Review: The Abolition of Man

The Abolition of Man is not a title of C.S. Lewis' I was initially familiar with when I picked it up in a bookstore in Cannon Beach last month. Like so many other things, I had heard of it, but I didn't know much about it. After reading it, I was glad to have read it and found the subject matter relevant even now, but I do not believe that it was as powerful as some of his other works.

By no means am I decrying C.S. Lewis' work here, oh, far from it. Published in 1943, The Abolition of Man seeks to criticize and deconstruct the view that "old fashioned" values such as courage and loyalty are precisely that: "old fashioned." The main thrust of the argument amounts to a defense of what we today call Natural Law, that is, universal moral standards, and also a strong blow against subjectivism. The contents of the book are adapted from a three part lecture series given by Lewis at the King's College. Also found within the book are Lewis' thoughts on certain aspects of modern educational materials, the extent of science's usefulness in ascertaining truth, and other subjects.

I readily admit that this is the first of Lewis' books that I have read which was purely academic in nature. That said, it's a bit harder to wrap my mind around than the familiar direct-and-to-the-point theological instruction than can be found in The Screwtape Letters or Mere Christianity. Of course, perhaps it's not quite accurate to refer to Lewis' writing as "direct-and-to-the-point" insomuch as it is eloquent and witty, yet comprehensible. Here, Lewis does write well, explaining the topic in a manner which demonstrates his good understanding of the subject. His prose communicates his point excellently, and I agree with this overall conclusion, but there's just one problem: It's kind of hard to understand just what that overall conclusion is.

I known I explained it already in the second paragraph, but I had to mull it over for a while and read around to piece it all together. I understand that Lewis is basically saying, concerning traditional moral values, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It just took a while for me personally to digest the whole thing. It doesn't help that Lewis is constantly straying into Natural Law theory and referencing the Chinese Tao, which only serves to muddle his message even more. It's a good book and it teaches a good thing, and reading it sure made me feel smart, and I came away feeling like I'd learned something, and I totally agree with what Lewis is saying, but it's still super complicated.

One thing that did stand out for me, however, was the following quote from the end of chapter one: “We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” Now that is the sort of thing I like to hear from C.S. Lewis; wise, witty, and wonderfully insightful, remaining as relevant now as it was back in 1943, perhaps even more so. In the end, while I can't say that The Abolition of Man is my favorite of C.S. Lewis' works, I can neither say in good conscience that I disliked it. It was a fine read during my vacation and I wouldn't mind rereading it sometime in the future.

RATING: 7.5/10

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The Chronicles of Narnia: Renowned for a Reason

I remember my dear mother introducing me to the works of C.S. Lewis in a small, Christian book store. She took the liberty of purchasing all seven books of The Chronicles of Narnia for me when I was seven, promising that I would be provided with the acclaimed radio dramas produced by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre based on that series. I read through the whole series in a year, with the exception of The Silver Chair. I cannot of course say that I fully appreciated the greatness of this series at such a young age, but even then I was undoubtedly enthralled by them, and returned to them for many years afterward.

The Chronicles of Narnia is a high fantasy adventure series, telling of the adventures of a group of humans from our world, living in the first half of the twentieth century, and their adventures in the fantastical land of Narnia. Narnia is a land of magic, mythical beasts, and talking animals, ruled by the noble lion, Aslan. The first of the seven books written and published in the series was The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe, and the last published was The Last Battle. However, Lewis worked with an eager fan to have the series organized in chronological order, so that they began with The Magician's Nephew and ended with The Last Battle, having Wardrobe coming second. To make matters even more complicated, the books actually written in yet another different order.

The thing about all of Lewis' fiction, insofar as I have read, is that he manages to successfully combine Rule of Fun with Rule of Symbolism. Each of the books in the Narnia saga manages to present an allegory of some sort, and Lewis loved allegory. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was an allegory about Christ's sacrifice. The fifth book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is an allegory about the walk of a Christian's life. The Last Battle, clearly enough, is an allegory about the end times. Even Prince Caspian, the least popular book in the series, though one of my personal favorites, has themes about restoration of true faith after a period of spiritual hibernation.

