Greek Mythology and CS Lewis

[Stiesia]

CS Lewis loved Greek mythology. Some of us may find that hard to believe, since Lewis was obviously a devout Christian. Why should he be interested in the stories of a pagan religion?

Well, it's clear that Lewis had a great talent for seeing Christian theology reflected in the Greek myths. His book Till We Have Faces is a lasting example of this. In it, he was able to retell the myth of Psyche and Cupid in a story that positively bursts with Christian meaning and theology.

I'm wondering, has anyone noticed other instances of parallels between Lewis and Greek mythology? In the Chronicles of Narnia, are there some similar themes and/or characters, places?

[EveningStar]

C. S. Lewis enjoyed Greek Mythology for the same reason Ancient Greeks did. These were not religious doctrines, they were stories about religious figures that were very entertaining to relate about the fire. As an example, consider THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY. He's not part of our religion but he played his drum for the infant Jesus as his gift to lay before the child and therefore was blessed.

As for parallels, there were a few interesting stories that may relate. Such as Midas and his Golden Touch and "What profit it a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" Or Endymion who so loved the moon goddess Selene that he, granted one wish, chose to sleep whenever she was away so that he would not age while she was gone. He feared to grow old and leave her and thus break her heart. Such sacrificial love as this reminds us of Christ's love for his Church. And lastly there is Philemon and Baucis, a lovely elderly couple that were the only ones to treat Jupiter and Mercury (travelling in disguise) with kindness out of an entire village. When the gods revealed their true identity they rewarded the couple with a temple on a hill and gold, all their very own. They also offered them a wish, and both chose the same thing...that one should not die before the other. Touched, Jupiter turned the two of them into one tree, half laurel and half oak. So as one they lived on, and people came from far lands to lay offerings about the tree to celebrate the gift of pure love.

[PrinceOfTheWest]

Stiesia, I'm glad you're asking in a spirit of true curiosity, and not simply dismissing Lewis because of these elements. As you properly detect, Lewis was a committed, orthodox Christian to the core, yet loved the Greek, Roman, and even Nordic myths so much that he wrapped components into his stories. How to reconcile these two seemingly opposed aspects?

The Magister has answered part of it. Even the Greeks did not consider the myths to be theology as we understand it - at least the educated ones didn't. Slaves and peasants may have thought there were real gods on the top of Olympus, but no educated Greek thought that. The stories of Leda and Jason and Hercules at all were partly for amusement and partly, as the Magister explained, for instruction. For a better picture of how thoughtful Greeks and Romans view the One God, read Plato's accounts of Socrates, particularly his dialogues with the Sophists.

Also, Lewis was convinced, with good reason, that the myths were not simply pagan stories, but images scattered throughout mankind's common history that served to remind them of the truth. He explains this in several places, and one section from Mere Christianity is worth quoting at length:

What did God do [about man's fall]? First of all He left us conscience, the sense of right and wrong: and through all history there have been people trying (some of them very hard) to obey it. None of them ever quite succeeded. Secondly, He sent the human race what I call good dreams: I mean those queer stories scattered all through the heathen religions about a god who dies and comes to life again and, by his death, has somehow given new life to men. Thirdly, He selected one particular people and spent centuries hammering into their heads the sort of God He was - that there was only one of Him and that He cared about right conduct. Those people were the Jews, and the Old Testament gives an account of the hammering process. Mere Christianity, "The Shocking Alternative", para. 9

You see? Lewis considers "pagan visions" to have been part of God's plan to keep all men "on the hook", so to speak - dissatisfied with their sin-damaged lives on earth and hungry for something more. He explores this theme in more depth in two essays in his book God in the Dock, entitled "Myth Became Fact" and "The Grand Miracle". It's hard to argue the effectiveness of this with Lewis, because God used a pagan myth (the Death of Balder) to "hook" him, so that even through his most profane and pagan years he knew that there was good and purity and holiness in the world, and preferred the unfulfilled desire for this to any satiation with worldy goods. God used it to reel him in, too, via Christian friend J.R.R. Tolkien, during the famous "talk" in 1931. Lewis, still a pagan, was discussing with Tolkien the beauty of the Norse myths (a shared love between them), but lamenting that despite their beauty, they were only lies, though "breathed through silver". Tolkien sharply corrected him: "No", he said, "they are not lies." Tolkien proceeded to explain this principle: the pagan visions were but shadows of which the Incarnation was the fulfillment. This didn't immediately convince Lewis, but it was the turning point.

So, if you understand Lewis, you see that there was no conflict at all. He simply saw the myths as beautiful stories that contained germs of the truth, of which the Gospel was the fulfillment. Why then, you might ask, did he not drop them when he learned the Gospel? If you have the fullness, why toy about with the imperfect? That brings us into another aspect of Lewis' thought, which wasn't really his but inherited from the Church Fathers: that in Christ, all things can be brought into their proper place and order. All truth, all beauty, all joy belongs to God, comes from God, and flows back to God. Why turn your back on all that beauty and wonder just because it was incomplete? Now that we have Christ, it is all ours in it's fullness. In the presence of Aslan, we can romp with Bacchus and the Maenads without fear. But don't forget Lucy and Susan's conversation:
"The boy with the wild face is Bacchus and the old one on the donkey is Silenus. Don't you remember Mr. Tumnus telling us about them long ago?"
"Yes, of course. But I say, Lu-"
"What?"
"I wouldn't have felt safe with Bacchus and all his wild girls if we'd met them without Aslan."
"I should think not," said Lucy
Prince Caspian, end of chapter "The Lion Roars"
Does that help?