Sydney Mauch
Miss Brigham
Core C Comp/Lit
29 February 2016
C.S. Lewis’s Beliefs C.S. Lewis is known as one of the most influential Christian writers ever. What many do not know is he was once an atheist at one point in his life. Atheism is a belief that there is no God or gods; Christianity is the exact opposite. Christianity is the belief in the one, true God, and remembering his son, Jesus, came to die on the cross for our sins. Lewis describes a Christian as one striving to be more like Christ and allowing Him to completely take over our lives for the better. Lewis had several atheistic views until converting to Christianity. He being an atheist gave him more knowledge when supporting his current beliefs of Christianity. On September 19,
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In The Chronicles of Narnia, one of Lewis’s more popular series, it talks about regular children finding another world inside a wardrobe, and they meet the creator of the world, Aslan. Some may say the series has nothing to do with Christianity. Again with The Screwtape Letters, It could have no meaning behind it; instead it’s just a fun story. Some people may believe he has only atheistic views only and his Christian beliefs were not existent when writing. McGrath states, “Yet the tone of his writings of the early 1920’s is unquestionably atheistic… Severely critical if not totally dismissive of religion in general and Christianity in particular” (McGrath 131). This proves that he was in fact atheist at one point in his life and his Christian beliefs may not have affected his writing at all. He even has atheistic remarks in his book Mere Christianity; he says, “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust” (Lewis 38). His beliefs actually had a huge impact on his writing. McGrath says, “Yet whether one thinks Christianity is good or bad, it is clearly important- and Lewis is perhaps the most credible and influential popular representative of ‘Mere Christianity’ that he himself championed” (McGrath xi). Mere Christianity demonstrates how a Christian should live his life and C.S. Lewis definitely lived his life like a Christian. By making atheistic comments, he is then able to …show more content…
He is open about his faith in his fictional writing. A Christian will be very familiar with the worldview of The Chronicles of Narnia. His main character in the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan, represents Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit. In The Magician’s Nephew, Aslan has always existed and he creates Narnia from nothing with his voice. In Genesis 1:3, God says, “Let there be light” and there was light. We see God and Aslan both as creators. Aslan also represents God by being loving and forgiving. He forgives Digory for ringing the bell, and bringing darkness into the world. He also gave him a blessing for bringing back the apple without being tempted to take it. In The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe, Aslan sacrifices himself to save Edmund just like Jesus had sacrificed himself for us. Aslan is omniscient and omnipresent which makes him mysterious like God. In The Horse and His Boy, he comforted Shasta in the form of a cat because he knew he was scared. In 2 Samuel 14:20 it says, “My Lord has wisdom like that of an angel of God- he knows everything that happens in the land.” God has a plan for each and everyone one of us. Just like Aslan had a plan since the beginning of Shasta’s life. In The Magicians Nephew, The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe, and The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis creates a world called Narnia that can be compared closely to the Bible. In this world we can see
Lewis actually used all the truth and spiritual advice given to him by Tolkien, flipped on it its head, twisted it, and contorted it into the opposite advice. He did that, then wrote The Screwtape Letters with that reversed advice. (Andrea Monda, The Conversion Story of C. S. Lewis) C.S. Lewis wrote from his lived experience. This means, of course, that almost blow-for-blow, The Screwtape Letters is the exact guide to help Christians to know what their demonic enemies are playing at.
Written by C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters take place in England during World War 2. The book is an epistolary novel, told in the form of thirty-one letters, written by Screwtape, a superior demon, and addressed to his nephew, a lower demon called Wormwood. In the book Screwtape responds to Wormwood’s letter as to how to get a human, called a patient throughout the novel, to shy away from Christianity and Jesus Christ, known as the Enemy”. At the beginning of the book C.S. Lewis does two things: he dedicates the book to his friend and author of the Lord of The Rings Trilogy, J. R. R. Tolkien, and quotes Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, and Thomas More, a Catholic saint.
Rosner uses a piece of dialog from Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawntreader to make his claim. This dialog is between the characters Edmund and Eustace. “ ‘But who is Aslan?