Other, more overarching themes present in all the books are faith, forgiveness, love, patriotism, friendship, creation, corruption, sacrifice, and redemption. To put it another way, every book has something to say about something important, while at the same time telling a great story. The conversational, Lemony narration present throughout the books draws the reader in, making her hang on to the last period. Of course, Lewis' writing style in this series matures as time goes on, but retains that unique flavor that all great authors have. This is particularly evident if you read the books in publication order, though I myself have only read them in chronological order. Perhaps I will try the former pattern next time I read the series.

My favorite book in the series is most certainly The Horse and His Boy. Although it has been criticized by some fans due to its standalone nature, this installment in the Narnia saga is very near and dear to me. I like it because it is not only a wonderful adventure story, but because of the allegory it contains. That allegory is of a person's journey from being an unbeliever to being a Christian. This is represented not only in the literal journey to Narnia as depicted in the book, but also in the book's three central characters, Shasta, Bree, and Aravis, as they change and develop throughout the story. It also plays host to one of my favorite female characters in all of literature, Aravis, and also one of the most memorable characters in the whole Narnia series, a talking warhorse named Bree. It may be the odd-man out in the series, but it's probably the most memorable.

Due to being very, very good books, The Chronicles of Narnia are also incredibly popular, having been translated into 47 languages, with more than 100 million copies sold. They have all been in print continuously since their original publication in the 1950s, and they don't look like they'll be running out of steam any time soon. In addition, Focus on the Family Radio Theatre made a series of audio dramas based on the books in the early 2000s, and they even aired on BBC Radio in 2005. They are all excellent, if slightly abridged, productions which I absolutely loved. I highly recommend them.

There are also the various Narnia film adaptations. I haven't seen the BBC adaptations, and I therefore will reserve judgement until I do. In the meantime, the more recent film adaptations done by Walden Media, Disney, and 20th Century Fox, are a more complex case. Their adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was quite good, without a doubt the best of those made. I originally was pretty hostile to the adaptation of Prince Caspian due to the film's flagrant deviations from the source material, not mention a few glaring plot holes. However, it was still a fairly good film. The adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, however, is a sad case. To cut a long story short, it deviated from the source material even more than the previous film, and wasn't even a good movie, for a variety reasons which we won't go into here. True, there were some good things about it, but it was mostly bad. There is an adaptation of The Silver Chair currently in the works, and I hope that it will redeem the series. Until then, my experience with the cinematic Narnia has been sadly stunted.

In short, The Chronicles of Narnia are a remarkable series which everyone should read. That's right, everyone. Douglas Gresham, Lewis' stepson, has said that those who believe that these books are for children only are "sadly mistaken." These books speak to people of all ages, and will be found entertaining for different reasons by children and adults alike. They contain great wisdom, great storytelling, and great writing. Narnia is something I have loved since childhood, and hope to continue loving well into my adulthood, where I will share them with the younger generation. Until then, Lewis' most famous work is the primary reason that Lewis is among the most prominent of my influences, and for that, I once again salute him.

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The Big Seven - Introduction & Part 1: Lee Strobel

Introduction

This is the first in a biweekly series on seven of the biggest names in modern Christian thought: Lee Strobel, Matt Slick, S. Michael Houdman, Ray Comfort, William Lane Craig, Ken Ham, and Josh McDowell. These are people who are not only strong voices in the Evangelical Christian movement and Christian apologetics, but who also have had a strong influence on me. Some of them you may have heard of, others may be a little more obscure than others. However, I believe that each of them has contributed greatly to helping spread the gospel  and discerning truths from falsehoods. The collective wisdom of these seven great men has been insurmountable in shaping my core beliefs, and I now humbly embark on this series for the purpose of their commemoration.

