald]

I loved it! Not my favorite C.S. Lewis work though. Have you ever read Till We Have Faces? It's beautiful!

Of course, The Screwtape Letters are classic, also

[Patroclus]

Till We Have Faces is nothing short of amazing.

[Gavin]

My second favorite book?

Till We Have Faces!

[Lizard]

Haven't read it in years. But I need to reread it. It is great, and short, so it should be read frequently.

I will dig my copy up and read it real soon.

Thanks for the reminder.

:thumb:

[dizzle]

Funny, I did not care for it that much.... I really liked Mere Christianity.....

[Freak]

04-04-2003 @ 11:26 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=#post)
Gavin:

My hands down favorite book of all time.

Have you read it and if so what are your thoughts?

The Grand Miracle is a great read..one of my favorites.

[Gavin]

The Grand Miracle is a great read..one of my favorites.

hmm I have not heard of that one.

[Solly]

Gav, I read it. As with others Till We Have Faces is my favourite Lewis book; but I also liked The Great Divorce. Not so much for the theology that lies behind it, but for the imagery of hell and the foothills of heaven, as well as some of the character interactions. I read it the way I read Dante's Divine Comedy, as a vision appropriate for the Christian life now, rather than future - and i suspect that was Lewis' intention. Those scenes with the woman being honoured, the personal dragon being slain, the "hardness" of everything, etc were just brilliant.

[Patroclus]

I just started reading it, now about half way through. It is truly stunning. It reminds me a lot of Last Battle of the Narnia series.

[Gavin]

I have such a tough time expressing just what I like about it. My favorite part is the conversation between George MacDonald and C. S. Lewis about half-way through the book about why the ghosts don't want to stay in heaven. It would mean giving up their most precious and treasured sins. Even at the cost of infinite joy, there is something the sinful soul clings to. "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven", the Milton quote. Simply amazing.

And remember he does say in the preface that it is purely an imaginative supposal - not meant to be taken literally.

[Bill the Cat]

So why do Mormons go to CS Lewis to prove deification of man in Mere Christianity?

[Solly]

Today @ 10:32 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=58881#post58881)
Bill the Cat:

So why do Mormons go to CS Lewis to prove deification of man in Mere Christianity?

Same reason Catholics claim him, as well as the Protestants. He was trying to address a baseline (and in that he allowed more than he should - which is why I don't read him anymore.) One of his friends was Bede Griffiths, who merged Christianity amnd Hinduism in his particular philosophy. Another friend was Owen Barfield, theosophist.

However, I would not seek to prove anything from Lewis, any more than I would from other writers.

[Patroclus]

The point about C.S. Lewis that people would do well to remember is that he became a Christian relatively late in life. Therefore, he already had very strong influences in his life, particularly from literature. Lewis' brand of Platonism smacks just a bit too close to the original mold, begging many questions. Lewis is fully aware of this.

Lewis is not trying, in any of his books related to the topic, to give a new theology. He is no theologian or exegete, and should never be considerred as one. As an apologist, he is lacking in his defenses of certain fundamentals. Rather, Lewis is best at raising questions concerning topics that are not well-addressed in Christianity.

Lewis is a philosopher, and should be seen as such. Take him with critical doses.

[Lizard]

Today @ 04:12 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=59391#post59391)
Patroclus:

The point about C.S. Lewis that people would do well to remember is that he became a Christian relatively late in life. Therefore, he already had very strong influences in his life, particularly from literature. Lewis' brand of Platonism smacks just a bit too close to the original mold, begging many questions. Lewis is fully aware of this.

Lewis is not trying, in any of his books related to the topic, to give a new theology. He is no theologian or exegete, and should never be considerred as one. As an apologist, he is lacking in his defenses of certain fundamentals. Rather, Lewis is best at raising questions concerning topics that are not well-addressed in Christianity.

Lewis is a philosopher, and should be seen as such. Take him with critical doses.

Excellent point pat. :thumb:

I am a huge fan of Lewis, but I do realize his limitations (which you stated quite well). More than once I have been in a discusion of Lewis' work and questioned his 'theology'. Amost every time I get this reaction like I was questioning the authority of scripture itself.

[DanielleJoy]

The Narnia series is easily on the very top of my favorite books list, but I've only recently heard of his works concerning Christianity, or ANY of his other works, actually. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to look around for any of them. What would you recommend I read first, and what are these works like? :read:

[Gavin]

Hey DanielleJoy,

What would you recommend I read first, and what are these works like?

I think anything you read of his will be fascinating, but _Mere Christianity_ would be a good place to start, as it is a pretty easy read, one of his more well known works, and gets into a lot of his over-all views on Christianity.

Sincerely,
Gavin

[Patroclus]

As far as popular literature is concerned, The Screwtape Letters is generally considered his greatest. It is a good little piece of satire.

[DanielleJoy]

Awesome, thanks guys! :joy: Apparently our library has Mere Christianity as well as The Screwtape Letters... I don't exactly trust their catalog, but oh well. I think I'm going to reread the Narnia books, also, it's been forever since the last time I've had access to them.

