MORE DETAILS
What
Christians Believe
"A Celebration of Mere Christianity, Part II"
On the 40th Anniversary of C. S. Lewis' Death
Peter Kreeft
Peter Kreeft,
Professor of Philosophy at Boston College, addresses "What Christians
Believe," dealing
with the second book of Mere
Christianity by C. S. Lewis.
Kreeft begins his talk by calling Mere Christianity "Lewis's
most powerful book." The book was written for the BBC on four different
occasions in four different years, during World War II, yet it is totally
cohesive,
perhaps indicating Divine guidance in its development as one work. Kreeft says that critics of C. S. Lewis contend that Mere Christianity is "divisive," "insensitive" (i.e.,
unfeeling), "simplistic," "fanatical,"
and "amateurish." Kreeft responds by demonstrating that what the
critics call divisive, he calls "confrontational" or "polemical" because
Lewis gives the reader an either/or choice. What critics call insensitive
Kreeft
calls "challenging" or "short and blunt." What critics
call simplistic, Kreeft says proves the "clear" or "brief
and to the point" nature of
the work. What critics say is fanatical and amateurish, Kreeft shows
is really "Christo-centric" and "concrete" ("utterly
practical"). Rather
than being fanatical, Lewis is actually "tough-minded." "Saints
are shockingly insensitive," Kreeft reminds us, as was John the Baptist
when dealing with Herod. After all, saints have to confront evil. Kreeft
says, "Lewis
takes evil very seriously—takes spiritual warfare very seriously."
One way
to divide Mere Christianity is to look at it as (1) morality known
by reason, (2) theology known by reason, (3) morality known by faith, and
(4) theology
known by faith. Kreeft says that "morality is the natural beginning
of our knowledge of God." For this reason, Book II explores such issues
as rival conceptions of God; moral dualism, which Lewis calls "the
invasion,"
or spiritual warfare; the idea that Jesus was either God or a "bad
man";
and, our relation to Christ.
Kreeft tells
us that Mere Christianity is still number four on the "best seller
list" in
spite of its brevity as a work—not to mention its 60-year longevity! Brevity
is good, however, says Kreeft, for "no one ever said more in fewer words
than Jesus Christ." Thus Lewis is intentionally brief. After reading one
of his favorite sections in Mere Christianity, Kreeft says, "When
you read paragraphs like this, forever after they become unforgettable." Perhaps
it is the integration of fact and faith that makes such writing unforgettable.
Lewis always takes us on the path where fact is followed by faith and faith
is followed
by
reason. Fact comes
first, according to Lewis, to keep faith and reason on the right road.
In Christianity,
the object of faith, according to Thomas Aquinas, is not a proposition but a
Person. Thus, Christ is both the Fact of Christianity, and its Faith. That is
why Lewis's Chronicles
of Narnia are
a portrait of Christ, says Kreeft; yet they are true philosophy, for real philosophy
demands
the pragmatic
criterion of meaning, and Lewis holds to that principle in the Chronicles,
as he does in Mere Christianity. Faith cannot be separated from practical
truth. Finally, Kreeft reminds us that Lewis believes Christ is operating through
Christians—a
practical, or pragmatic, operation. Therefore, Kreeft expalins, Christians ought
to embrace five of the qualities of Christ: that believers should be polemical,
honest, brief, Christo-centric, and practical, as was Christ Himself. These
five qualities Lewis adopted in writing Mere Chritianity, explains
Kreeft, and that is why the work continues over the decades to be so successful
with a reading
public.
Program
recording date and length: 6-21-03 ~ 59 Minutes
