Prayer and Providence

The nature and role of prayer in Christian life have long been items of discussion, and (like the problem of pain and suffering) they admit no easy, formulaic answers. This chapter engages Lewis’s extensive writings on prayer in general as well as the different aspects of prayer, such as praise and confession. With characteristic frankness, Lewis also tackles the difficult problem of petitionary prayer—including the perplexity created by two New Testament models of prayer—petitions on the condition that they are God’s will and petitions in faith that they will be granted. Acknowledging that he does not have the faith that assures an answer (and observing that almost no Christians really seem to have that kind of faith either), Lewis says that the Christian must engage in the first type of prayer. Lewis also discusses the role of prayer in a relational universe in which a relational God seeks relationship with us—partly to make the point that prayer is not just petition and partly to make the point that relationship with God in prayer helps transform us. Another topic regarding Lewis and prayer is the nature of divine providence if God is timeless and knows timelessly what needs to occur—why pray?

Science, Scientism, and Evolution

This chapter discusses some themes to which Lewis returned often because they reflect philosophical errors that are still influential in culture—science and scientism, evolution and evolutionism. Under the facade of science, even the science of evolution, philosophical naturalism, materialism, and reductionism serve as the paragons of knowledge and often guide social policy. Thus, “scientism” and “evolutionism” are labels for the combination of naturalism and science in general and evolutionary science in particular. Lewis defines science as seeking natural causes for natural effects, which, when successful, formulates laws of the physical operation of nature. Such an intellectual enterprise is neutral with respect to religious and theological positions and is hardly strong evidence for naturalism and empiricism. Lewis identifies the conflict as occurring, not between science and religion (or theism), but between naturalism and theism as philosophical worldviews. As a case in point, Lewis sees no conflict between the scientific theory of evolution and its increasing confirmation by empirical evidence, but he does see a conflict between evolution as interpreted by philosophical naturalism—with ideas that humanity is not of special worth, that there is no God who is ultimately responsible for the existence of the world, and so on. An item of particular interest is the Lewis–Van Osdall correspondence (recently discovered, never before published) regarding what advice Lewis would offer on Van Osdall’s contemplated book aimed at presenting science to a general audience, especially a Christian audience.

Pain, Suffering, and Death

Lewis’s affirmation of Christian theism—based on its greater explanatory power in regard to the phenomena of rational thought, morality, and the existential need for joy and meaning—faces its toughest test in the problem of evil and suffering. This chapter reviews Lewis’s general philosophical responses to the problem of pain and suffering, noting their insights and critiquing their inadequacies, and placing his work in the larger context of contemporary philosophical discussions of the problem of evil. Interestingly, when Lewis met and fell in love with Joy Gresham, he experienced personally those pangs of pain and loss that he had previously dealt with only theoretically. Joy’s suffering and death by cancer caused Lewis to question his old answers and even to question God. He journals the troubled thoughts and feelings of his grief in a frank and honest way that gives permission to all who grieve to express their feelings and not be intimidated by supposedly proper answers. His “grief observed” ultimately works through to an even stronger faith than his original faith in which joy did not encounter suffering, concluding that suffering cannot be erased but can actually be subsumed by joy. An item of particular interest is the Lewis–Van Osdall correspondence (recently discovered, never before published) in which Lewis identifies with Van Osdall’s loss of his only son in a fatal car crash.

Introduction

The Introduction establishes the importance of Lewis, particularly the fact that his life journey was driven by the quest for the most adequate philosophical worldview. The criterion of adequacy pertained not only to the intellectual strength but also to the existential liveability of each worldview he considered—from atheistic materialism, through various forms of idealism and pantheism, to theism and ultimately Christian theism. The Introduction prepares the reader to see that Lewis’s perspective involved his own biographical details and intellectual predilections but also that it was a wide, expansive conduit for classical ecumenical orthodoxy—which he famously called “mere Christianity.” The Introduction particularly explains that most of the existing books about Lewis are either about his “biography” or his “literature” and that books about his “philosophy” are topical and do not offer a comprehensive treatment of his worldview—a point that uniquely positions this book among the scholarly works on Lewis.

Mind, Miracle, and Nature

Lewis as a theist (and Christian theist) was the sworn opponent of philosophical naturalism and materialism as worldviews. In his book Miracles, Lewis launches a philosophical attack on naturalism in a special way: he attacks its assumption that physical or material nature is all there is and runs by unbroken laws. He uses the technical Humean definition that a “miracle” would then be a “violation of the laws of nature” and goes on to show that rational thought (which must be free to decide on truth and not determined by physical processes to believe what it believes) is technically a miracle. Probably Lewis’s most important contribution to the field of philosophy is what we call his “argument from reason,” which maintains that naturalism cannot explain the logical reasoning process and that the very existence of this process strongly points to theism. We discuss the Lewis-Anscombe debate over the relation of naturalism and human reason, which spurred Lewis to revise his earlier argument. Prior to this debate, Lewis charged naturalists with committing a self-contradiction by claiming to hold his or her position by reasoning because naturalism implies that all events (including thoughts) are determined by law rather than freedom to discern logic. The Anscombe encounter led Lewis to say instead that there is a “cardinal difficulty,” which the naturalist cannot overcome.