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I must confess, of all the people who will be covered in this series, Lee Strobel is the first and foremost among them all (thus far) in my ever-continuing study of God's word. He is also the only one I have ever met face-to-face. I remember him coming to our church a few years ago, and I actually got to meet him and shake his hand. My words turned to nothing as I completely geeked out. I finally managed to string together a coherent enough sentence in order to ask him to sign my copy of The Case for Christ. He happily did so. He seemed like a nice guy.

Before he became a Christian, however, Lee Strobel was, by his own admission, a self-absorbed drunkard who lived only for his own self-gratification. His background as an investigative journalist brought him in front of a lot of different people, some good, some bad. But he didn't think much of God or Christianity, believing that he knew all the answers. That is, until his wife became a Christian. Mr. Strobel was at first bemused at his wife's conversion, but later began to notice how she changed her behavior, and found her change in behavior "winsome." So, when his wife invited him to church for, he went with her, notepad in hand, totally prepared to utterly dissect and roast the sermon.

He was in for a surprise.

The long and short of it is that Mr. Strobel got thinking about the big questions about Christianity. How could the Bible be thought to be true? Wasn't it full of contradictions? Who was Jesus? Did he really claim to be God? Was he out of his mind? Did evolution explain away the need for any kind of religion anyway? These answers were suddenly brought to the forefront of Mr. Strobel's mind, and he used his skills as an investigative journalist to embark on a quest to use  to find the answers. He found his answers, and his personal quest to find those answers, culminating in his conversion to Christianity, are recorded in The Case for Christ, published in 1998. That fine tome was followed up by several other similarly named and structured books, such as The Case for Faith, The Case for a Creator, and The Case for the Real Jesus. He has also published several other books related to apologetics, such as What Jesus Would Say, God's Outrageous Claims, and a foray into crime fiction, The Ambition. I look forward to reading the first and the last of these latter three.

Lee Strobel is the first Christian author whose apologetics books I ever read. I fondly remember my fifth grade Sunday School teacher, Mr. Don Joss, giving me a copy of The Case for Christ for Kids, a little, eighty-six page book which I cherish today as a prized possession. (On a side note, I can't seem to find my autographed copy of The Case for Christ in my house. It's probably tucked away on a shelf somewhere, but I wish I could find it so I could show it off to my friends.) That engrossing little book got me interested in seriously studying my faith, so much so that it eventually lead me to read the adult versions of Mr. Strobel's books. Those, in turn, eventually led me to combine my love of Mr. Strobel's work with my love of the works of C.S. Lewis, leading me to read The Screwtape Letters. The rest is history, but it can all be traced back to Mr. Joss and that little green-and-white, eighty-six page book. To go on a brief tangent, I am as much indebted to Mr. Joss (and to my parents) as I am to Mr. Strobel in regards to becoming serious about my faith.

Of the books that Mr. Strobel has written that I have thus far read, my favorite of them is probably The Case for Faith. I will always have a special place in my heart for The Case for Christ, as it was the first one I read, and it appeals to my personal preference for facts, information, and logical investigation. The Case for Faith, however, resonates with me because it seeks out to answer hard-hitting philosophical questions in an in-depth manner, such as why a loving God could send people to Hell, or why there can't be more than one way to heaven. Granted, the answers presented within aren't quite as good as answers presented in certain other books, but it's still a darn good read, and I like it. In addition, Mr. Strobel's writing style is very engaging, and that aspect of his work makes me all the more eager to read The Ambition. I think it would be fun to see his take on a crime story.

Lee Strobel has had a profound influence on my knowledge of both the Bible and my faith, not to mention my personal philosophy. He was willing to seek out and ask hard hitting questions from the best representatives available, including thrice consulting William Lane Craig, a preeminent figure in modern apologetics who will be discussed later in this series. His example is one that should be followed by seekers everywhere. It's because of Lee Strobel and people like him, such as J. Warner Wallace, that I became such an avid student of the holy scriptures. The only thing I disagree with Mr. Strobel on is related to a point made by William Lane Craig concerning the Big Bang. (More on that in our installment on Ken Ham.) But on the whole, I humbly give his work the praise that it so richly deserves. I also would direct interested readers to check out the trio of documentaries based on his three main works, The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and The Case for a Creator.

