Apologist, Philosopher & Theologian

Here is that wonderful photo of C. S. Lewis which I mentioned in yesterday's blog--a photo I have never seen before. It is on the cover of Volume III of C. S. Lewis: Life, Works & Legacy, edited by Bruce Edwards. The third volume in this stupendous series of scholarly essays treats Lewis as apologist (defender of the faith), philosopher and theologian.

I have only had time to take a quick dip into this volume, but what immediately attracted my eye was the chapter on The Sermons of C. S. Lewis: The Oxford Don as Preacher by Greg Anderson. Preaching is a much neglected aspect of Lewis's work, and so I look forward to learning more from Anderson's article. As Anderson points out in the essay, Lewis was not known for being a biblical expositor. In his sermons he never takes just one text to flesh it out for his hearers. But one wonders: "Is biblical exposition the only way to preach biblically?" After all, Jesus himself seldom if ever exposited a text of Hebrew Scripture for his listeners by the Sea of Galilee. Rather, Jesus culled stories and pictures from everyday life and from God's creation to communicate truth. Lewis does the same, and therefore stands safely within the shadow of the greatest preacher of all time.

The truly great thing about Lewis as preacher is that he helps us through his preaching to become better Christians. And he does this not by pushing us, but rather by pulling us with an awe-inspiring vision of truth. Rather than brow-beating, Lewis opens a door for us into a whole new world, a world which has been around us all the time, but one we never quite imagined was there anyway.

Perhaps this paragraph from Lewis's famous sermon, The Weight of Glory, demonstrates what I'm talking about:

"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 can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror 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 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, civilisations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. . . . Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat--the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden."

(C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, New York: Macmillan, 1980, pp. 18-19)

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Will Vaus

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