Is there an expiry date on CS Lewis 60 years after his death? With Rev. Prof. Alister McGrath

Ruth Jackson hosts this special edition of Premier Unbelievable? with Oxford scholar and C. S Lewis expert Dr. Alister McGrath.
CS Lewis - Jack to his friends - was a 20th Century British writer and lay theologian who is arguably one of the most influential voices in modern Christianity. On November 22nd 1963, Clive Staples Lewis died in Oxford, England. McGrath’s definitive biography C.S.Lewis A Life - Eccentric Genius Reluctant Prophet published in 2013 gives readers a glimpse of McGrath’s extensive research and a thorough chronological examination of Lewis’ correspondence and archival materials to present a new picture of Lewis’s life. The book paints a portrait of an eccentric thinker who became a compelling, if reluctant, prophet for our times. Writing in the London Telegraph, Philip Womach described author Dr. McGrath as a clear-eyed, and learned companion in exploring Lewis the man, and described his analysis of the Narnia books as 'illuminating'.
Listen to more of Alister McGrath and Ruth Jackson on their weekly in The C.S. Lewis Podcast. 60 years after his death, Ruth Jackson puts a variety of listener’s questions to Dr. McGrath including is there an expiry date on C.S. Lewis’ relevance sixty years after his death?
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[@ComedianBobFarrell]

Screwtape Letters is still an influence. I read many of his works in my teens and twenties..

[@nickcooper1260]

I have just bought and read Dr Alister McGrath's book, 'The Big Question', and it realy bridges the gap between science and religion, I also intend to get his work. 'Understanding the Trinity', something I find fascinating. Thankyou for this great interview.

[@capturedbyannamarie]

No one should be cancelled period. Cs Lewis will always be relevant

[@zhengfuukusheng9238]

He won't be "cancelled". He'll just become irrelevant, if he isn't already

[@socb5642]

​@@zhengfuukusheng9238He isnt irrelevant to He isnt irrelevant to many people. Might not be to you but he still is to many of us.

[@zhengfuukusheng9238]

@@socb5642 Considering Christainity has been to all intents and purposes, debunked, not for long

[@socb5642]

@@zhengfuukusheng9238 well that's not a fact

[@zhengfuukusheng9238]

@@socb5642 The central claims of the OT have been extensively debunked by archaeologists and historians. Since that is the foundation of Abrahamic faiths, they can all be deemed false

[@mikebrisebois]

Try and cancel him. I’ll never stop reading his work. Absolutely amazing writer and thinker. Shallow cowardly assholes don’t want him to speak truth

[@sarahshipley6535]

The Last Battle is what made me first question Christianity and ultimately become an atheist. I still adore all of his books.

[@samanthathompson9812]

Lewis is underrated as a philosopher. He studied philosophy as well as English and had a mind like a trap.

[@zhengfuukusheng9238]

A flytrap. Full of rotting insects

[@samanthathompson9812]

@@duckwithsunglasses9802 I know what you mean. For the church fathers (like Augustine) Christianity was the true philosophy, or rather Christianity provided the answers that the philosophers were looking for. The separation between religion and philosophy didn't exist. What I mean by philosophy in this case is a more modern conception of philosophy as the activity of making conceptual distinctions and clarifications to help us understand reality and our place in it. Of course the Christian worldview is going to influence this venture but Lewis was capable of writing philosophy in such a way that it was transportable to secular contexts. I think Owen Barfield was a big influence on him this way. P.s. his philosophical work is less well known than his popular apologetic work.

[@sysprogmanadhoc2785]

An underrated rabid religionist

[@billbryant1288]

That’s quite a statement. Care to explain?

[@winstonwhiteside9525]

Samanthathompson: He was demolished in a debate with the philisopher Elizabeth Anscombe!

[@CanadianAnglican]

As an Anglican I find Lewis absolutely fascinating.

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

What kind of Anglican? Are you confused about the nature of homosexuality? Your leadership is, entirely.

