S1E2 – MC – “Preface” (Part 2)

The concluding discussion of the Preface of “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis.

S1E2: Preface (Part 2) (Download)

Show Notes

Introduction

Chit-Chat

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Discussion

01. “Blessed Virgin Mary”

• We left off last time with C. S. Lewis explaining his silence on issues. Today, we pick up on two issues in particular that Lewis will not address: the Blessed Virgin Mary, and contraception.

The Roman Catholic beliefs on that subject are held not only with the ordinary fercour that attaches to all sincere religious belief, but (very naturally) with the peculiar and, as it were, chivalrous sensibility that a man feels when the honour of his mother or his beloved is at stake…Contrariwise, the opposed Protestant beliefs on this subject call forth feelings which go down to the very roots of all Monotheism whatever. To radical Protestants it seems that the distinction between Creator and creature (however holy) is imperilled: that Polytheism is risen again.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Preface

• In Catholic Biblical typology, Mary is seen as the new Ark of the Covenant, the Queen Mother, and the new Eve. David recommended “Hail Holy Queen” by Scott Hahn to learn more.
• David has given multiple a talk on the Blessed Virgin, entitled “Mary and the Early Church”. He gave another talk on general Biblical typology called “Hidden Treasure”.

02. “Contraception”

• When Lewis first aired these talks in the 1930s, the Lambeth Conference was convening for the Church of England. The outcome of this particular conference was the first (limited) endorsement of contraceptive use for married couples by a major Christian denomination. This opened the door for more denominations to follow suit. Today, very few Christian churches retain their stance against contraception.

I have also said nothing on birth control. I am not a woman nor even a married man, nor am I a priest. I did not think it my place to take a firm line about pains, dangers and expenses from which I am protected; having no pastoral office which obliged me to do so.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Preface

• Though Lewis sounds like the moderns here, his chapter on sexual morality and marriage is very much in line with traditional Christian teachings.

03. “Christian”

• Most of the heat that Lewis received came from the use of the word “Christian”.

People ask: ‘Who are you, to lay down who is, and who is not a Christian?’ or ‘May not many a man who cannot believe these doctrines be far more truly a Christian, far closer to the spirit of Christ, than some who do?’…We simply cannot, without disaster, use language as these objectors want us to use it. I will try to make this clear by the history of another, and very much less important, word.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Preface

The word gentleman originally meant something recognisable; one who had a coat of arms and some landed property. When you called someone ‘a gentleman’ you were not paying him a compliment, but merely stating a fact…There was no contradiction in saying that John was a liar and a gentleman; any more than there now is in saying that james is a fool and an M.A. But then there came people who said – so rightly, charitably, spiritually, sensitively, so anything but usefully – ‘Ah, but surely the important thing about a gentleman is not the coat of arms and the land, but the behaviour?’…

…They meant well…but it is not the same thing. Worse still, it is not a thing everyone will agree about…When a word ceases to be a term of description and becomes merely a term of praise, it no longer tells you facts about the object: it only tells you about the speaker’s attitude to that object…A gentleman, once it has been spiritualised and refined out of its old coarse, objective sense, means hardly more than a man whom the speaker likes. As a result, gentleman is now a useless word.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Preface

Now, if once we allow people to start spiritualising and refining, or as they might say ‘deepening’, the sense of the word Christian, it too will speedily become a useless word. In the first place, Christians themselves will never be able to apply it to anyone. It is not for us to say who, in the deepest sense, is or is not close to the spirit of Christ. We do not see into men’s hearts. We cannot judge, and are indeed forbidden to judge. It would be wicked arrogance for us to say that any man is, or is not, a Christian in this refined sense.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Preface

• Matt referenced the movie “The Shack (2017)”, talking about how the past and the circumstances of others are not visible to us.

04. “Bad Christian”

When a man who accepts the Christian doctrine lives unworthily of it, it is much clearer to say he is a bad Christian than to say he is not a Christian.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Preface

The name Christians was first given at Antioch (Acts 11:26) to ‘the disciples’, to those who accepted the teaching of the apostles.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Preface

• Matt described his journey back to the faith being influenced by the teachings of the earliest disciples, such as Polycarp and Clement of Rome.

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

2 Thessalonians 2:15

05. “Mere Christianity”

[Mere Christianity] is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. if I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Preface

• Lewis warns against ecclesial consumerism, or “church shopping”.

When you do get into your room you fill find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping. You must keep on praying for light: and, of course, even in the hall, you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house. And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and panelling. In plain language, the question should never be: ‘Do I like that kind of service?’ but ‘Are these doctrines true” Is holiness here? Does my conscience move me towards this? Is my reluctance to knock at this door due to my pride, or my mere taste, or my personal dislike for this particular door-keeper?

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Preface

06. “Advice”

When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house.

C. S. Lewis

• This section reminded David of a scene from “The Screwtape Letters”…

It is, no doubt, impossible to prevent his praying for his mother, but we have means of rendering the prayers innocuous. Make sure that they are always very ‘spiritual’, that he is always concerned witht he state of her soul and never with her rheumatism.

C. S. Lewis, Screwtape, The Screwtape Letters

The “mere” Christianity of C. S. Lewis is not a philosophy or even a theology that may be considered, argued, adn put away in a book on a shelf. It is a way of life, one that challenges us always to remember, as Lewis once stated, that “there are no ordinary people” and that “it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit.” Once we tune ourselves to this reality, Lewis believes, we open ourselves to imaginatively transform our lives in such a way that evil diminishes and good prevails. It is what Christ asked of us in talking on our humanity, sanctifying our flesh, and asking us in turn to reveal God to one another.

Kathleen Norris, Mere Christianity, Forward

• Matt mentioned David Foster Wallace’s talk “This is Water”, which talks about the way we view others.

I said in a previous chapter that chastity was the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. But I am not sure I was right. I believe there is one even more unpopular. It is laid down in the Christian rule, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’. Because in Christian morals ‘thy neighbour’ includes ‘thy enemy’, and o we come up against this terrible duty of forgiving our enemies.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Forgiveness

• David’s outline and notes for the Preface are available here.

Wrap-Up

Concluding Thoughts

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