A Problem with C.S. Lewis

If you are going to be a popular writer in Christian circles, you are going to have to have a few Lewis quotes from time to time. He's the perennial favorite among the evangelical elite. He really isn't anyone we should lift up as a Christian leader. We treat Lewis with doctrinal kid gloves when we really shouldn't and wouldn't treat anyone else. For example, Rob Bell, and rightly so, was called to the carpet and labeled a heretic for his, well, his heresy. So, why do we uphold Lewis, who had the same Universalist bent, with more heresy besides?

Michael John Beasley wrote in My Banner is Christ:

"By itself, [Rob] Bell’s book [Love Wins] was certainly problematic, yet reactions to what he wrote were even more problematic and even ironic. I say ironic because many of Bell’s greatest critics also happen to be the loudest advocates of C.S. Lewis, whose theology of purgatory was no less dangerous than that of Bell’s. In 1998, J.I. Packer noted the irony of C.S. Lewis’popularity within Evangelicalism, despite his views on purgatory and many other things:  

'By ordinary evangelical standards, his [Lewis’] idea about the Atonement (archetypal penitence, rather than penal substitution), and his failure ever to mention justification by faith when speaking of the forgiveness of sins, and his apparent hospitality to baptismal regeneration, and his noninerrantist view of biblical inspiration, plus his quiet affirmation of purgatory and of the possible final salvation of some who have left this world as nonbelievers, were weaknesses; they led the late, great Martyn Lloyd-Jones, for whom evangelical orthodoxy was mandatory, to doubt whether Lewis was a Christian at all. His closest friends were Anglo-Catholics or Roman Catholics; his parish church, where he worshiped regularly, was 'high'; he went to confession; he was, in fact, anchored in the (small-c) 'catholic' stream of Anglican thought, which some (not all) regard as central. Yet evangelicals love his books and profit from them hugely.'

I understand the appeal of C.S. Lewis. He is an excellent writer and a good thinker. I do not understand the infatuation with Lewis as a Evangelical Christian leader. From what I understand, C.S.Lewis would not have considered himself an evangelical. I am not one of those who say that you can only read only with people who agree with you, otherwise you'll only read your own journals. I'm not even saying that I think that you should avoid Lewis all together, but I believe that to put him in the category of a safe and trusted guide in doctrine is dangerous. When I read C.S. Lewis, I have to remember that there are a lot of really, very serious problems with his theology. If Rob Bell is dangerous (and he is) then shouldn't the same caution be shown to Lewis, seeing they taught similar doctrines? Lewis is an excellent writer and a really bad theologian.

I think part of it comes from the fact that Lewis was not a clergyman, but a professor. Bell was/is a pastor and he is held to a high standard, as he should be. But Lewis, by being a Christian writer, took upon himself the role of a teacher and should be read with as much strict discernment as any other book.

Several have pointed out that comedians who like to be politically active will rail on their political enemies with great passions and fervor. When they are called to give an account for what they say or believe they say "I'm just a comedian, what do you expect?" They have coined it as "clown nose on...clown nose off." They want to speak with authority without having the responsibility that comes along with authority or to be held accountable. Recently, Jimmy Kimmel had not problem being the voice of the American conscience when he was politicking for heath care. But when it came to other issues that would cost him, "hey I'm just a late night show host." Clown nose on. I do not believe Lewis played this game, but the game is being played with his works. I believe this is why Lewis is given that same leniency. When he is good, he is praised. When he is heretical, it is "well, he was not a preacher, he was a professor." When Lewis is good, he is great and when he is bad, he is awful.

Even in his fiction, he's got lots of problems.

The much lauded "That Hideous Strength" (the final book in his Space Trilogy) is, strange. Even more strange that conservative Christian's praise and recommend this book. As a story, it was pretty good. As a critique of modernism, and the dangers and failures of treating the intellectual and scientific communities as priests in a new religion (new religion, same as the old religion) it was great. Lewis can rightly diagnosis the problem and then skillfully give us the end that we all want. Peace, God, illumination, things that are true, things that are lovely, things that are wholesome. The spiritual realities of the world we live in are true.

But Lewis never tells the reader how to get from A to B. The book makes the case that Christianity is the answer, but what does Lewis mean by Christianity? I know this wasn't meant to be a gospel tract, but making conversion a major theme of the book and then having the "awakening" to be "there is someone, something out there" in my opinion, is a failure and the danger far outweighs any good that might come. Lewis provides a taste of Christianity without Christ. If you lay That Hideous Strength along side the book of Colossians, you'll find that the characters would have much more in common with the proto-gnostics than with the Apostle Paul.

So why do celebrity preachers praise C.S. Lewis so? I have no idea. I think it's trendy. I think that he's an author that you can wink to the world and have some credibility. Maybe we Christians like our celebrities too, and we feel validated when the world likes someone who says he's on our side. I really can't explain why pastors would promote Lewis and recommend him.

I'm not calling for a boycott or a book-burning. But can we not treat him as a good Christian author? I recently made a comment in a sermon about Lewis, and the idea that Lewis wasn't a good, solid, Christian was remarkable. Why? Because we have lifted him up as one. Let's warn and be cautious of quoting and promoting a dangerous man.