Lewis-Abolition of Man

With the recent surge in C.S. Lewis’s popularity, it is good for us to remind ourselves that Lewis was not just a wonderful popular author, but a solid Christian thinker and apologist as well.  One of his many enduring apologetic works is the short book, The Abolition of Man.  In it, Lewis argues that there is a way the universe really is, and a way human nature really is as well.  This is what he labels the Tao, or the way, and says, “It is the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false to the kind of thing the universe is and the kinds of things we are.”

In much of the book, including in his wonderful appendix, Lewis argues that there is an objective moral structure in all humans in all cultures in all times.  There are differences to be sure, but overall, no culture has ever praised such things as cold-blooded murder, cowardice, lying or promise-breaking.  Now the trend in Lewis’s culture was to believe that human liberty consisted in breaking free from those old moral constraints.  And to be sure, this is a prominent trend in our culture as well.

Lewis’s answer to this lies in the title of the book.  He argued that to deny such obvious truths will do violence on humanity: we will abolish ourselves.  To become more human is to take stock of the moral shape of our lives and learn to live in virtue.  And, on the contrary, when we think we gain mastery over our natures by escaping morality, we end up becoming slaves to the lowest denominators in our souls.

Christ came that we might live life more abundantly-and we see in Lewis another powerful glimpse into what that life really is like.

Lewis' Dangerous Idea

C.S. Lewis has always been popular among evangelicals, and with the recent release of the Narnia movie, he has hit another peak in his popularity. This is a good thing. But how thorough is our understanding of Lewis’ other writings and teachings? We know about Narnia, and we know his Mere Christianity, but there are depths in his writings that maybe we haven’t plunged to yet.

One of those depths occurs in his book Miracles, when Lewis constructs an argument that is intended to strengthen the case for theism and weaken the case for naturalism. The argument, sometimes called the argument from reason, is the subject of a recent book by Victor Reppert called, “C.S. Lewis’ Dangerous Idea.” The dangerous idea is that the very process of thinking and coming to true or false conclusions is a reason to believe that the Christian worldview is the right one. In short, the crux of Lewis’ argument is that if the universe is nothing but physical matter, we shouldn’t be able to reason, because reasoning is a non-physical activity. But because we clearly can reason, there must be more to the universe, like minds, souls, and even a God.

Think of it this way. You are on a trip to southern California, and you wake up in the back seat of a car to see the word “Hollywood” spelled out on the side of a hill. You rightly assume you have actually reached Hollywood because reasoning people put those letters there for a reason. If “Hollywood” happened to be a word spelled out in leaves blown there by the wind, you would have no good reason to believe you were at your destination. It took a mind to communicate truth to you, and that means that naturalism is probably false.

Lewis is not just a devotional treasure; he stands as a wonderful Christian apologist whose writings continue to stand as a solid defense of Christianity.