Our Culture has 5 Charges against C.S. Lewis

Our Culture has 5 Charges against C.S. Lewis
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
“Each of these 5 chapters (in Mere Christianity) shows a distinctive Lewis quality. These qualities could be expressed negatively or affirmatively. Our culture brings 5 charges against C.S. Lewis.

“It blames him for 3 things especially it blames Mere Christianity not just the book but the reality.

“Imagine a court case. I am sure you have heard the famous saying. If you were brought to court on the charge of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you. Lewis answers, ‘Yep!’ guilty as charged.

“Here are five charges often given to mere Christians:
#1 He is divisive. #2 He is insensitive or unfeeling. #3 He is simplistic. # 4 He is fanatical, probably the most withering criticism of the modern mind and there are these new F words. If you are a fanatic they will not listen to you. Finally, he is amateurish.

“I would like to defend these 5 characteristics. I would call them with nicer names. I would say he is confrontational instead of divisive; challenging instead of insensitive; clear instead of simplistic; Christo centric instead of amateurish; And concrete instead of amateurish. So if you like alliteration, confrontational, challenging, clear, Christo centric, concrete or more clearly, he is polemical. He gives you an either or; makes you choose. He is honest, blunt and rubs your nose into the truth. He is short and to the point, and very clear, He is indeed Christo centric and finally he is utterly practical.”


The above are excerpts from C.S. Lewis Summer Conference 2003 and a tape by Peter Kreeft, titled What Christians Believe. This is a classic tape by Peter who has written 40 odd books and has plans for a dozen more. I am transcribing the tape which I obtained from St. Joseph Radio – P.O. Box 2983 – Orange, CA. 92859 (714) 744-0336 Fax (714) 744-1998 –
www.stjosephradio.com

The above excerpts of Peter Kreeft’s talk are Maxim 5 of this blog:

George H. Kubeck, Duplicate and or translate into Spanish and Vietnamese.