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The Space Trilogy: Outstanding in Obscurity

"Everybody and their dog knows about Narnia and has probably read it. They also probably know about the likes of Mere Christianity or The Screwtape Letters. But if you ask them whether they realized that C. S. Lewis wrote science fiction, they'll look at you like you're from another planet."

This quote from TVTropes.org's page on C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy is a fitting description of one of that great author's more obscure works. The Space Trilogy is one of those book series that you would hardly believe existed, and if you did, you might scoff at. As is par for the course in Lewis' writings, it is a Christian allegory, blending the genres of science fiction and fantasy, resulting in a throwback to the genre of Planetary Romance. (I didn't even know that such a genre existed until after I began researching for this article). The result? A pretty fine set of literature.

The Space Trilogy, also known as The Cosmic Trilogy, consists of three books written between 1938 and 1945, detailing the misadventures of Dr. Elwin Ransom. A Cambridge philologist, Ransom begins the series in Out of the Silent Planet while on a walking tour of northern England, when he becomes entangled in a interstellar voyage after being kidnapped by sinister scientists Dick Devine and Professor Weston. The long and short of it is that he winds up on Mars, where he meets the friendly inhabitants and goes on an adventure. The second book, Perelandra, describes Ransom's voyage to Venus (the titular location, but in the constructed language of Old Solar), where he must ward off a demonically possessed Weston from corrupting this planet's version of Eve. The third and final book, That Hideous Strength, in addition to being longer than the previous two books, is also of an entirely different genre. Subtitled "A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups", this third book focuses on Mark Studdock and his wife Jane as they experience both sides of a battle between the literally diabolical N.I.C.E. and Ransom's seemingly passive partisans, respectively. Dick Devine returns in this book in a less prominent but still villainous role, now styled Lord Feverstone. Ransom's role is also less magnified, though he is the de facto leader of the good guys in this book.

Like I said, The Space Trilogy begins as a throwback to old school Planetary Romance and ends as a modernized fantasy story. Though my experience with science fiction with a Christian philosophy has been limited and sordid, C.S. Lewis, through his unique genre-blending and trope-defying ways, manages to pen a genuinely good series of books. The books originated when he was chatting with his good friend (and merciless critic} J.R.R. Tolkien. Noting the sharp decline of science fiction literature in their day, they made a sort of bet: Tolkien would write a time travel story, and Lewis would write a space travel story, which eventually became The Space Trilogy. Tolkien, the cad, never held up on his end of the bargain, apart from some half-finished scrap in The Lost Road and Other Writings or some such place.

To get to the point, what makes The Space Trilogy unique is demonstrated in two parts. First, it is decidedly more adult. For one thing, here's harsher swearing than you'll ever find in The Chronicles of Narnia, and the themes and theological allegories are much more overlapping and direct, though not more eloquently expressed, than Narnia ever was. Second, it is a very intelligent science fiction series, a description which I'm sure hasn't been applied to a story of that genre since Isaac Asimov was around. Just look at half-baked tripe like Across the Universe and you'll see what I mean. Then again, perhaps that's a little unfair, as I haven't read Ender's Game yet. However, I have read a lot of Star Wars books, and I know that nearly all of them were barely passable, and few were particularly memorable, that is, if they even count as sci-fi at all. The Space Trilogy, on the other hand, plays with the genre in Lewis' unique style, discussing standard sci-fi tropes such as Planet of Hats and Single Biome Planet. It's stuff like that that makes me admire this series to no end.

If for no other reason, C.S. Lewis writing a science fiction series is appealing because it gives us that esteemed author's direct insight into various philosophies typically and popularly aligned with science today, such as transcendentalism, humanism, and materialism. To say the least, Lewis had a very dim view of all of these ideologies, and deconstructed them thoroughly in The Space Trilogy, particularly in the first and third books. In Out of the Silent Planet, my personal favorite of the three, Lewis takes the character of Weston, a staunch humanist who wants to wipe out the native Hrossa and their neighbors to make room for humanity, and shows us a fundamentally flawed worldview. Lewis does this partially in the form of a hilarious sequence in which Ransom attempts to translate a speech given by Weston to the ruler of Malacandra (that is, Mars) into Old Solar. The result, due to being lost in translation, is so funny that I invite the reader to go over to Out of the Silent Planet's Wikipedia page and see its entry on Weston's speech.

