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The Light from Behind the Sun: A Reformed and Evangelical Appreciation of C.S. Lewis
"If I were to calculate the impact that various writers have had on me—and there have been many who have—C.S. Lewis would always come in first, and by a large margin." ~Douglas Wilson
In this collection of essays Douglas Wilson talks about one of the most beloved Christian writers of the twentieth-century—C.S. Lewis. Lewis wrote in such a way that, whether you agree with him or not, you will come away edified and sharpened from the encounter. Douglas Wilson discusses everything from Lewis's odd images of salvation in The Last Battle to Lewis's view of creation to his views on heaven, hell, and education.
Owen Barfield once said that what Lewis thought about everything came out in what he said about anything. His writing is powerful because he understood that everything in the universe proclaimed God's glory and thus everything shines with God's personality—He is the "light from behind the sun."
In this collection of essays Douglas Wilson talks about one of the most beloved Christian writers of the twentieth-century—C.S. Lewis. Lewis wrote in such a way that, whether you agree with him or not, you will come away edified and sharpened from the encounter. Douglas Wilson discusses everything from Lewis's odd images of salvation in The Last Battle to Lewis's view of creation to his views on heaven, hell, and education.
Owen Barfield once said that what Lewis thought about everything came out in what he said about anything. His writing is powerful because he understood that everything in the universe proclaimed God's glory and thus everything shines with God's personality—He is the "light from behind the sun."
214 pages, Paperback
Published October 12, 2021
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172 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Wilson
296 books4,576 followersI write in order to make the little voices in my head go away. Thus far it hasn't worked.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
December 2, 2021
The two most common reactions to Doug Wilson are both wrong, but for different reasons. One reaction is for a person to see red, start foaming at the mouth, and make it their life’s ambition to burn this ministry in Idaho to the ground. The other reaction is to treat Wilson as a modern-day, Old Testament styled Prophet. You’ll find the person with this reaction often uproot his life and move to Moscow so as to get closer to the glow coming off of Wilson’s face—to behold it so as to be transformed from one degree of cheekiness to another. I’ve never understood either of these reactions; they are both weird. Wilson is right about plenty, and he is wrong about plenty. This book is a fine example of both. If there is any area I am eager to hear him out on, it is the area of Lewis.
Some of the essays in this collection are exceptional. Wilson’s back-to-back essays on Susan's troubling absence from (and Emeth's troubling presence in) Aslan’s country in The Last Battle are persuasive and delightful (spoiler: Susan made it, or at least, she will before she dies; and Emeth being there is probably wrong, but not as wrong as you might think). His back-to-back reflections on Lewis’s reformed-ish trajectory in his essays, “Undragoned” and “Was C.S. Lewis Reformed?” are also very good. (You can find them in the form of a talk given at Desiring God’s 2013 conference. Also, fun fact, this message shows Doug getting the closest thing to “emotional” you will witness, which looks like him pausing, scratching his beard, and saying, “I was afraid this was going to happen.”)
Also, Wilson’s treatment of all things pertaining to The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength are worth the price of the book. Wilson “gets” the concept of “men without chests”—one of Lewis’s most important contributions to this moment in our culture, in my estimation. He’s also incredibly helpful at tracing out the all-important distinction between “outer space” and “the heavens.” On these topics, Wilson is one of the most effective commentators on Lewis, and I commend these reflections with all the enthusiasm I can muster. (Now, before reading one, let me point out that the preceding two paragraphs are deceivingly short. But think of them as extraordinarily dense, heavy paragraphs; my commendation here should be taken as the most important part of this book review. The essays I just described here cannot receive too much hype from me. I’m a fan. Read them. Profit from them. Buy this book so that you can underline and return to the insights found in these essays often.)
There are some portions of this book, though, that I think Wilson gets very wrong. Basically, Wilson suffers a thorough influence from Van Til. And this compels him to follow Van Til in the same erroneous criticisms of inconsistency regarding Lewis’s apologetic methodology. What’s so interesting is that Wilson readily recognizes that his “presuppositional” apologetic tactics were inherited by Lewis. Before he had read a word from Van Til, he was doing apologetics in such a way as to be described as a “Van Tilian” (pg. 52), even though he received that apologetic method from Lewis. It is unfortunate that running a reductio ad absurdum has become synonymous with Van Tilian apologetics, since Van Til didn’t come up with it, and it is therefore not a “presuppositionalism” trick, strictly speaking. But this common association leads Wilson to the unfortunate conclusion that Lewis is somehow an “inconsistent presuppositionalist.” We can cut him some slack for reaching such a conclusion. After all, that faulty assumption that this apologetic argument is uniquely presuppositionalist didn’t originate with Wilson, so he can hardly be blamed for it. So it’s understandable that Wilson would call this argumentation “presuppositionalism,” see Lewis employing it while also employing other arguments that presuppositionalists would not use, and then conclude that Lewis is an “inconsistent presuppositionalist.” It’s understandable, yes, but it is still wrong, and it suffers from the same kind of deficiency as Van Til himself: namely, the tendency to come to a conclusion about figures by obviously second-hand information instead of analysis from primary sources.
