Top 5 C.S. Lewis Books

Christianity Today recently posted something that caught my eye - Alister McGrath's Top 5 CS Lewis Books (If you don't know who Dr. McGrath is, I suggest a quick google search or click his name for an impressive feed of accomplishments - one of which includes a new book CS Lewis: A Life which is sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read!).

Of course I took this as a challenge to figure out my top 5 books.  If I had to choose (although it's highly unlikely that anyone would ever demand such a thing), I suppose it would go something like this:

1. Mere Christianity - Not only was this the first book I ever read by Lewis (and, let's face it, I'm nostalgic) , but it has had tremendous significance in my own spiritual life.  The way he articulated certain aspects of faith helped bring to life what I believed more than anything I had ever heard.  Each time I pick up this book, I find more incredible ways Lewis speaks to my own understanding of Christianity.

2. The Magician's Nephew - My nostalgia peeks through with this book, too, as it is the only Narnia book I had ever read until a few years ago.  I am taken aback by the incredible way Lewis paints creation to his reader.  More than by reading Genesis, I feel as if I am there, witnessing God work.  The bits of humor, the curious children, and the talking animals all speak to me (pun intended?) as I flip page after page, soaking in the words.

3. The Screwtape Letters - Seriously one of the most impressive bits of work on Satan I have ever read.  The way Lewis is able to get into character and write from the Devil's perspective is truly a gift as he shines a light on what evil is after.  It provokes so much thought to grasp what is occurring, but it truly makes the reader question if they have fallen into some of Screwtape's traps in life.

4. Till We Have Faces - Like Lewis, I am a fan of Greek mythology.  Unlike Lewis, I am not a scholar of such works.  However, I appreciate his retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche in this novel.  I love the character development and the humanity that shines through these Greek gods & goddesses.

5. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - How could this not be on the list?  Maybe I am not as nostalgic towards this book (because I didn't read it until I was in my twenties!), but it truly is a classic.  The fact of the matter is that Lewis is able to weave in moral and faith-based truths throughout his fictional books.  I believe I have often gained more of an idea of Jesus's sacrifice through Aslan's sacrifice than I do sometimes by reading Scripture.

Lewis has a way of writing that truly shows creativity and sensitivity towards his readers.  He takes Biblical truths and shares them through words and analogies that make sense.

So what are your top 5 Lewis books? Are you a fiction-lover or a novice non-fiction reader (or split, like me)?

I'd love to hear from you!

CREATION (part 6 - final thoughts)

I genuinely appreciate Lewis’s take on creation as told in his fictional story, The Magician’s Nephew because of the re-awakening I feel when reading it; it gives a vivid picture to the creation of life.  In fact, this particular account is precisely the reason why it has become my favorite stories among the Chronicles of Narnia. 

Aslan singing the world into creation sends chills up my spine.  The vibrant descriptions are a perfect way to encapsulate the reader, enabling them to appreciate the creation story of this world. 

“By allowing the reader to watch the creation of another world, C.S. Lewis evokes an appropriate awe and delight in the things of this world.” 

This story points me to God, which I believe is essentially what Lewis intended.

I also appreciate C.S. Lewis’s humble view of humanity.  Not only does he heighten the depictions of wrongdoing through the use of magic and science, but he also enables the reader to see a humble hero, like Digory in The Magicians Nephew, or Lucy in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  

Lewis emphasizes the struggle between good and evil throughout all his books, but “throughout the Chronicles, the process of creation is treated as fundamentally good.”[1]  He understands that adventure through creativity is not our own doing, but rather comes from an ultimate Creator. 

“The reality of God’s creation and originality was so woven into the warp and woof of Lewis’s everyday thinking that he consistently denied any originality for his own books.”[2] 

Lewis understood that without God, there would be no source for creativity.  His thoughts on Creation theology are embedded within the fiction and non-fiction writings Lewis dedicated his life to.  It is only through the use of Creation that we can truly enjoy the creativity embedded in Nature by the Great Creator.

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[1] Gregory Bassham, Jerry L. Walls, and William Irwin, eds., The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: the Lion, the Witch, and the Worldview (popular Culture and Philosophy) (Chicago: Open Court, 2005), 246.

[2] Vaus, 63.

