Lewis Lectures - Ransom Trilogy: Perelandra

Pastor Doug Wilson lectures on CS Lewis' Perelandra.
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[@nickjames205]

The conversations between Ransom, the unman, and the green lady are so well done. I think it is as good as the Screwtape letters as far as understanding how temptation and evil works.

[@donaldcatton4028]

Lewis’s essay Transposition is an excellent treatise on the philosophy of art….also the discovery(Ransome’s discovery ) that the heavens are super sensuous and dense…. This is a good description of Bach’s St John Passion wherein the composer compacts the music in waves of dissonance and harmony, chaos and order…to bring us closer to heaven…

[@gainfulanalytics]

only 1 tiny correction on pronunciation -- it's not "Maledil" it's "Ma-lel-dil".

[@markmaison4436]

The quote at 25:26 was referring to Ransom struggling with the will of Maleldil and what Ransom was tasked with, Ransom didn’t struggle to eat and drink on Perelandra?

[@tapestry6455]

So I happened upon this video by chance. I had read those books when I was 19 years old. A coworker gave me the first paperback 'Out of The Silent Planet', which I read on the way to work on the bus each day. When I finished I tried to return it to her, and she smiled and said keep it I have another one for you ;-) then I was hooked to this very day. I think I have read just about everything Lewis wrote afterwards.

[@micahbush5397]

Another way to think about the "trans-sensuous" life of Heaven: Imagine you have spent your whole life in a darkroom, where there is only red light, and are one day brought outside on a clear summer day. Now imagine returning to the darkroom and trying to describe the color of the sky to someone who has never been outside the room, and so has no conception of the color azure.

[@juanmartincabrera700]

So basically, Platos's clave?

[@rightinthedome9973]

I just finished the audiobook. This was a hard one to understand I'm gonna need to get a physical copy to read it a lot slower

[@thesheep6248]

Amazing lecture. Thanks be to God

[@huntervelicky7502]

Yay! God bless you!

[@KateGladstone]

I read the Bible daily and C. S. Lewis almost daily, but I’m unChrostoan. (There are not even any Christians in my family, as far back as I’ve traced.) So I am puzzled, sir, and deeply disconcerted by your apparently intentional misquotation of Psalm 16:11 (in timestamp 28:39-33 on this video) which you recited as “At God’s right hand there are pleasures, a river of pleasures forevermore.” Checking eve Bible translation I can find - and checking also the same verse in the original language - I cannot find that the word “river” appears in this verse. Is it custom among Christians to add their own words to the Bible when quoting some of it to illustrate or prove a point? If so, why? (I assume that the misquotation was intentional, because you began by quoting correctly - “there are pleasures” - before backtracking to add in “a river of” for some reason that I do not know and am not able to guess.) Please help me understand.

[@salgarellius7434]

He could have just said river not as quote but as an addendum referring Lewis story so "pleasures" close quotation, a river, opens quotation again

[@mikedspringstead5974]

I'd expect it to be an accident. May be unintentional conflation of something like Psalm 36:8; or the stream from Psalm 1 that alludes to the waters of Eden, and which is alluded to in Revelation's image of the divine throne in the eternal kingdom.

[@kerrybland6643]

A good question

[@stevefoxrox]

Why wasn’t Weston’s physical body imbued with demon strength? It is common in possession and even Ransom expected Weston to be far more physically powerful then his body would suggest

[@micahbush5397]

Weston's body is merely a tool; while the demon can force it to endure pains that would keep a normal person in check, it cannot exceed the physical limitations of the body. For instance, he could force Weston's body to strike as hard as his muscles will allow (the sort of strike that would normally only be possible during an adrenaline rush), but he can't prevent the bones or muscles from being damaged.