Biography: C.S. Lewis C.S. Lewis was born on November 29, 1898 in Belfast, Ireland, to the parents of Flora August Hamilton Lewis and Albert J. Lewis. His mother died when he was 10 years of age. Later he died on November 22,1963, in Headington, Oxford. C.S. only has one brother, Warren Lewis, whom he was very close to. As a child he was “enraptured by fantastic animals and tales of gallantry, hence the brothers created the imagery land of Boxen, complete with an intricate history that served them for years” (Biography.com).
C. S. Lewis answers these questions and more as he uses structure and devices to explain this complex idea and allows his reader to incorporate this belief into their relationship with the Christian God. To aid the reader with completely grasping this controversial topic, Lewis utilizes multiple metaphors to demonstrate the advantages of both viewpoints. For example, when observing a savage, one records his participation in a fertility ritual. However, in the mind of the savage, this
In his First Apology, Justin Martyr relies on truth and reason to defend Christians, who are being treated unfairly. He believes that their beliefs are misunderstood and overlooked. According to Justin Martyr, Christianity is the most reasonable and he wants to convince the Emperor so that he ends the unjust treatment towards them. Justin Martyr begins by saying Christianity is the most reasonable; “It is the voice of reason, and ever attended to by men truly pious and worthy the name of philosopher, that truth alone is the thing to be had in the highest honour, and to hold the first place in our affections and the ancients to be followed nor one step further than they are followers of truth”(78).
Lewis is considered a Christian Idealist because he believes we, as humans, are naturally endowed with goodness. Lewis places an emphasis on the intention behind actions and believes that even the most evil actions are done with a misguided intention of doing good. To support this argument, he points to human rationalization and the need to explain evil actions as a sign of good
Sometime people tend to go with the wrong flow and end up away from God. Lastly and most importantly, people tend to now be exceedingly worldly. People are more open to wrong, sinful behaviors and accepting them in their lives. Which is especially the opposite of what God wants. In the end, Lewis’s style of writing does better equip one to better recognize Satan’s subtle deceptions through peer pressure, by joining the wrong crowds, going with the wrong flow, and becoming too influenced by the world and letting its sinful actions become
Lewis manipulates The White Witch’s appearance with her beauty and the word “White” since she has a dark side and the most powerful evil in the novels. Aslan appears as the one who has power, intelligence, and wisdom. To use Helene Cixous’ term, he has civilized manner. He has the power for he is the creator of Narnia and Highest King of Narnia. He is also known as The
In the time of Clive Staples life, he won many different awards, including the Carnegie medal, which is one of the most outstanding awards given to authors. Clive Staples is very well known for his strong faith in God, which later led him to write the chronicles of Narnia series. The time period of Lewis had a great impact on the way he wrote the things he did. Lewis’s college experiences had the most impact on the things he did and the books he wrote. Another experience that impacted his writing was the army.
Klarra Lee English 9H Paul Hughes November 19, 2017 World War Two, the Bible, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, written by C. S. Lewis, is about the adventures of four children in a world called Narnia, which is a place inside a wardrobe. In Narnia, the children meet a lion, named Aslan, and fight the White Witch, who calls herself the Queen of Narnia. The context of World War Two and the representation of the biblical imagery in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, is closely connected to each other. The background of the book and the time period in which the book was written, are both during the time period of World War Two.
In the novel C.S. Lewis portrayed Aslan’s entry as: andThe Lion opened his mouth, but no sound came from it: he was breathing out, long, warm breath; it seemed to sway all the beasts as the wind sways a line of trees. (76) The similarity between God’s creation in the Garden of Eden and Aslan’s entry in the world of Narnia plays an important role. Gods breath gave life to man.
While not everyone is Christian and can connect to Aslan as a Christ figure, the feelings of the sublime as transcendental wonder and terror are essentially universal feelings. I also find it
had studied the other team’s playbook first hand and now knew all the secrets. He used this to his advantage when writing his books to create logically sound arguments. One of the most obvious arguments for Christianity that Lewis presents in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a logical argument for the reality of Jesus Christ. This argument is an explanation by The Professor in the story of whether or not Lucy was “mad” after hearing concerns from Susan and Peter about Lucy’s story about a magical land beyond the wardrobe: “‘Logic!’ said the Professor half to himself.
He tells them that they will get back to Narnia someday. The stages of the Plot: Introduction: Lucy discovers Narnia and meets Mr. Tumnus Initial incident: The four children go to Narnia and discover that Mr. Tumnus has been caught. Rising action: Aslan returns and breaks the Witch’s spell.