Who knew C. S. Lewis

Many Catholics like to call themselves Evangelicals also, even Pope Benedict XVI pushed the idea of Evangelicalism.

According to Wikipedia:
In Roman Catholicism, the term evangelical Catholic refers to Catholics in complete communion with the Catholic Church who exhibit, according to Alister McGrath, the four characteristics of evangelicalism. The first is a strong theological and devotional emphasis on the Christian Scriptures. Secondly, evangelical Catholics stress the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the cause of salvation for all mankind. A personal need for interior conversion is the third defining mark, and, consequently, the fourth is a deep commitment to evangelization.
That is not very different than what I would say evangelical is, though I would have some disagreements on certian teachings of the Church.
 
I have always kept it civil, but when you get people gang up on you wot do you expect. :)
You may think you've "kept it civil", but when your fellow forum members have to remind you to behave, then your judgement is probably off. There was no "ganging up" that any of the rest of us noticed, but if it occurs, we curb that as well. Please refrain from any attacks on other members person or character.
 
Many Catholics like to call themselves Evangelicals also, even Pope Benedict XVI pushed the idea of Evangelicalism.
Pope John Paul the Great was the first recent Pope to call for a New Evangelization, meaning by that a renewed dedication to Christ and the mission He entrusted to the Church on earth. Popes Benedict and Francis are following in his footsteps. For a terrific examination of where the Church is headed, pick up George Weigel's Evangelical Catholicism.
 
I would like to know more about the Elizabeth Anscombe-Lewi debate. Now was it a debate or just a paper that was critical of some points Lewis made in his Miracles book. Elizabeth Anscombe is a Christian I understand and I think that she was saying that Lewis' thesis in the book was not strong enough. Was lewis so humiliated that he stoped writting Christian apologetics?
 
That was one writer's interpretation, but there's little evidence to bear that out. I'm pulling from memory here, so I may not get every fact just right, but the incident followed the publication of Lewis' Miracles, which was one of his deepest works. G.E.M. Anscombe was a devout Christian and serious philosopher, which was something Lewis wasn't - something that will surprise most people. Lewis was widely read, a keen mind, and a formidable debater, but his field was Medieval and Renaissance Literature. He was formally trained in some philosophy but never in theology (though his informal study was broad.) Anscombe took issue with some of the ways Lewis had handled things in Miracles, and offered to debate him (a challenge Lewis never passed up). By all accounts, even Lewis', she bested him seriously, to the point that he rewrote the chapter of the book with which she'd had issue.

The theory that this somehow "defeated" Lewis, causing him to retire from publishing essays and thinking books and begin publishing children's stories is a speculation by some biographers that ignores the facts. Lewis had always published fiction, and yearned to do more as his life came to a close. He also had said much of what he'd wanted to as a popular apologist. So that's just baseless speculation without basis in fact.
 
Not being from England, I really not sure of my facts or if I understand these things, but as I understand it Churchill offered Lewis a knighthood and Lewis turned it down. He didn't want to be seen as accepting favors from a Conservative PM. Did he think a Socialist PM would offer him one. :confused: Maybe when that Lewis movie comes out this year we will be talking more about the Lewis-Churchill relationship. Churchill is still popular here in America, inspite of the feelings of our President. It was nice to know that an American was PM of England during WWII.
 
Ok sorry I will keep it civil from now on, Lewis at the end of the day was a humble man who loved to write stories and and bring joy to those who read them. He mite have rejoinded the christian faith due to the likes of Tolkien and McDonlands works but his Narnia is full of Pagan Gods, to me he was still questioning his belifes.
 
Ok sorry I will keep it civil from now on, Lewis at the end of the day was a humble man who loved to write stories and and bring joy to those who read them. He mite have rejoinded the christian faith due to the likes of Tolkien and McDonlands works but his Narnia is full of Pagan Gods, to me he was still questioning his belifes.
Have you read The Space Trilogy? Particularly "That Hideous Strength" explains a bit how Lewis reconciled using the "pagan" animals and archetypes and still writing works that glorified Christ alone. He opines that the "gods" associated with the stars, for instance Venus and Mars, were never Gods but were people, created beings, angels or something like, which were visitors to young earth in days of yore. And that everything is always becoming more like itself, which means back in the day, things were less like themselves than they are now. Which means: good is getting better, and bad is getting worse. So there was a time when magic such as was practiced by Merlin (and other folk magicians one assumes) wasn't "bad" in an evil sense of the word; some of it may have been "naughty" but not evil -- suggesting even "pagan" beings like satyrs and centaurs might have had a time when they were morally neutral or -- reimagined in Narnia -- intended to glorify God.

