Tuesday, September 11, 2007
"Rediscovering" Lewis?
A gentleman by the name of Ron Lowe, recently wrote on Common Grounds Online in two parts - Part I and Part II about his recent adventure through C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. He opens this way:
Why do we seem to "rediscover" faith with each new generation, and with each rediscovery does it seem to morph and shift? The writer of Hebrews said:
We are the limited trying to understand the unlimited, the finite subject to the infinite. We will never know all that there is to know about our Lord. But it seems to me that under such circumstances, it is dreadfully short-sighted to discard the lessons of the past. With so much to discover, should we not build on that which exisits rather than start from scratch. I'm not sure we will get very far if we just keep starting over.
A while back, writing about diversity in OpinionJournal, Daniel Henninger said:
With the help of some fellow early-rising, weekly readers of dead theologians, Mere Christianity is rocking my world. I am realizing anew that this memorable work of a mid-20th century English literary scholar has profound implications for the way we evangelize and teach in 21st century America. I’m learning that this masterful defense of the faith also strengthens us for the task of intellectual discipleship, our ongoing need for repentance and faith as we seek to love God with all our hearts and minds.I smiled when I read that - to me the "discovery" of Lewis seems at once almost fundamental to calling onself a Christian in this age. However, I am deeply saddened that such discovery is more "eureka!" than a natural part of growth in the faith. And so I feel with so many of the great thinkers and writers of our faith through the centuries. What kind of fatih do we live in when we walk into a "Christian" bookstore and find the writings of Lewis (with the exception of Narnia), or Pascal, or Augustine difficult to find. When anything written above the 6th grade level is consigned to a corner behind Jesus in a Spider-Man costume statue?
Why do we seem to "rediscover" faith with each new generation, and with each rediscovery does it seem to morph and shift? The writer of Hebrews said:
Heb 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.In the vision that begins Revelations, Christ idenitifies Himself to the apostle John
Rev 1:8 - "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."This does not sound to me like a faith that requires "rediscovery."
We are the limited trying to understand the unlimited, the finite subject to the infinite. We will never know all that there is to know about our Lord. But it seems to me that under such circumstances, it is dreadfully short-sighted to discard the lessons of the past. With so much to discover, should we not build on that which exisits rather than start from scratch. I'm not sure we will get very far if we just keep starting over.
A while back, writing about diversity in OpinionJournal, Daniel Henninger said:
Here, too, Robert Putnam has a possible assimilation model. Hold onto your hat. It's Christian evangelical megachurches. "In many large evangelical congregations," he writes, "the participants constituted the largest thoroughly integrated gatherings we have ever witnessed." This, too, is an inconvenient truth. They do it with low entry barriers to the church and by offering lots of little groups to join inside the larger "shared identity" of the church. A Harvard prof finds good in evangelical megachurches. Send this man a suit of body armor!"Low entry barriers" does indeed build a coporate identity, but does it allow us to understand the depth of our God?