Creation (part 5- Creativity)

I think it is pretty evident that C.S. Lewis had a plethora of creativity.  In this post, I will delve a bit more into my thoughts on creative life.
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CREATIVITY

Lewis placed quite an emphasis on creativity.  He “believed strongly that originality was the prerogative of God alone and that, even within the Trinity, originality seemed to be confined to God the Father.”[1]  Therefore all which is created is ultimately linked back to God.  The cars we drive, the pens we write with, and even the pipes we smoke are all examples of creation by man, but ultimately through God’s gift of creativity to man.

The only way we can “perceive the Creation” is through “image, metaphor, and myth”[2] because there is no way of obtaining true knowledge.  We gain knowledge paired with creativity because we were created in the image of the first Creator.  “God has designed his higher creatures for the happiness of being voluntarily united to him” because “a world of robots would hardly be worth creating.”[3]  Lewis understood the breadth of creativity through the gifts and care given in the Creator’s making of humans.  

CREATION (part 3)

CREATION OF NARNIA

Lewis’s take on the creation account in the Magician’s Nephew is a striking attempt at capturing the beauty in which the world as we know it was created.  His vibrant descriptions paint a created world which makes the reader feel the significance of creation.  As Jonathan Rogers puts it, “You’ve heard it so many times you may have lost the ability to marvel at the most marvelous, and perhaps the most fundamental of Christian truths: the natural world is of supernatural origin.”[1]  The story of Adam and Eve has become an overused story through Sunday School lessons, children’s Bibles and Vacation Bible Schools in our culture. 

Yet Lewis, through his gift of writing, creates a world that evokes feeling and emotions which the Biblical narrative of creation just cannot do. 

Though it is evident that Adam and Eve are recognized even in Narnia as the created beings of earth, the land of Narnia takes on an entirely different – yet similar – creation story.  God speaks the world into being, while Aslan, the Great Lion, sings his land of Narnia into being.  This smooth and “most beautiful noise”[2] brought light and vegetation and animals to the world, which is an impressive testament to the created things of the world as well.  

Lewis clearly understood the phenomenon of creation by the way he described two wonders during Narnia’s creation.  One was the harmony of voices, “more voices than you could possibly count.”[3]  The other wonder “was that the blackness overhead, all at once, was blazing with stars…one moment there had been nothing but darkness; next moment a thousand, thousand points of light leapt out.”[4]  If this gives any testament to the Genesis account of “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3 NIV), then it surely paints a more vivid picture and understanding of the massive change the world had just experienced.  

In fact, I cannot help but wonder if there is a hint of C.S. Lewis represented by the Cabby who responds to the creation scene by stating, “I’d h’a been a better man all my life if I’d known there were things like this.”[5]  Perhaps this was his way of inserting his regrets of not understanding God’s beauty and grace sooner in life.

The remainder of the creation story in chapter 9 of The Magician’s Nephew is primarily focused on the animals and humans.  After identifying a lion as the source of the song of creation, the land of Narnia begins its growth through the musical undertones.  

“As he walked and sang, the valley grew green with grass…making that young world every moment softer.  Soon there were other things besides grass,”[6] like trees and mountains and flowers.  Nature grew right in front of the small crew of people from London.  They were able to witness life from the beginning as trees sprouted quickly as the “great Lion, Aslan”[7] sang nature into creation.  

The next thing he focused upon is the birth of animals.  The Lion’s song changes and the land swells into humps which “moved and swelled till they burst, and the crumbled earth poured out of them, and from each hump there came out an animal.”[8]  This interesting creation of animals brings about dogs and moles and frogs and panthers and all sorts of new life.  

Lewis is clear in Mere Christianity that he understood the act of God creating as “begetting, not making, because what He produces is of the same kind of Himself,”[9] and it is evident that Narnia has a similar beginning.  The song of the Lion is soon overtaken by the new noises of the animals who join in their creator’s song, emphasizing that “Narnia was quite a different world from ours.”[10]

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[1] Jonathan Rogers, The World According to Narnia: Christian Meaning in C.S. Lewis's Beloved Chronicles (New York: FaithWords, 2005), 153-4.

[2] C.S. Lewis, “The Magician’s Nephew” in The Chronicles of Narnia, 1st American ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 61.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid, 62.

[6] Ibid, 65.

[7] Kilby, 118.

[8] Lewis, Magician’s Nephew, 69.

[9] Lewis, Mere Christianity, 151.

[10] Kilby, 120.