Never does anything he writes suggest he was a proponent of paganism, but rather that Christianity has the power to make pagan things holy.
 
No I have not read those books but I know where you are comming from. In days of yore many pagan religions had Gods and Devils it goes back to the dawn of time or when man could question why he is here. Lewis in his books combined the two why?. If Lewis Narnia was created by Aslan who is seen as a christian figure why are there so many pagan gods in it? tree gods, river gods,dwarfs,sprites,tash ect.
 
No I have not read those books but I know where you are comming from. In days of yore many pagan religions had Gods and Devils it goes back to the dawn of time or when man could question why he is here. Lewis in his books combined the two why?. If Lewis Narnia was created by Aslan who is seen as a christian figure why are there so many pagan gods in it? tree gods, river gods,dwarfs,sprites,tash ect.

He included them because he liked them, because they were delightful to him, because he knew they would capture the imagination of young people. Just because you are a Christian doesn't mean that you have no imagination or that you have to give up your imagination. If you read my previous post, you will see that Lewis devised a way to make the pagan archetypes holy and put them in service of god. Stephen Lawhead does this somewhat, in his own way, in his Merlin novels as well.

The same way JK Rowling used magic, wizards and witches to present a fairy tale metaphor of Christ's life, death and resurrection, Lewis used pagan imagery. This is the beauty of our God -- the Bible says He is "all in all." That means everything can be redeemed and used to glorify Him, including pagan symbols.

It doesn't mean if you so much as write a story about magic or minotaurs you are evil. It means if Christ is in you working His way out, the story that comes from your imagination will be good -- including the magic and minotaurs. See?
 
He included them because he liked them, because they were delightful to him, because he knew they would capture the imagination of young people. Just because you are a Christian doesn't mean that you have no imagination or that you have to give up your imagination. If you read my previous post, you will see that Lewis devised a way to make the pagan archetypes holy and put them in service of god. Stephen Lawhead does this somewhat, in his own way, in his Merlin novels as well.

The same way JK Rowling used magic, wizards and witches to present a fairy tale metaphor of Christ's life, death and resurrection, Lewis used pagan imagery. This is the beauty of our God -- the Bible says He is "all in all." That means everything can be redeemed and used to glorify Him, including pagan symbols.

It doesn't mean if you so much as write a story about magic or minotaurs you are evil. It means if Christ is in you working His way out, the story that comes from your imagination will be good -- including the magic and minotaurs. See?

Well if he liked them why did he put Lilith in his book LWW?
 
Well if he liked them why did he put Lilith in his book LWW?
There's one reference to Lilith which turns out to be a folk tale more than anything else -- Lilith herself never appears in the CON at all -- there's one mistaken reference to her. I would say that doesn't constitute his "liking" her. And keep in mind, such as she does appear in the story, she is cast in a bad light, just as she is cast in a bad light in other mythology. If your point is that CS Lewis wrote about characters and symbols from non-Christian mythology so he must have doubted Christianity you have absolutely no evidence to back this up. The stories of the CON are, by Lewis' own admission, tales of "What if the Son of God came to another world as a Lion the same way He came as a Man to our world?" Where does this allow for any doubt as to his frame of mind? He never indicates by any character or passage in the entire CON that he doubts Christianity. You are bringing that to the table all on your own with no evidence at all.
 
Okay, this is getting way off topic, too. JtW, please keep discussions focused on the intent of the relevant threads. If you really want to discuss something like Lilith, start a thread for that purpose - don't go dragging that topic into all sorts of other discussions.

But if you do choose to start such a thread, keep in mind that this is a family friendly forum, and we can't have discussions veering toward topics that shouldn't be discussed in the presence of middle schoolers.
 
Okay, this is getting way off topic, too. JtW, please keep discussions focused on the intent of the relevant threads. If you really want to discuss something like Lilith, start a thread for that purpose - don't go dragging that topic into all sorts of other discussions.

But if you do choose to start such a thread, keep in mind that this is a family friendly forum, and we can't have discussions veering toward topics that shouldn't be discussed in the presence of middle schoolers.

PotW may I remind you I did not bring up the subject you did.
 
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