To give a (someone) unrelated example of this kind of mistake, at one point, Wilson writes, “Lewis was a Christian Platonist, but he does this in a really admirable way” (pg. 26). The implication by this qualification, “but he does this in a really admirable way,” seems to be that Lewis puts a spin on Christian Platonism. But what Wilson goes on to describe as Lewis’s “really admirable way” of being a Christian Platonist is really just standard, ordinary, run-of-the-mill Christian-Platonism. Of course, Lewis’s vision is a departure from Platonism at crucial, but Christian Platonism has always been a departure form Platonism at precisely those points! Lewis’s embrace of the Christian Platonic tradition is rather ordinary in this way. I’m not sure why Wilson would consider Lewis’s description of Heaven’s “further up and further in” character (the context of this particular reference to Plato) as a special kind of Christian Platonism unless he hasn’t spent a lot of time with Christian Platonists down through the centuries, as they did exactly what Lewis does. Or, as I find more likely, he has spent time with them, but with someone like Van Til in his ear, calling consistencies inconsistencies.
In brief, Lewis was not an inconsistent presuppositionalists. He was consistently classical (and by this, I don’t mean to say that he was part of the school of apologetics that calls itself “classical.” I'm thinking of figures like William Lane Craig, who calls himself a classicist while rejecting and revising significant classical doctrines that Lewis himself defended. Frankly, Craig doesn’t get Lewis on his apologetic-method team, and we should stop letting him claim he does. When I call Lewis consistently classical, I mean to contrast him with both the faux-classicism (which would find itself at odds with Anselm, Aquinas, the Reformers and the Post-Reformation scholastics) on the one hand, and Van Tilian presuppositionalism (which finds itself at odds with everyone) on the other. So Lewis was a true classicist, and therefore (much to the chagrin of Van Til and company) his apologetic method was entirely consistent with the Reformed Tradition.
Even so, I find myself feeling for Wilson what Wilson feels for Chesterton and Lewis: “[Lewis] along with Chesterton, has the capacity to edify you profoundly at the very moment he is saying things to make you wrench at your head in exasperation” (pg. 97). For example, in the most wrong of Wilson’s essays, The Tao of Lewis (which is essentially a Van Tillian rebuke for Lewis’s embrace of natural theology), Wilson writes this conclusion:
Perhaps an allegory may be fashioned from a situation in one of Lewis's Narnia stories—Prince Caspian. Peter, a king of the Narnians, is in a duel with Miraz, a usurper and tyrant. In the course of the fight, Miraz falls over and Peter, a true gentleman, steps back to let him rise.
In a similar way, Lewis watches his opponents fall to the ground, and in a typical English fashion, points out that they have done so. But he is a gentleman, and he is not in a battle to the death with all forms of unbelief—only the aggressive ones.
In contrast to this, the consistent presuppositionalist is not in a gentlemanly duel, with agreed upon common rules. He is in a total war; he is not interested in a negotiated settlement. Like Samuel, he “hews Agog to pieces before the Lord.” (pg. 93)
Ok, it needs to be said that I think Wilson is wrong here. This illustration is the apex of an argument I profoundly disagree with... but that is good. That is very good. That is chuckle out loud, shake your head with a smile and murmur “Dang it, Doug!” good.
It’s good writing, so I’m edified, but it’s still wrong, so I wrench at my head. I pray it’s not patronizing to do so, but on this topic of Wilson’s take on Lewis and Van Til, I would want to borrow Wilson’s words from another context, “I believe that there are many times when we are wrenching at our heads in exasperation over Lewis while the heavenly host is looking down on us, wrenching at their heads... if angels do that. There will be times when we are tempted to write off something in Lewis as a simple contradiction, when we are the ones who have not thought very deeply about what we are saying ... So let us feel free to differ with him, but let’s also take care not to be patronizing" (pg. 98). To this, I offer a hearty amen.
