It seems like every book I open these days is bound to have a quote or two from the pen of C.S. Lewis. It almost seems odd not to run into a Lewis quote.
From Doug Field’s Christian Living Fresh Start to William Dembski’s Apologetic The End of Christianity.
And even a neo-atheist like Richard Dawkins shows some love for Lewis in his (in)famous New York Times Bestseller The God Delusion.
Samples:
“Really, a young Atheist cannot guard his faith too carefully. Dangers lie in wait for him on every side.”
—Surprised by Joy
“Though we cannot experience our life as an endless present, we are eternal in God’s eyes; that is, in our deepest reality.”
—Letters to Malcolm
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
—The Problem of Pain
So Why so much love for C.S. Lewis?
He’s a sharp fella. His forsight was amazing. His warning in The Abolition of Man of a subjective based culture has held true. I love his “Men without chests.” Although not a theologian, he always rejected that titile, he was a careful, thoughtful reader.
I still need to read “The Abolition of Man.” I was actually looking at it on Amazon.
Aside from the fact that he was a lucid thinker and engaging writer… I don’t know.
http://barrywallace.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/i-too-thank-god-for-c-s-lewis/
It’s the accent, of course.
Barry,
It’s exactly what you mentioned. Thanks for the link.
Chuck,
Has to be more than the accent.
Despite not being too reformed in thought, many reformed authors like Piper and Sproul quote him too.
Jake,
Precisely my point.
Yea. I started reading the dude 35 years ago. He’s smart and draws pictures with words that make sense of unseen realities. Lots of people I admire like his stuff too. I even named my blog after a quote from him.
What work of his is that quote from?
I would assume that the title “Holiday Longing” is based on an excerpt from The Weight of Glory:
“If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Yea. That’s it. That’s the one (got it on my About page). My biggest Lewis pusher in the last 20 years was Tim Keller.
Thanks, Barry,
I believe I remember reading the same in Piper’s Desiring God.
Holiday guy,
Thanks. I guess we can add that prophetic voice to Lewis.
Pardon, me. Holiday GUY?!
Do I look like a guy?! Oops. That’s my daughter in the avatar and she is decidedly not a guy (despite her funny face). In fact, I am currently writing a series of blogs on what it means to be a woman in Christ: doubt a GUY could write that! (well, these days, who knows!)
Holiday Lady!
Pardon me, but most bloggers I engage are guys, so I counted on the greater percent.
But it’s good to engage another of the opposite gender.