[@CanadianAnglican]

@@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559 you seem to be rambling. Good bye sir

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

@@CanadianAnglican ❤I'll leave the gospel here: So, how many lies have you told in your life? How many hours of p*** have you watched? Have you ever taken anything that didn't belong to you? How many times have you used God's holy name as a cuss word? How many times have you held a grudge in your heart?

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

@@CanadianAnglican How do you get to hell? Very simple: claim that you're innocent. How do you get to heaven? Very simple: Admit that you're not Innocent, you're guilty and ask for mercy. hell. Ask him for mercy. His name is Jesus. It's as simple as this, The Ten Commandments are called the moral law. You and I broke God's laws. Jesus paid the fine. The fine is death. Ezekiel 18:20 - "The soul who sins shall die." That's why Jesus had to die on the cross for our sins. This is why God is able to give us Mercy. Option A. You die for your own sins. Option B. Ask for mercy and accept that Jesus died on the cross for you. ❤ **Honest questions are welcome.**

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

❤️

[@iain5615]

CS Lewis will never be cancelled no matter how much the intolerant left and other people of hate would desire. His words are based predominantly on objective truth and so are timeless.

[@zhengfuukusheng9238]

Cancellled, no. Forgotten, yes

[@sarahshipley6535]

He for sure wouldn’t like you being so shallow to say things like “the intolerant left”. Have you not read The Last Battle? It’s funny because that book is what made me an atheist. And I still love all of his books.

[@ruimarquespinto7242]

Fantastic. Marry Christmas

[@beekind6014]

yes, there will be a queue to speak to Mr. Lewis in heaven including me (hopefully of course); C.S. Lewis' writing is enduring because he speaks of timeless truths and in my opinion was a first-rate philosopher/thinker.

[@katiemiaana]

We follow a 2000 year old book Lewis is a kid in comparison, still find it relevant.

[@cjb34]

Answer: NO

[@KingdomUploader]

Everyone quotes Mr. Lewis. He seems to me that everyone basically idolizes the man - as if he were the most recent Church father or something. Everyone seems to believe everything Lewis says is the God's honest truth. Not so certain that's a good thing. Believers who follow Jesus need to be careful in putting any MAN too high up on a pedestal. We are not to lean too heavily on the "arm of flesh" - flesh including Lewis as well as all the many other "Christian gurus", yeah?

[@craigsmith1443]

Yes, exaltation of a human is always dangerous or even wrong, but with Lewis, he was such a fine and devoted mind (most people have not read his academic works such as _The Discarded Image_ or _English Literature in the Sixteenth Century: Excluding Drama_ show that he was a first-rate thinker, and say, _Mere Christianity_ ) that he could write for the nonacademic where his readers could identify with his thinking. He speaks in truths, thought through and applied to everyday life. He is wonderful. To recognize that is not 'exaltation but simply recognizing the ruth.

[@paulbrusuelas6706]

I don't think you're wrong, but I don't think that's Lewis's fault. I think we treat him as we should any devoted supporter of the Kingdom - we take and share what is good, what is right, and say thankyou for your contributions, but leave on the table what doesn't match up with the written Word. Lewis is one of the best defenders of the faith, and brought much practical spiritual advice that can be helpful when personally applying Christ's teachings, so I say thank you for his contributions and press on.

[@Clodaghbob]

What evidence do you have that _anyone_ “idolizes” CS Lewis or regards him as some kind of “Christian Guru”? Many people respect him as an author of great intellect and appreciate his wonderful writing skills. Appreciation and respect are not idolatry. The reason for much of his appeal is that his arguments - unlike those of many other Christians - are logical, well-worked out, well-explained and make sense to many an atheist. Atheists are by their nature skeptical. They tend to cast a critical eye over everything. They take a lot of convincing and they are highly unlikely to “lean too heavily on the arm of flesh” …lest it collapse beneath them! Just sayin’.

[@christopherflux6254]

I really like CS Lewis and agree with many things he says. But I know he’s not perfect and does get things wrong. Obviously he shouldn’t be idolised.