Creation (part 2) - Science & Nature

Today I want to focus on the aspects of SCIENCE AND NATURE as it deals with Creation: 

The theory of evolution was largely in the public’s eye at the time of C.S. Lewis’s writings.  If it is necessary to give a title, he could be described as a “theistic evolutionist,” which “left open the possibility for Lewis of accepting certain aspects of evolution into his theology.”[1]  Yet, rather than focus on these hot-button issues, Lewis chose to focus his studies and stories on more important religious questions in order to probe the reader to thought.  

“Whether the biological theory of evolution is right or wrong was irrelevant to Lewis.  If it were found to be wrong or right, either way, it would have had no effect on Lewis’s Christianity.”[2]  

Proving evolution correct or incorrect was not his goal, which is a strong testament to the character of Lewis.  Often people become so invested in a particular topic that they are unable to release the hold until a strong argument has been made.  Lewis took a different approach understanding “the Genesis account to be inspired”[3] and more in the form of a folk tale than historical fact.  He had no problem “accepting the idea that humanity is in the process of evolution, though he would prefer to say that humanity is in the process of being created.”[4]  This statement implies that Lewis assumed there was a Creator who is continually involved in the process of humanity.

           

Lewis was also accepting of the fact that it is possible, “and in no conflict with the Bible, that God raised one of the primates eventually to become human.”  While this may shock many of his followers, his argument was reached through Genesis 2:7 which states: “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (NIV).  It is clear that man is made from something else.  

Lewis took this notion a step further, however, and explained that the reason it did not shake his faith was because man is “called to be or raised to be something more than an animal.”[5]  This exemplifies that Lewis had no difficulties with the biology of evolution.  He merely understood that there was a reason for such evolution and that men were not meant to be part of the animal kingdom.  He believed the theological implications far outweighed the scientific suggestions in regards to evolution. 

Though there are a number of stances that can be indicated through his writings, C.S. Lewis never expressed a definite stance one way or the other.  He had “no quarrel with true science,” just a “number of reservations.”[6]  He believed it was quite possible for evolution to occur and could even back it up scripturally, but never allowed the science to overtake his belief system.  He believed “we must be cautious of building our case for Creation on any current scientific theory, for those theories change as quickly as the shifting sands.”[7]  Even though we rely on scientists to give us the correct information, much of that can be tainted.  It is the intentions behind such information that should be investigated. 

We see this enacted through Lewis’s portrayal of magicians (like Uncle Andrew) as scientists who always focus on their own outcome, and the Creator (like Aslan) who always keeps his subjects in mind when creating.  Lewis understood that “everything God has made has some likeness to Himself”[8] and therefore should not be exploited.  All beings are subject to Him and to one another and anything in contradiction to that is in conflict with the Creator.

The contradiction of Nature is unveiled through the depiction of Science, which is often linked with Reason.  In Narnia, he depicts those who attempt to manipulate nature as evil.  Jadis and Uncle Andrew, for example, are so consumed with power that they have no regard for the creation they are trying to control.  But it is important to question, “In what sense is Man the possessor of increasing power over Nature?”[9]  Might there be a limit to this power?  After all, Lewis wrote in Abolition of Man how “the stars lost their divinity as astronomy developed” and when an object is treated as “an artificial abstraction…something of its reality has been lost.”[10]  

This attempt at control over nature is an ultimate loss of the essence of nature.  Uncle Andrew could not even see the significance of talking animals because he did not appreciate the oddities that come along with nature.  He wanted to control everything according to his own knowledge.  Lewis stated that “Reason can invade Nature to take prisoners”[11] which is displayed in the creation of the villains’ pursuit in the stories of Narnia.

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[1] Will Vaus, Mere Theology: a Guide to the Thought of C.s. Lewis (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2004), 62.

[2] Ibid, 69.

[3] Ibid, 62.

[4] Ibid, 68-9.

[5] Ibid, 66.

[6] Ibid, 67.

[7] Ibid, 67.

[8] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1st Touchstone Ed ed. (New York, NY: Touchstone Books, 1996), 139.

[9] C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man: or Reflections On Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools, 1st Touchstone Ed. (New York: Touchstone Books, 1996), 66.

[10] Ibid, 79.

[11] C. S. Lewis, Miracles: a Preliminary Study, 1st Touchstone Ed ed. (New York, New York: Touchstone Books, 1996), 37.