Perelandra is something of the odd man out in The Space Trilogy. In between the whimsical, leisurely adventure story of Out of the Silent Planet and the hard-hitting, philosophical commentary of That Hideous Strength, we have a story which is largely a theological treatise. This treatise is in turn sandwiched in between the old Planetary Romance stuff and your not-so-standard epic battle between good and evil. In truth, I personally did not enjoy reading Perelandra as much as I did Out of the Silent Planet or even That Hideous Strength, but interestingly enough, it was Lewis' favorite thing to have written. (His least favorite was The Screwtape Letters, but that's another post.) A lot of it is complicated theological musing, and while that's all well in good in some cases, here the allegory was a bit too on the nose. This seems odd, as C.S. Lewis is the master of allegory, but even the best authors slip sometimes. Perelandra may be a bit more complicated than the others, but it is no less beautiful.

If Lewis attacked humanistic materialism in Out of the Silent Planet, he declared war on transcendentalism and its ilk in That Hideous Strength. The primary antagonists of this book, the National Institute for Coordinated Experiments (the N.I.C.E.), is actually a front for demonic activity. Its members outside of the inner circle which Mark Studdock so desperately yearns for, however, are fringe scientists who range from dupes like Dr. Filostrato to Horace Jules, a dimwitted populist who in reality knows little about science. Interestingly, Wikipedia describes him as a pastiche of H.G. Wells, who apparently advocated for the active persecution of all religions in his book The Shape of Things to Come. Lewis' disdain for the elevation of science, pseudo or otherwise, in conjunction with the aforementioned philosophies, above faith is vividly and expertly demonstrated. Above all, however, these books possess wit as well as wisdom, the distinguishing hallmark of all of Lewis' works.
 
I was Facebook chatting with my dear friend Caleb yesterday, and we were discussing a petition on Change.org to get the Lewis estate to get on the road to making a film series about The Space Trilogy.  While I doubt that this petition will get much of anything done (I signed it anyway), it's still a cool idea. If The Space Trilogy were made as film series, we'd need producers and writers who loved the books as much as fans like Caleb and I do, plus a director who would be willing to honor the source material. As the old cliche goes (courtesy of the New  York Film Academy website), you can make a bad movie with a good screenplay, but you can't make a good movie with a bad screenplay. Who would direct? I honestly don't know. I'm not as big of a movie buff as Caleb, and even he doesn't know for sure. He suggested J.J. Abrams, but that's kind of a long shot. I do know, however, who I wouldn't want directing a Space Trilogy movie series. My nightmare director is M. Night Shyamalan. With Tim Burton as producer. I hope I don't give anybody bad dreams. I could, however, settle for a radio drama adaptation by Focus on the Family. They did outstandingly with Narnia and Screwtape. In the meantime, however, The Space Trilogy truly remains outstanding in obscurity.

Who do you readers think would make a good director for The Space Trilogy film series? Does that Change.org petition have a snowball's chance in Hades? If you've read The Space Trilogy, which of the books is your favorite? Leave a comment and let me know!

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C.S. Lewis: Author, Academic, and Lay Theologian

Clive Staples "Jack" Lewis is by far my favorite author. I've been reading his books since I was eight, and I continue to do so. From The Chronicles of Narnia to The Screwtape Letters, I have read many of his books, and look forward to finally reading Mere Christianity when I get to it on my list. C.S. Lewis was not only a great author, but he was also a great man, applying a mixture of intellectualism and imagination to his work and teachings. Though he had no formal training as a clergyman, he was a renowned lay theologian, whose works continue to be studied today. In addition to being wittily and wisely crafted, Lewis' books are also very popular, having sold millions of copies and being translated into dozens of languages all over the world. This seminal author was even featured on the cover of Time Magazine in 1947. Lewis' work has been a profound influence on my own writing and worldview, and I daresay that any serious Christian should look into his work.

