1、C.S. Lewis: Life and Work Joy Through Reason, Imagination and FaithOct 17 The Formative Years: Longing for Joy Nov 14 The Pilgrims Regress:In Search of Joy Nov 28 Story Telling: Living in Joy Dec 12 The Christian Knight: The Apologetics of JoyThe joy of the Lord is our strength. Neh. 8:10 Paulo and
2、Adriana RibeiroShawnee Park CRCWOWFall 2001, AD,It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a ho
3、rror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should
4、conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization-these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we jo
5、ke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. C. S. Lewis,The Purpose and Content of the StudyThis study is designed to introduce you to the life, thought and works of C. S. Lewis. C. S. Lewis never claimed to be a theologian. He approached Christianity from
6、 a very intellectual, academic, but honest way not theological.“ Mere Christianity” is the core set of beliefs held by the majority of Christians throughout the ages. Lewis believed what Jesus claimed to be: the unique Son of God. He believed that Jesus was literally born of a virgin, crucified, bur
7、ied, and that He physically rose again never to die again. Mere Christianity teaches the doctrine of the Trinity: that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are all three God, and that God is one. C. S. Lewis tried to demonstrate that the supernatural does exist and that miracles did occur. Mere Christianity
8、teaches that Christ died for our sins, that He was resurrected to prove that He conquered death and that to receive forgiveness of sin one must respond in faith to Him. The ThemeThis study covers the major issues that C. S. Lewis struggled with in his own life and subsequently addressed in his writi
9、ngs: the problem of suffering and pain, the existence of the supernatural or the miraculous, and how Christianity is the only world-view that consistently explains the nature of man and the universe.,IN 1945 C. S. Lewis was invited to address an assembly of Welsh Anglican priests on the topic of Chr
10、istian apologetics. After humbly confessing that, as a layman, he had “little right to address either,“ he went on offer his thoughts.Defining apologetics as the defense of orthodox Christianity “the faith preached by the Apostles, attested by the Martyrs, embodied in the Creeds, expounded by the Fa
11、thers“ Lewis added that, though the Faith is eternal, it is imperative for the apologist to expound it in light of the cultural and spiritual environment of his audience. “Your teaching,“ he writes, “must be timeless at its heart and wear a modern dress.“So how do we transmit the faith of the Apostl
12、es, Martyrs, and Fathers to this generation? What is the vernacular in which we are to speak? How do we fashion a postmodern garment for our teachings? These are the immediate questions for apologetics today, and Lewis-as he is in so many other areas of Christian faith and practice-is here an indisp
13、ensable resource; for, in addition to his helpful comments on how to approach the apologetical task, he has also given us a unique apologetic argument that can help us tailor the dress for our teaching in this time and place-the apologetics of longing.Lewis understanding of longing is specially rele
14、vant to crafting an apologetic strategy for this generation. To this end, this paper will proceed in three parts: Initially, important provisos must be made: First, to say that theology must be translated into the vernacular does not mean that Christian doctrine itself must be revised in order to co
15、nform more readily to the Spirit of the Age. (Indeed, Lewis noted that “the bad preacher takes the ideas of our own age and tricks them out in the traditional language of Christianity.)“ Rather, it means that in order for orthodox doctrine to be heard and understood, it must be explained in a langua
16、ge the audience understands. We alter the clothes of doctrine, not the body of doctrine itself. Second, of the writing of books on postmodernism and Generation X there has been no end. Thus, it needs to be emphasized that, while it is incumbent to read the signs of the times, such a project is by na
17、ture exceedingly ephemeral. “To move with the times,“ Lewis wrote, “is, of course, to go where all times go.“ The cutting edge is the first to go dull.,What, if anything, does this self-confessed pre-Modern“dinosaur“ have to say in our postmodern times? First, perhaps the single greatest strength of
18、 the apologetic is that it is really an invitation to meditation. Because of its postmodern mood, it is not prone to ask questions like, “Does this worldview present a true account of reality?“ and “Is this argument valid?“ This generation, therefore, remains unmoved by the traditional arguments for
19、 Christianity. It is, however, deeply interested in spirituality, meaning, and personal narrative, all of which are encompassed by Lewis apologetic of longing.Second, this apologetic has a natural point of contact with the longing that this generation naturally feels. That we feel deeply the pain of
