Today we consider C.S. Lewis and Evangelicalism. In this episode David interviews the President of Wheaton College, Dr. Philip Ryken, and they talk about Lewis as an evangelist, as well as his views on Sacred Scripture.
S6E21: “Jack and the Evangelicals” (Download)
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Show Notes
Introduction
Drop-In
Quote-of-the-week
“We should not read Lewis to do something with him, but for him to do something to us, as he always seems to do.”
Dr. Philip Ryken, C.S. Lewis and the Church (“Lewis as the Patron Saint of American Evangelicalism”)
Chit-Chat
- David couldn’t make it to the Mere Anglicanism conference in South Carolina, at which Dr. Ryken spoke.
Toast
- David was drinking Earl Grey tea.
- Dr. Ryken was drinking a pint of spicy ginger beer.
Biographical Information
Dr. Philip Ryken is a Wheaton native and both of his parents taught at Wheaton College, home to The Wade Center. He went to the school for his undergraduate, majoring in English literature and philosophy. Shortly after arriving, he met his wife Lisa and they were married before their senior year. He has been a Professor of Theology there since 2010 and is the eighth President of the College!
Guest Biographical Information
Discussion
1. “Backstory”
Q. I gave a few sentences of biography in the introduction, but would you mind filling in your backstory for our listeners? Can you tell us a little bit about your life, your faith journey, your career, and tell us about the appearances C.S. Lewis made appearances along the way?
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2. “Lewis and the American Evangelicals”
Q. Last season, we hosted a month of interviews with people from a wide range of religious backgrounds. On this podcast folks are used to hearing Catholics and an Episcopalian rave about Lewis, but that month we added Presbyterian, Mormon, Eastern Orthodox, Baptist, and Jewish voices… but we didn’t deal directly with Evangelicalism, so… why is Lewis the Patron Saint of American Evangelicalism?
- C.S. Lewis and The Church
- Clyde S. Kilby, founder of the Wade Center
- “The Trial of C.S. Lewis” took place at Wheaton College in 1967!
3. “The Ultimate Ecumenist?”
Q. Why do you think Lewis generates so much good will from across the denominations?
Some have paid me an undeserved compliment by supposing that my Letters were the ripe fruit of many years’ study in moral and ascetic theology. They forgot that there is an equally reliable, though less creditable, way of learning how temptation works. “My heart”— I need no other’s— “showeth me the wickedness of the ungodly.”
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1961 Preface)
I should be very glad if people would not draw fanciful inferences from my silence on certain disputed matters… the questions which divide Christians from one another often involve points of high Theology or even of ecclesiastical history which ought never to be treated except by real experts…. In Book III, which deals with morals, I have also passed over some things in silence, but for a different reason… I have a reluctance to say much about temptations to which I myself am not exposed…. It so happens that the impulse which makes men gamble has been left out of my make-up; and, no doubt, I pay for this by lacking some good impulse of which it is the excess or perversion.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Preface)
4. “Lewis on Scripture”
Q. Obviously an important aspect of evangelical theology relates to Sacred Scripture. Earlier this season, Andrew interviewed Dr. Michael Christensen from Northwind Seminary about this. Lewis’ comments on Scripture receive a mixed reception among evangelicals and you’ve written about this for the C.S. Lewis Institute and you addressed the Desiring God conference on this subject. Would you mind outlining your understanding of Lewis’ views on Scripture, as well as what you see as its strengths and weaknesses?
5. “Scripture and Myth”
Q. One thing which often trips up some readers is Lewis’ use of the word “myth” in relationship to Scripture. What did he mean by that term?
Early in 1926 the hardest boiled of all the atheists I ever knew sat in my room on the other side of the fire and remarked that the evidence for the historicity of the Gospels was really surprisingly good. “Rum thing,” he went on. “All that stuff of Frazer’s about the Dying God. Rum thing. It almost looks as if it had really happened once.” To understand the shattering impact of it, you would need to know the man (who has certainly never since shown any interest in Christianity). If he, the cynic of cynics, the toughest of the toughs, were not–as I would still have put it–“safe”, where could I turn? Was there then no escape?
C.S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy (Chapter 14)
6. “Lewis as Evangelist”
Q. The last major topic I’d like you to speak about is Lewis’ work as an evangelist. You’ve also written about this for the C.S. Lewis Institute, and you also have a chapter in a book on this subject, Lightbearer in the Shadowlands: The Evangelistic Vision of C.S. Lewis. How would you characterize Lewis as an evangelist, in his books, but also in his day-to-day interactions with people?
- Tag-teaming with Bishop A. W. Goodwin-Hudson
- Praeparatio evangelica vs Evangelium
I have two lists of names in my prayers, those for whose conversion I pray, and those for whose conversion I give thanks. The little trickle of transferences from List A to List B is a great comfort.
C.S. Lewis, Letter to Dom Bede Griffiths OSB (27/6/49)
7. “Final Thoughts”
Q. Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share before we wrap-up?
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