[@brycecarman7173]

It also may have something to do with the fact that they aren’t on Earth, but rather on “enemy territory”: Perelandra

[@jonah3985]

This is an interesting lecture series and has me wanting to finally get to reading the collected trilogy which I have in paperback. However, I'm curious as to exactly what in Genesis gives you the idea that Adam & Eve have any notion of good and evil before they eat of the Tree which is designed specifically to impart this knowledge? The text does not support the notion that Adam & Eve would know they are "sinning" by partaking of the fruit when it is the act of partaking itself which introduces the concept of sin. To my mind, Adam & Eve exist in a state of perfect union with their creator and their surroundings while in the Garden, and it is God who introduces discord by prohibiting one act: eating from the Tree which contains the knowledge of good and evil. It is the vague understanding that there is something one "cannot" or "should not" do that creates the disconnect -- to believe otherwise is to believe Eden was not a place of perfect harmony beforehand. One might aptly identify this "challenge" from God as the bootloader for consciousness, which is by its very nature a layer of removal from being at "One" with the creation. This layer of abstraction we exist within is our curse and our gift: good and evil; awareness of self; projection into various potentialities; pattern recognition -- all gifts imparted by the "Fall". The question then becomes whether we are dealing with a "Felix Culpa" where the serpent is concerned, or if the subtle game that was played was played ahead of schedule. I guess I find it hard to fathom such a catastrophic derailment -- or simply jumpstart -- of the human project when we're dealing with atemporal, omnipotent beings? Of course, there is another angle at play here. Perhaps God plays the opening hand, introducing the notion of a dissonant act, and the serpent's gambit is the fulfillment of that dissonant potential. Kind of a one, two punch that teaches human beings the difference between a disharmonious impulse and the ramifications that come from acting on that disharmonious impulse.

[@kennorthunder2428]

I interpret the creation narrative differently. It's not so much that God introduces dissonance as God putting them to the test in order to see whether they recognize God as the source of goodness and truth. After all, they were created in His image, equipped as a result not only to invent the naming and categorization of animals and the environment that they found themselves in. They were relational creatures that needed each other as well as God. This forms a set standards and categories in the relationship endowed minds. The idea of "don't go there" is rooted in that mental & moral matrix of theirs and our minds. They weren't "blank slates"; they were equipped and endowed. Sin is missing the mark of running true to truth. They would have known intuitively, but it hit hard to home when they ACTUALLY transgressed. I'd also say, that being created in the image of God is both a blessing and a curse. It equips us, but it also makes us feel as if we are our own god. But it's also the very thing that allows God to be fair and judge us. My 2 cents.

[@RichardBragg]

My copy of this story is titled "Voyage to Venus".

[@thelastoferrathen613]

N.D.Wilson's most rebellious act toward his father, was calling the trilogy "The Space Trilogy."

[@mikedspringstead5974]

Takes a bit of determination to hold Doug's point, considering the publishers persist in holding that name for the series.

[@dianeallen5803]

I have a couple of problems with this presentation. First, Lewis called this a space-and-time story. I think it's perfectly reasonable to call it a Space Trilogy. Second, in the preface, Lewis explicitly tells the reader that the book is *not allegorical*. This presentation ignores that caveat and turns the novel into a Garden of Eden allegory. It is an exploration of the nature of good and evil, of obedience and wilfulness, and of mankind's relationship to God. It is not a Garden of Eden allegory.

[@ComicRaptor8850]

Precisely. One of the main points of the book is that Perelandra does NOT have the same outcome as Eden.

[@MrBrendanRizzo]

Yes, just because a story is a myth does not necessarily mean that it isn’t true. But in order for the concept of truth to be meaningful there must be a way to distinguish truth from falsity. If you allow the assumption that there is no such method, due to preconceived belief that the methods are all tainted, then you cannot ever determine that any fabulous story is true or not. There could be an invisible intangible floating dragon in your garage for all you know; after all, the belief that something that exists should leave evidence behind is “just” an assumption. Like how a No Smoking sign is just paper and ink.

[@kerrybland6643]

Calling it a space trilogy is very reasonable. I will stay with that. Is it an allegory? I think not according to Lewis.

[@Moltenstardeath]

Wish he'd cut down on all his unsubstantiated statements and just discuss the content of the book.

[@thomasdidymus1855]

why do certain narrow minded and brainwashed people always limit and thereby ruin the meaning of a great work (and yes this includes the bible)? its a shame - divisive and the cause of so much sin they decry (aka hypocrisy)