20、 alienation and brokenness is not to be doubted. Such feelings produce the longing for home and the nagging perception that there must be more to life than appears.“Is this all there is?“ this generation asks. “No,“ Lewis apologetic replies and, further, goes on to connect this particular longing wi
21、th the universal human thirst for the Living Water of Christian salvation.Third, it avoids the technical jargon of the theologians. Discussing with a Gen Xer topics like sin and redemption, bondage and deliverance, repentance and justification, and all you are likely to elicit is a blank stare. Thei
22、r thorough secularization has left them bereft of understanding of the traditional categories of theological and ethical thought. The apologetics of longing is not dependent upon such pre-understandings and instead presents the Gospel in the powerful-and thoroughly biblical-language of alienation an
23、d reconciliation.Allow me to illustrate the power of the apologetics of longing with a testimony. A few years ago I introduced CS Lewis to an engineer in Virginia. I presented him a copy of Mere Christianity. . After several months after reacting against some of the statements he came to me and said
24、, I in the hall, Paulo .Two months ago I presented a copy of the same book to a Brazilian Professor (nominal catholic) . This past week, he could not control his excitement he told me that he had introduced Lewis to another friend who was looking for some answers.,Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland o
25、n November 29, 1898, Clive Staples (“Jack“) Lewis was reared in a peculiarly bookish home, one in which the reality he found on the pages of the books within his parents extensive library seemed as tangible and meaningful to him as anything that transpired outside their doors. When the tranquility a
26、nd sanctity of the Lewis home was shattered beyond repair by the death of his mother when he was ten, Lewis sought refuge in composing stories and excelling in scholastics. Soon thereafter he became precociously oriented toward the metaphysical and ultimate questions. The rest of his saga and the pa
27、rticulars of his writing career might be seen as the melancholy search for the security he had took granted during the peace and grace of his childhood. By Lewiss testimony, this recovery was to be had only in the “joy“ he discovered in an adult conversion to Christianity. There were, in fact, three
28、 “C. S. Lewises.“ There was, first, Lewis the distinguished Oxbridge literary scholar and critic; Second, Lewis, the highly acclaimed author of science fiction and childrens literature; and Thirdly, Lewis, the popular writer and broadcaster of Christian apologetics. No brief summary can do justice t
29、o the many and varied works Lewis produced in his lifetime between 1919-1961. Indeed, more Lewis volumes-collection of essays, chiefly-have appeared after his death than during his lifetime. A sampling of the range and depth of his achievements in criticism, fiction, and apologetics might begin, how
30、ever, with the first books Lewis published, two volumes of poetry: Spirits in Bondage, published in 1919 when Lewis was but 23, and his long narrative poem, Dymer, published in 1926. Neither were critical successes, convincing the classically trained Lewis that he would never become an accomplished
31、poet given the rise of modernism; subsequently he turned his attention to literary history, specifically the field of medieval and renaissance literature. Along the way, however, Lewis embraced Christianity, and in 1933, published his first theological work, The Pilgrims Regress, that details Lewiss
32、 flight from skepticism to faith in a lively allegory.In 1936, Lewis published the breakthrough work that earned him his reputation as a scholar, The Allegory of Love, a work of high-calibre, original scholarship that revolutionized literary understanding of the function of allegory in medieval lite
33、rature, particularly Edmund Spensers The Faerie Queene. Between 1939 and 1954, Lewis continued to publish well-received works in criticism and theory, debating E. M. W. Tillyard on the objectivity of poetry in The Personal Heresy, published in 1939, and in that same year publishing a collection of e
34、ssays under the title Rehabilitations-a work whose title characterized much of Lewiss work, as he attempted to bring the fading critical reputation of authors he revered back into balance. In 1942, his A Preface to Paradise Lost attempted to rehabilitate the reputation of John Milton, while in 1954,
35、 he offered a comprehensive overview of 16th-century British poetry and narrative in his English Literature in the Sixteenth Century.,Lewis is best known, however, for his fiction and his Christian apologetics, two disciplines complementary to each other. In 1936, Lewis completed the first book in a
36、 science-fiction space trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, that introduced the hero, Edwin Ransom, a philologist modeled roughly on Lewiss friend, J. R. R. Tolkien. Perelandra, a new version of Paradise Lost set in Venus, followed in 1943, and That Hideous Strength completed the trilogy in 1945; the