[@Clodaghbob]

@@christopherflux6254 He was a man of his time so, of course, we can see with hindsight that he got some things wrong (many of his ideas on women were rather quaint) but he also admitted himself that he lost debates to some of his friends. And he made it quite clear, for example in The Great Divorce, that his ideas should be taken simply as that, ideas - and not as revealed facts. He never did what some Christians do, i.e. declaring that they had _discerned_ some special message from on high. It strikes me that people who complain loudly that others idolise CS Lewis (I don’t mean yourself) are merely envious of his success at getting the Christian message across and frustrated by their own failure to convince anyone.

[@marilynmelzian7370]

The problem is our culture, not his. Even in the last battle I cannot think of anything that is racist.

[@MiseryRex]

My problem is that McGrath truly comes across as a Monty Python caricature of a religious professor. It makes it almost impossible for me to take anything he is saying remotely seriously.

[@matthewashman1406]

?

[@franklongo4970]

If atheism is a mere negative belief, an unwillingness to acknowledge the existence of God, and a view that can never be demonstrated via sense realism, then, Lewis will always be relevant.

[@lesliecunliffe4450]

The very idea of 'relevance' is fishy. How would anybody know what is 'relevant'? This would presuppose a god-like view, which in modernity has often been provided by Hegel's notion of history as having a direction and the related view that art, for example, must be of its own time. But all art is of its own time, so how would we know when something is truly of its own time? This is often determined by the historicist idea of relevance. The same criticism applies to being on the right side of history, which presupposes that a person has a blueprint for discerning social and cultural development. Is Aristotle still relevant? What about St. Paul?

[@iainrae6159]

C.S.Lewis stated that if the resurrection was not true then belief in Christianity would crumble. Athiesm is simply being sceptical of supernatural 'truth' claims made by religious priests. You cannot disprove Gods , fairies, or unicorns exist. It just seems highly unlikely for many, who would like some convincing evidence to be provided.

[@davidstricklin3267]

Interesting that people who equate belief in God with “fairies, Santa, etc” seemingly fail to recognize they have their own belief system when it comes to fine tuning, origin of like, consciousness and so on. I recently saw reference to a scientific article on OOL occurring in black holes and escaping as Hawking radiation. There’s always a desire to push their answers to the GAPS in our current understanding to places beyond our ability to study in order to explain what is currently unexplainable. CS Lewis having been an atheist for quite some period of time understood and concluded that a transcendent God was a more logical explanation than the unsearchable infinities “science” eventually rolls around to when logic fails.

[@Greenie-43x]

Have you watched any J Warner Wallace videos?

[@iainrae6159]

@@Greenie-43x Thankyou, no I haven't watched his videos. For some folks if they are determined to believe in religious supernatural claims, then nothing will change their mind.

[@Greenie-43x]

@iainrae6159 very true. What I like about Wallace is his secular background and his evidence based belief system. Not only was he atheist, but he thought of Christians as fools for the most part. Unlike Peter Atkins the famous chemist, once said that he could meet the Almighty Creator Himself and Peter would still disbelieve God. He gave himself away as someone without an evidence based belief system. If the evidence displays something he doesn't believe, he simply loses all trust in his own instrument, his brain. It's easy to assign motivation but that doesn't take us to the facts of the arguments. 🎄 Merry Christmas

[@sysprogmanadhoc2785]

Stating that if the resurrection was not true then belief in Christianity would crumble, is like stating that if the sun doesn't appear in the sky tomorrow, then the flying spaghetti monster isn't real A complete non sequitur

[@FanOMisery]

How odd. He totally mischaracterises Lewis detractors. He states that they think Lewis is stuck in the past and that he's a white, heterosexual male. Nothing could be further from the truth, and if that is your starting point then you are arguing with the wrong person. Lewis Fiction is second to none. His theology is very basic.

[@sarahshipley6535]

❤❤❤❤

[@Kevin-ts7hf]

Losers trying to cancel people need to get over themselves 😉

[@craigsmith1443]

If biblical history is a guide for us today (hint: it is), then we are the ones to show them that they can and that it's a good thing to do. Showing them how to follow Jesus would be a great start.

[@Kevin-ts7hf]

@@craigsmith1443 you’re right Craig. Thanks for pointing me back in the right direction.