[Wesley's son]

Read it, really liked it...

I addition to the others mentioned, I recommend The Four Loves. It has good applications for marriage.

[Gavin]

_A Grief Observed_ is very touching. Its his journal while he is grieving his wife's death.

[Wesley's son]

Today @ 11:23 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=66142#post66142)
Gavin:

_A Grief Observed_ is very touching. Its his journal while he is grieving his wife's death.

Is that what the Shadowlands film with Anthony Hopkins is based on?

[Lizard]

Today @ 11:23 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=66142#post66142)
Gavin:

_A Grief Observed_ is very touching. Its his journal while he is grieving his wife's death.




Today @ 11:51 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=66191#post66191)
Wesley's son:



Is that what the Shadowlands film with Anthony Hopkins is based on?


Not really. The book is an introspective look a Lewis' journy through his grief. But both the book and the movie are excellent.

[Gavin]

Have you guys read the space trilogy and if so what did you think?

I liked the fight between Ransom and the Un-man in _Perelandra_, and the different characters in the third one are really interesting, like Whither for example.

Thoughts?

[Patroclus]

Yeah, I am currently reading Perlandra right now.

[Lizard]

I like the trilogy, but the third one is great. :thumb:

[GrayPilgrim]

Faramir I agree :yipee: :yipee:

[Epoetker]

I like the trilogy, but the third one is barely readable. Not that it didn't pick up quite a bit later, but it seemed to be all slogging through the first six chapters or so until I found a slightly familiar reference, then slogging through a few more.

Rereading it makes it better and more connected, but it still seems to absolutely require a prior British college existence.

Uh, and the Curse of Babel scene was cool.

[GrayPilgrim]

That is the general response that I have heard, but I like That Hideous Strength the best of hte three. Was Peralandra your favorite? You know I have never known someone to think {i]Out of hte Silent Planet[/i] was their favorite of the three.

GP

[quetzalphoenix]

04-08-2003 @ 10:28 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=59404#post59404)
Faramir:



Excellent point pat. :thumb:

I am a huge fan of Lewis, but I do realize his limitations (which you stated quite well). More than once I have been in a discusion of Lewis' work and questioned his 'theology'. Amost every time I get this reaction like I was questioning the authority of scripture itself.

I've gotten that, too--in my college lit class we had a raging debate over the final part of the Last Battle, where one of the characters gets accepted by Aslan even though he followed a false god, Tashlan. People lined up on both sides and quite a few were using him to support universalism. Same thing happened with the Great Divorce.

I think, however, that he does a good job of battling his Platonic influences and allowing a biblical worldview to permeate his writing. That is what I love about the Great Divorce--he cuts to the core of what sin is and how it disguises itself as something good, or acceptable (like the grieving mother). And I just love the image of heaven being so REAL that the grass is too hard to walk on (even if it is a Platonically influenced image....)

[Gavin]

In my opinion there is much in Platonism that is compatible with a Christian worldview. Just ask St. Augustine. :poke:

[Patroclus]

I do not think that Platonism, itself, is very well supported by the Christian worldview. Rather, I think that Christians have been able to morph platonism into the Christian worldview. I think the same can be done with Aristotelean philosophy and servant ministry.

[GrayPilgrim]

I agree, although I think Aristotelean philosophy does more damage to the Christian Worldview.

GP

[Patroclus]

I disagree. But I will forgive you anyway.

[Solly]

I agree that both Platonism and Aristotelianism (and I spelt that right first time!!) are both inimicable to Christian theology, which should have a Hebraic mindset if anything. Michael S Horton deals with Platonism in his book Covenant and Eschatology: the divine drama, where he contrasts Plato's ontological "two worlds" with Paul's ethical and eschatological "Two ages", pointing out their differences, and the failing of the former, esp for Christians. This is my main beef with Lewis, that he did not check his premises enough

While Platonism provides good æsthetic images for his works (and others), they seriously misrepresent God's reality, and led in their day to the despising of the body in the early and mediæval times, and the silly actions of Origen with his razor blade, and the hermits and anchorites in the desert. Platonism ends up seriously world-denying in its idealism, leaving one chasing pie in the sky, instead of realising that what is here will continue, though revamped.

This also raises the question, not necessarily for this thread, about whether Christianity should ever baptise nonChristian thought for its own uses. The Reformation was as much a clash about philosophical schools as about reform in the Church, with Nominalists and Thomists sparring away. In the modern era Rationalism & Existentialism, and have crept in, and now we have the threat of postModernism. Is there such a thing as a Christian world view, and could we live it in the society we inhabit?

[Epoetker]

The best Christian worldview can be gained by reading both the Bible and as many old Christian books as possible. As Der Lewis says: "People in the past made mistakes, but not the SAME mistakes."

[Patroclus]

Of course, Solly, the problem with your statements is that Christianity was not born in a vacuum.