Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Nothing "Mere" About It
Back in early February, Bonnie at Intellectuelle expressed astonishment that the term "Mere Christianity" was no longer quite what C.S. Lewis coined it as. She rightly tries to reassert Lewis' definition and use of the term.
Because of my affection for all things Lewis, I feel compelled to comment here, even though there is very little in either Bonnie's post or the Christianity Today piece she addresses with which I disagree.
Lewis is, alas, a lost voice in today's evangelicalism, even though for myself, and I suspect Bonnie, and others he was incredibly formative - we are simply outnumbered. Last year, I taught a 15 week Sunday School class, "A Survey of C.S. Lewis." we were trying to capitalize on the Narnia movie to build more attendance for adult Sunday School. The attendance pattern was astonishing.
The Narnia weeks drew huge crowds. The 3 weeks in the science fiction books drew less huge, but nontheless substantial crowds. The time spent in essays both short form and book length, including "Mere Christianity," well, let's just say they stayed away in droves. Clearly, there is little interest in such writing these days. Thus sadly, the kind of intellectual rigor that Bonnie defends in her post just isn't gonna be there in significant numbers.
So, I wonder, what is the correct response? Is it to reassert and defend Lewis, in essence demanding intellectual activity people appear unwilling to give, or is it to go with the flow in terms of redefining the term to gain credibility to at some future date to reassert the ideas in a new guise?
I have no answers for this dilemma, for I fear it is entirely cyclical. We seem never to move forward for we are always redefining and reasserting. I have rarely worked as hard or as passionately as I did when I taught that Lewis class. I loved the material - it had been so formative for me, and remains so important to me, and yet - I seemed to be standing in a field alone. I yelled and promoted, begged all passers-by to join me in the field with this wonderful stuff. And yet, with the exception of the other teacher on my team and those few hearty souls that could have joined us in teaching the class we remained in the field alone. Even when doing the science fiction books, if I pointed out how they tied into the themes of his essays, I could watch people start doodling and turning off.
I fear the age of the ideological has passed. We are, I think in the age of the image. Is this what technology has wrought?
Related Tags: Mere Christianity, CS Lewis, teaching, definitions, ideology, image
Because of my affection for all things Lewis, I feel compelled to comment here, even though there is very little in either Bonnie's post or the Christianity Today piece she addresses with which I disagree.
Lewis is, alas, a lost voice in today's evangelicalism, even though for myself, and I suspect Bonnie, and others he was incredibly formative - we are simply outnumbered. Last year, I taught a 15 week Sunday School class, "A Survey of C.S. Lewis." we were trying to capitalize on the Narnia movie to build more attendance for adult Sunday School. The attendance pattern was astonishing.
The Narnia weeks drew huge crowds. The 3 weeks in the science fiction books drew less huge, but nontheless substantial crowds. The time spent in essays both short form and book length, including "Mere Christianity," well, let's just say they stayed away in droves. Clearly, there is little interest in such writing these days. Thus sadly, the kind of intellectual rigor that Bonnie defends in her post just isn't gonna be there in significant numbers.
So, I wonder, what is the correct response? Is it to reassert and defend Lewis, in essence demanding intellectual activity people appear unwilling to give, or is it to go with the flow in terms of redefining the term to gain credibility to at some future date to reassert the ideas in a new guise?
I have no answers for this dilemma, for I fear it is entirely cyclical. We seem never to move forward for we are always redefining and reasserting. I have rarely worked as hard or as passionately as I did when I taught that Lewis class. I loved the material - it had been so formative for me, and remains so important to me, and yet - I seemed to be standing in a field alone. I yelled and promoted, begged all passers-by to join me in the field with this wonderful stuff. And yet, with the exception of the other teacher on my team and those few hearty souls that could have joined us in teaching the class we remained in the field alone. Even when doing the science fiction books, if I pointed out how they tied into the themes of his essays, I could watch people start doodling and turning off.
I fear the age of the ideological has passed. We are, I think in the age of the image. Is this what technology has wrought?
Related Tags: Mere Christianity, CS Lewis, teaching, definitions, ideology, image