Some of the essays in this collection are exceptional. Wilson’s back-to-back essays on Susan's troubling absence from (and Emeth's troubling presence in) Aslan’s country in The Last Battle are persuasive and delightful (spoiler: Susan made it, or at least, she will before she dies; and Emeth being there is probably wrong, but not as wrong as you might think). His back-to-back reflections on Lewis’s reformed-ish trajectory in his essays, “Undragoned” and “Was C.S. Lewis Reformed?” are also very good. (You can find them in the form of a talk given at Desiring God’s 2013 conference. Also, fun fact, this message shows Doug getting the closest thing to “emotional” you will witness, which looks like him pausing, scratching his beard, and saying, “I was afraid this was going to happen.”)
Also, Wilson’s treatment of all things pertaining to The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength are worth the price of the book. Wilson “gets” the concept of “men without chests”—one of Lewis’s most important contributions to this moment in our culture, in my estimation. He’s also incredibly helpful at tracing out the all-important distinction between “outer space” and “the heavens.” On these topics, Wilson is one of the most effective commentators on Lewis, and I commend these reflections with all the enthusiasm I can muster. (Now, before reading one, let me point out that the preceding two paragraphs are deceivingly short. But think of them as extraordinarily dense, heavy paragraphs; my commendation here should be taken as the most important part of this book review. The essays I just described here cannot receive too much hype from me. I’m a fan. Read them. Profit from them. Buy this book so that you can underline and return to the insights found in these essays often.)
There are some portions of this book, though, that I think Wilson gets very wrong. Basically, Wilson suffers a thorough influence from Van Til. And this compels him to follow Van Til in the same erroneous criticisms of inconsistency regarding Lewis’s apologetic methodology. What’s so interesting is that Wilson readily recognizes that his “presuppositional” apologetic tactics were inherited by Lewis. Before he had read a word from Van Til, he was doing apologetics in such a way as to be described as a “Van Tilian” (pg. 52), even though he received that apologetic method from Lewis. It is unfortunate that running a reductio ad absurdum has become synonymous with Van Tilian apologetics, since Van Til didn’t come up with it, and it is therefore not a “presuppositionalism” trick, strictly speaking. But this common association leads Wilson to the unfortunate conclusion that Lewis is somehow an “inconsistent presuppositionalist.” We can cut him some slack for reaching such a conclusion. After all, that faulty assumption that this apologetic argument is uniquely presuppositionalist didn’t originate with Wilson, so he can hardly be blamed for it. So it’s understandable that Wilson would call this argumentation “presuppositionalism,” see Lewis employing it while also employing other arguments that presuppositionalists would not use, and then conclude that Lewis is an “inconsistent presuppositionalist.” It’s understandable, yes, but it is still wrong, and it suffers from the same kind of deficiency as Van Til himself: namely, the tendency to come to a conclusion about figures by obviously second-hand information instead of analysis from primary sources.
To give a (someone) unrelated example of this kind of mistake, at one point, Wilson writes, “Lewis was a Christian Platonist, but he does this in a really admirable way” (pg. 26). The implication by this qualification, “but he does this in a really admirable way,” seems to be that Lewis puts a spin on Christian Platonism. But what Wilson goes on to describe as Lewis’s “really admirable way” of being a Christian Platonist is really just standard, ordinary, run-of-the-mill Christian-Platonism. Of course, Lewis’s vision is a departure from Platonism at crucial, but Christian Platonism has always been a departure form Platonism at precisely those points! Lewis’s embrace of the Christian Platonic tradition is rather ordinary in this way. I’m not sure why Wilson would consider Lewis’s description of Heaven’s “further up and further in” character (the context of this particular reference to Plato) as a special kind of Christian Platonism unless he hasn’t spent a lot of time with Christian Platonists down through the centuries, as they did exactly what Lewis does. Or, as I find more likely, he has spent time with them, but with someone like Van Til in his ear, calling consistencies inconsistencies.
In brief, Lewis was not an inconsistent presuppositionalists. He was consistently classical (and by this, I don’t mean to say that he was part of the school of apologetics that calls itself “classical.” I'm thinking of figures like William Lane Craig, who calls himself a classicist while rejecting and revising significant classical doctrines that Lewis himself defended. Frankly, Craig doesn’t get Lewis on his apologetic-method team, and we should stop letting him claim he does. When I call Lewis consistently classical, I mean to contrast him with both the faux-classicism (which would find itself at odds with Anselm, Aquinas, the Reformers and the Post-Reformation scholastics) on the one hand, and Van Tilian presuppositionalism (which finds itself at odds with everyone) on the other. So Lewis was a true classicist, and therefore (much to the chagrin of Van Til and company) his apologetic method was entirely consistent with the Reformed Tradition.