Worldview Engagement

This chapter presents the idea of a “worldview” as a comprehensive explanation of the important phenomena of life and the world—such as mind, morality, and personhood—and it is expanded into a discussion of various major historical worldviews. There are alternative explanations of reality—actually, different worldviews competing in the intellectual marketplace of ideas. Given his early loss of faith, Lewis embarked on a journey, both philosophical and personal, to find the most adequate worldview—beginning with atheistic materialism, moving through various forms of idealism (sometimes lapsing into pantheism and cosmic dualism), and then coming to basic theism (belief in an omnipotent and moral creator), before accepting Christianity. The intellectual part of his journey was marked by key books and close friends who helped Lewis along the way. The personal part of the journey was characterized by Lewis’s deep need to find an explanation for his longing for joy and meaning, which he found in Christian faith.

Lewis’s Intellectual Framework

Chapter 1 defines a worldview as a unified, coherent understanding of reality and includes the image of an “intellectual framework” for interpreting the key phenomena of life and the world. The chapter then unfolds to explain that Lewis’s approach to worldview thinking was shaped by a handful of key factors—such as his philosophical training, academic background, and literary skill—which he masterfully put into the service of crafting an adequate worldview, a process that eventually focused on classical orthodox Christianity. One important emphasis is that Lewis’s Christian worldview cannot be reduced to Lewis’s own creation but is rather his way of packaging a transcending and enduring point of view—that is, the philosophia perennis. Lewis’s attraction to Platonism and Neoplatonism in connection to Christianity is also critically engaged. The unfolding discussion further reflects on Lewis’s sense of being sought by a God who seeks relationship, which set the stage for his “reluctant conversion.” After becoming a Christian, the culmination of a twenty-year intellectual search, Lewis felt that his greatest contribution and source of fulfillment—indeed, his calling—would be writing and addressing the key issues of his day as well as enduring philosophical, theological, and humanistic topics.

Epilogue

The Epilogue reflects on Lewis’s influence since his death and confidently predicts that his appeal and importance will remain strong in the third millennium. Readers are attracted to Lewis’s writings because of his literary gifts, winsome personality, and fascinating life story, but his positive, inviting presentation of Christian orthodoxy, in ever so many venues, is very much a part of the attraction as well. Classical orthodoxy was at the heart of Lewis’s understanding of the Christian worldview, which he considered to be the philosophia perennis, the perennial philosophy. For Lewis, this philosophical framework both explains the major phenomena of life and the world and answers the tough questions posed to it. In presenting the Christian worldview, Lewis particularly accents the orthodox doctrines of Trinity and Incarnation, giving them a significance beyond mere perfunctory assent. What is more, Lewis’s long search for truth, spanning two decades of his life, prepared him extremely well for critiquing other worldviews and explaining the credibility of the Christian worldview. Clearly, his ability to articulate the existential side of his search provides a point of personal contact with readers.

Heaven, Hell, and the Trajectory of Finite Personality

This chapter focuses on Lewis’s book The Great Divorce. In this work, he imagines having had a dream about the irreconcilability of heaven and hell, the opposition of good and evil, and the necessity of choice. In that imaginary dream, Lewis witnesses deceased people who are allowed to visit the outskirts of heaven in order to consider whether they would like to stay. In many cases, the personalities involved are so trapped by their habits and desires that they justify their position and refuse to stay in heaven. As the chapter proceeds, it discusses hindrances to choosing God and heaven—such as desires that are out of balance (seeking a genuine good, but in a way disproportionate to other goods, such as God) and heretical ideas (identifying heaven and the good with an ethereal spirituality and evil and distance from God with the fact that we are physical material beings). The lesson surfaces that the Trinitarian God, who is Happiness itself and thus heaven, is our true good and ultimate fulfilment, the only way to human happiness. Hence, hell (and heaven too) is not a place or container: it is life apart from our True Source. Heaven, then, is life in proper relation to our True Source, which is ultimate happiness.

Salvation and Persons Outside the Faith

Besides the problem of suffering and evil, and the problem of scientism, Lewis knew that the problem of religious diversity is another seemingly negative factor in the formulation of a coherent Christian worldview. Simply stated, the problem concerns how an omnipotent, wholly good God could have created a world in which many different religions arise and vie for the allegiance of countless millions of people. Is it rational to think that only one of these religions is completely true? It is fascinating how Lewis navigated this issue. Rejecting his early belief that all religions are myths in the sense of being falsehoods, deceptions, and frauds, Lewis explains that all religions are expressions of the God-implanted search for the divine. In fact, the pervasive pattern of the repetitively dying-and-rising god (annually in ahistorical fertility religions) becomes a kind of foreshadowing of the singular event of Jesus as the God-man dying in the midst of human history. Lewis’s analysis of salvation in light of world religions is based on the implicit argument that God’s perfect wisdom, justice, and love are fulfilled in God’s ability to discern and judge each person’s heart, desire, and life trajectory, regardless of mistaken beliefs about God himself.