[@Luke_Radiosmash]

The answer: no. Does that even need to be defended? We can't "cancel" history or veins of thought that form culture and humanity. We can disagree. We can learn. But even God doesn't take a magical eraser and blot people out. He doesn't even shout from the sky that we should ignore certain people. He's not the tyrant that our current tyranny of imbeciles in the West is. I get the title is partly being clever but the vernacular just shows what stupid, ignorant times we live in.

[@MrWholphin]

What is this? Churchy doublespeak is getting so tiresome to decode

[@JonathanRedden-wh6un]

Atheists do not say that some of their authors are only of their time, for example: Marx, Neitche, Sartre, etc.

[@zhengfuukusheng9238]

Ahh yes...CS Lewis. The numpty who couldn't even figure out there could be other options over and above his trilemma....like "Literary figure"

[@deborahfaiththompson3639]

Pretty sure he dealt with that by confronting the fact that no serious scholar refutes the historicity of Jesus and from there he looked to the subject of the resurrection. He was well aware that some “numpties” believe Jesus to be a work of fiction.

[@zhengfuukusheng9238]

And now...we have an example of the "No true Scotsman......" fallacy

[@deborahfaiththompson3639]

@@zhengfuukusheng9238 I said by confronting it, not by taking it for granted. He wrestled with it himself. Are you not familiar with his conversion story?

[@zhengfuukusheng9238]

@@deborahfaiththompson3639 We can only judge the dude on his output. I'm more interested in his logic. Ultimately he published a trilemma, not a quadrilemma. Appeal to authority is a well known fallacy. Going for the "no serious scholar....." approach merely exposes his limited thinking. And a complete lack of evidence that he ever compared a Christian's thought process with anyone of another religion to uncover potential logical deficiencies that might influence his own conclusions I might have been impressed reading his books as a 10 yr old; not as an adult

[@Baker68]

Yawn

[@pyrsartur3675]

Fu for even asking the question. Whether you are EVIL or not, I am unsubscribing!!!!!!!

[@nancyreyes5677]

No understanding of women, and an anti Catholic bias.

[@andrewdales5962]

But plenty of women and male catholics still read him.

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

C.S. Lewis was many wonderful things but he was not a Christian. He tripped at the finish line. What do I mean?❤ I was shocked to learn one day that CS Lewis objectively rejected the concept of substitutionary atonement. I can lead you to his specific quotes. Where he acted as though the New Testament is not abundantly clear on the topic how our sins were actually transferred to the savior. Not only is this clear in the New Testament it is the very subject of the New Testament. This is a non-negotiable. He did not believe.

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

Reference: "The Perfect Penitent by C.S. Lewis Doodle (BBC Talk 9, Mere Christianity, Bk 2, Chapter 4)"

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 ESV - All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

The Bible is quite clear, we are gifted Christ's righteousness. And this is only possible because he received our guilt.

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

Isaiah 53:4-6 ESV - Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

[@yourfriendlyneighborhoodin1559]

❤I'll leave the gospel here: So, how many lies have you told in your life? How many hours of p*** have you watched? Have you ever taken anything that didn't belong to you? How many times have you used God's holy name as a cuss word? How many times have you held a grudge in your heart?

[@williambranch4283]

Only the full works of Marx & Engels should be read ;-)

[@Gabriel-uq6iq]

Calormen? Racist stereotype. Susan growing up being portrayed as something wicked? Clearly sexist. That being said, Lewis was a man of his time and he is long gone. His books are still relevant, for good or for bad. Narnia is a fun read, but his theology was just bad fanfic, imo. He was a purgatory believer, wasn't he?

[@daheikkinen]

I’m a graduate of Hillsdale College in Michigan. We had a C.S Lewis society and I only attended one meeting because as a student I was romantically interested in a girl who invited me. I had read many of his books beforehand. I ended up in the official photo for the society in the college’s yearbook. I find Lewis to be a shallow thinker, a mediocre artist, and a second-rate writer, and I wish I hadn’t gone to the meeting.

[@beekind6014]

you must be young, someday, you'll come to see and understand his brilliance.