C.S. Lewis was born and raised in Belfast in Northern Ireland, with his brother Warren. His mother died when he was very young, resulting in him identifying as an atheist for much of his life. Lewis later recalled that as a youth, he was trapped in the absurd attitude of "being very angry with God for not existing." His experiences with a particularly nasty boarding school resulted in him becoming a sharp critic of modern education. Lewis served in the British army during the First World War, seeing combat and enduring trench warfare in the Somme Valley. He was 19 at this time. After the war, he finished his studies at Oxford and eventually became a Fellow and tutor at Magdalen College. At the age of 32, Lewis' faith was reignited after he met and became friends with J.R.R. Tolkien, a devout Roman Catholic. Lewis rejoined the Anglican Church, and though he considered himself an Orthodox Anglican, he tried to avoid promoting one specific denomination in his apologetic writings.

Lewis went on to write dozens of books, including The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, The Space Trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Mere Christianity, to name a few. Lewis took children into his country home during the air raids of the Second World War, which partly inspired The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first published book of the The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis later married Joy Gresham in 1957, despite being some 17 years older than his bride. The otherwise happy marriage was cut short by Joy's tragic death from cancer in 1960 at the age of 45. Lewis himself passed away just five years later in 1965, coincidentally on the same day as John F. Kennedy and Aldous Huxley. He is survived by two stepsons from Joy's previous marriage, Douglas and David Gresham, the former of whom is involved in the affairs of the Lewis estate and has acted as a host in the radio dramas of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters produced by Focus on the Family. Three of the Narnia books have been made into live action motion pictures, and a fourth based on The Silver Chair is in pre-production.

Lewis' writing is just one more piece of evidence pointing to the monopoly that the English seem to have on great literature. He's up there with J.R.R. Tolkien, G.K. Chesterton, George Orwell, and all the rest of the great 20th century English authors. What makes Lewis' work unique, however, is that he writes with a mixture of wisdom and wit, getting across deep, complex points while at the same time making the reader laugh. Insomuch as I have read of his work, this is nowhere else so greatly demonstrated as in The Screwtape Letters, where Lewis portrays Hell as a literal infernal bureaucracy. By making fun of Satan and his demons, Lewis sought to construct an alternative stereotype of the devil, namely that of a humorlessly humorless bureaucrat. Lewis' other works of fiction tend to be heavily steeped in allegory, from the fantastical Narnia books to the more adult Space Trilogy. Lewis, being a professor of medieval literature, was also partial to playing around with the standard literary conventions of various genres of fiction. For example, with Prince Caspian, the second published book in The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis wanted to know what it would be like to be on the receiving end of a magical summons. More overtly in Out of the Silent Planet, the first book in The Space Trilogy, Lewis toyed with and deconstructed the various tropes and cliches of science fiction, such as Planet of Hats and Single Biome Planet.

In sum, the works of C.S. Lewis are a veritable bank of great literature, having wrote books that will appeal to people of all ages. The Chronicles of Narnia aren't just for children; they can also be enjoyed by adults. The Space Trilogy, however, is definitely more grown-up than Narnia, but no less enjoyable for older audiences. The Screwtape Letters is an excellent treatise on human nature, and is particular useful to Christian readers. I'm told that Mere Christianity is great for seekers or people searching for answers about Christianity. To cut a long story short, Lewis' many works are accessible by many large and diverse audiences. I encourage all of you readers out there to not only check out the books of C.S. Lewis, but also to seek out and listen to the radio dramas of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters which Focus on the Family has produced over the last several years. Those specific works, however, are their own blog posts. At any rate, I hope one day to have read most, if not all, of the works of C.S. Lewis. I also hope sincerely to spend many long hours chatting with this great man someday on the other side.

"All that is not eternal is eternally out of date." - C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

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