37、latter Lewis billed as “a fairy tale for adults,“ treating novelistically of the themes Lewis had developed in his critique of modern education in The Abolition of Man, published two years earlier. Lewiss most notable critical and commercial success, however, is certainly his seven-volume Chronicles
38、 of Narnia, which he published in single volumes from 1950-56. These popular childrens fantasies began with the 1950 volume, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a tale centered around Aslan the lion, a Christ-figure who creates and rules the supernatural land of Narnia, and the improbable adventu
39、res of four undaunted British schoolchildren who stumble into Narnia through a clothes closet. Lewiss own favorite fictional work, Till We Have Faces, his last imaginative work, published in 1956, is a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth, but has never achieved the critical recognition he hoped it wo
40、uld.Lewiss reputation as an articulate proponent of Christianity began with the publication of two important theological works: The Problem of Pain, a defense of pain-and the doctrine of hell- as evidence of an ordered universe, published in 1940; and The Screwtape Letters, a “interception“ of a sen
41、ior devils correspondence with a junior devil fighting with “the Enemy,“ Christ, over the soul of an unsuspecting believer, published in 1942. Lewis emerged during the war years as a religious broadcaster who became famous as “the apostle to skeptics,“ in Britain and abroad, especially in the United
42、 States. His wartime radio essays defending and explaining the Christian faith comforted the fearful and wounded, and were eventually collected and published in America as Mere Christianity in 1952. In the midst of this prolific output, Lewis took time to write his spiritual autobiography, Surprised
43、 by Joy, published in 1955. In the two decades before his death, Lewis published more than eight books that directly or indirectly served him in the task of apologetics and he is arguably the most important Christian writer of the 20th Century.Lewiss life and work have been also the focus of countle
44、ss books since his death in 1963. Both his fiction and theological writings have been endlessly and hyper-critically explored, creating a trail of footnotes and asides long enough to camouflage the essential viewpoints and facts about his life-thus discouraging even the most diligent student of Lewi
45、s. It must be said that Lewiss own works remain the most reliable source and insightful interpreter of this original thinker and personality.,Timeline1898 Clive Staples Lewis born in Belfast, Ireland 1908 Lewiss mother dies 1917 Lewis begins studies at University College, Oxford 1925 Awarded a fello
46、wship in English at Oxfords Magdalen College; publication of G.K. Chestertons The Everlasting Man 1929 Converts to theism and, in 1931, Christianity 1933 The first members of the Inklings meet in Lewiss chambers 1937 J. R. R. Tolkien publishes The Hobbit 1939 Author Charles Williams moves to Oxford,
47、 joins the Inklings 1941 Publication of The Screwtape Letters gains Lewis worldwide fame; Dorothy Sayers, Lewiss friend and a 22-year member of his Socratic Club at Oxford, publishes her best- known work, The Man Born to Be King 1948 Lewis loses debate to British philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe 1950-
48、56 Writes seven volumes of The Chronicles of Narnia 1952 Mere Christianity, a collection of radio broadcasts Lewis delivered during World War II, is published 1954-55 Publication of Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings 1956 Lewis marries Joy Davidman Gresham in a civil ceremony (a Christian ceremony follo
49、wed in 1957) 1960 Joy dies; to deal with his emotions, Lewis writes A Grief Observed 1963 Lewis dies at his home, The Kilns.,1898 (November 29) Born Clive Staples in Belfast, Ireland, to Albert James Lewis and Flora Augusta Hamilton Lewis. 1905 Lewis family moves to “Little Lea“. 1908 (August 23) Mo
50、ther died of cancer; Clive Staples (Jack), and older brother Warren sent to Wynyard School in England. 1910 Attends Campbell College, Belfast for one term due to sickness and fathers dissatisfaction with the school. 1911-13 Studied at Cherbourg School, Malvern England, following his brother Warren.
51、1914-16 Extensive literary and philosophical studies under the private teaching of W.T. Kirkpatrick. 1916 Won scholarship to University College, Oxford. 1917 (April 28) Began studies at Oxford; interrupted by serving in WWI; Commisioned as second lieutenant in Somerset light infantry. 1918 Hospitali
52、zed for “trench fever“; rejoined his battalion, wounded in Battle of Arras, France, and hospitalized again. 1919 Resumed studies at Oxford. Moves in with Mrs. Moore and begins their relationship. 1925 (May) Elected Fellow of English Language and Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he remained until 1954.,
