Lesson 1 - Life & Theology of CS Lewis

Question 1

What were the major events in CS Lewis life and how did these contribute to his theology?

Answer 1

1. ) Lewis Imaginative Life: a lived dialectic (a dialectic of desire)
   - - 3 experience of joy ; childhood desire: fairyland
   - - Lewis attempt to substitute false objects to satisfy “joy”
   - - Imagination was the dialectic of desire – lived through experiences
   - - Proved substitutes to be wrong because he lived through them
   - - None satisfied; all proven false

2.) Lewis Rational Life: a rational dialectic
– He took pride in his intellect
– Tutored by Kirkpatrick: logical, rational examination of all ideas. Atheistic naturalism
– Reason begin to clarify “desire” so that
desire “projected beyond feeling and
transient objects of desire”
– Dialectic of philosophical argument
— Various philosophical isms – examine evidences: Materialism, Idealism, Theism, Christianity

1. ) Romantic (experience of joy/awe/desire unfulfilled)
2. ) Rational (William T. KirkPatrick’s tutoring showing Lewis’ opinions needed to be grounded in good sources; Ideas must be based on something)
3. ) Associates at Oxford challenged Lewis’ Atheism (Christianity as myth; false substitutes; lewis became aware of his own badness)
4. ) 1929 - Lewis Conversion to Theism

Question 2

How did Lewis view of joy change after his conversion and how did it influence his theology?

Answer 2

• • Lewis viewed joy not as end to pursue, but a means to point to something “other and outer”
• • Experiences of joy are mere passing signposts
• • “Meditations in a toolshed” - have to ‘look along’ and ‘look at’
• • His theology is rooted in joy and the apologetic from desire of something else out there

Question 3

What are the classical apologetic methods?

Answer 3

1. ) Subjective (Pascal, Kierkegaard)
2. ) Classical/Evidentialist (Sproul)
3. ) Pre-suppositionalist (Kuyper, Van Til, Frame, Schaeffer)

Question 4

How is Lewis apologetic different?

Answer 4

Different:

• • Wanted to put the Christian language into the language of the people. Not writing books on Christianity, but on subjects people care about from a Christian perspective.
• • Apologetic from desire or joy (romantic)
• • Did apologetics from several different categories (hard to classify): academic w/miracles, lay person w/christian reflections, apologetics w/mere christianity, fantasy w/narnia and great divorce

Question 5

How is Lewis apologetic similar?

Answer 5

• • He appeals to truth as the main reason to believe
• • He uses evidence (mere Christianity), presuppositions (Miracles)
• • Have to root your faith in the Scriptures, Creeds, Apostles
• • Debate and Argument style
• • Main goal of writing was to convert people