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GOD'S SMUGGLER CS Lewis wrote his first book, The Pilgrim's Regress, in 1932, a year after his conversion. It tells the story, in an allegory like Pilgrim's Progress, of his journey from atheism to Christianity. |
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Left: CS Lewis at work in his study, Oxford. Used by permission of The Marion E. Wade Center, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. |
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He formed a writers' group called the Inklings, which included Tolkien and his own brother Warren. They met in the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford to read their work to each other, smoke and drink. It's a thought that has made many fans long to be flies on the wall – such world famous authors as Tolkien and Lewis (and others less well known to day, but still read, such as Charles Williams) not only meeting together for decades, but discussing each other's writing and their literary theories and ideas. In 1936, Lewis and Tolkien decided to write science-fiction, seeing so much potential in the genre and so much rubbish published. They tossed a coin to decide who would do space travel and who time travel. Tolkien never got anywhere with his time travel story, but Lewis wrote a trilogy of space books. Jack disliked the assumption in science-fiction that aliens are evil and humans good. Seeing it as a Christian, wasn't it more likely to be the other way round? So his first book, Out of the Silent Planet, told the story of humans corrupting a perfect planet. In fact, Lewis found himself retelling the biblical story of the Garden of Eden and the fall of humanity. He let the other stories embody Christian ideas too, and found that many non-Christian readers seemed to embrace the ideas without realising that they were biblical. "Any amount of theology can now be smuggled into people's minds under cover of romance without their knowing it," he remarked ironically. During the Second World War, Jack wrote some less round-about theological books, and became a tremendously popular author, "smuggling" his ideas only by their being so readable and clear. He gave a series of BBC radio talks, where he began by showing that everyone has moral standards and arguing from that starting point – over the space of three years – for the truth of Christianity. The talks eventually became the book Mere Christianity. 'Mere' because he did not want to argue for his own brand of Christianity, but for Christianity itself, the rock bottom truths that all churches share in common. In fact, this impartial approach was a stream running through all his writings. It made him popular across a surprising spectrum of Christianity, because Catholics, Baptists, Anglicans, Pentecostals, etc., all felt they were reading someone who saw the world as they did. He also made a great impression through the persuasive clarity of his writing, his common sense and his wit. The theatre director Kenneth Tynan, a student of Lewis's, said, "If I were ever to stray into the Christian camp, it would be because of Lewis's arguments". And in fact many people have become Christians through reading Mere Christianity. At the same time, Jack wrote The Screwtape Letters – his advice on the spiritual life in the back-to-front form of advice from a senior devil to a junior tempter. This was another great hit. It was hardly the first time anyone had written a book of moral and spiritual teaching, but perhaps the first time in memory that someone had made it such fun. Telling it from the enemy's point of view brought a refreshing new light onto the old subject. The New Statesman said, "Mr Lewis possesses the rare gift of being able to make righteousness readable". This is Screwtape on the ways of God (whom he calls 'The Enemy'): "To get permanent possession of a soul, The Enemy relies on the troughs even more than the peaks. Our cause is never in more danger than when a human – no longer desiring but still intending to do The Enemy's will – looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys." There was great appetite for a sequel, but Lewis never wrote one. "Though I had never written anything more easily," he explained, "I never wrote with less enjoyment... The world into which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst and itch". In 1945 he turned down an OBE from Churchill, not wanting to be associated with right-wings politics. Next: Surprised by Joy – click here! |
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