Even so, I find myself feeling for Wilson what Wilson feels for Chesterton and Lewis: “[Lewis] along with Chesterton, has the capacity to edify you profoundly at the very moment he is saying things to make you wrench at your head in exasperation” (pg. 97). For example, in the most wrong of Wilson’s essays, The Tao of Lewis (which is essentially a Van Tillian rebuke for Lewis’s embrace of natural theology), Wilson writes this conclusion:
Perhaps an allegory may be fashioned from a situation in one of Lewis's Narnia stories—Prince Caspian. Peter, a king of the Narnians, is in a duel with Miraz, a usurper and tyrant. In the course of the fight, Miraz falls over and Peter, a true gentleman, steps back to let him rise.
In a similar way, Lewis watches his opponents fall to the ground, and in a typical English fashion, points out that they have done so. But he is a gentleman, and he is not in a battle to the death with all forms of unbelief—only the aggressive ones.
In contrast to this, the consistent presuppositionalist is not in a gentlemanly duel, with agreed upon common rules. He is in a total war; he is not interested in a negotiated settlement. Like Samuel, he “hews Agog to pieces before the Lord.” (pg. 93)
Ok, it needs to be said that I think Wilson is wrong here. This illustration is the apex of an argument I profoundly disagree with... but that is good. That is very good. That is chuckle out loud, shake your head with a smile and murmur “Dang it, Doug!” good.
It’s good writing, so I’m edified, but it’s still wrong, so I wrench at my head. I pray it’s not patronizing to do so, but on this topic of Wilson’s take on Lewis and Van Til, I would want to borrow Wilson’s words from another context, “I believe that there are many times when we are wrenching at our heads in exasperation over Lewis while the heavenly host is looking down on us, wrenching at their heads... if angels do that. There will be times when we are tempted to write off something in Lewis as a simple contradiction, when we are the ones who have not thought very deeply about what we are saying ... So let us feel free to differ with him, but let’s also take care not to be patronizing" (pg. 98). To this, I offer a hearty amen.
October 19, 2023
Wilson begins this biography of sorts by confessing that Lewis, out of all people, has had the great impact in his thought and framework. I wouldn’t go as far as Wilson states here, but I wouldn’t be where I am today without Lewis in many ways. His Screwtape letters were transformational for me from early on in adolescence. I probably read the Narnia series 8 or 9 times all the way through as a child, which I am thankful more and more that I did. I may not have been able to grasp the theological truths scattered throughout the books, but it gave me a mental sword and shield without even knowing it. I knew what it was to be heroic, to show courage, to have a pure love and to love well. Most importantly it showed me the law and the desire to be obedient. But this is about Wilson’s book, not mine, and so I should probably say something about that.
Wilson’s collection of essays compiled here are first rate. Whatever quibbles I had here and there were superficial at worst. Lewis is like an uncle that we all want to claim as our own and so I take him to mean things differently at times than Wilson does, as with his claims that Lewis was unknowingly presuppositionalist. What did Wilson mean by leaving Susan out of the heavenly realm? What did he mean about serving Tash? Was Lewis reformed? These are good and important questions and Wilson answers them in turn. I do wish this was longer, but I’m sure others wished it was shorter. It is a book not unlike a pipe, where Lewis said that it gives a wise man something to chew on while he thinks and it gives a stupid man something to stick in his mouth. In any case, I really enjoyed it and if you have a place for Lewis at all in your life and thought, I’m sure you will too.
Wilson’s collection of essays compiled here are first rate. Whatever quibbles I had here and there were superficial at worst. Lewis is like an uncle that we all want to claim as our own and so I take him to mean things differently at times than Wilson does, as with his claims that Lewis was unknowingly presuppositionalist. What did Wilson mean by leaving Susan out of the heavenly realm? What did he mean about serving Tash? Was Lewis reformed? These are good and important questions and Wilson answers them in turn. I do wish this was longer, but I’m sure others wished it was shorter. It is a book not unlike a pipe, where Lewis said that it gives a wise man something to chew on while he thinks and it gives a stupid man something to stick in his mouth. In any case, I really enjoyed it and if you have a place for Lewis at all in your life and thought, I’m sure you will too.
Want to read
December 3, 2021Review here.
January 14, 2022
Excellent; just finished, hope to return with a bit more analysis, but:
- Learned more about Lewis' personal life, and the nuance of his writings
- Was inspired to live with more Christian joy (see particularly his essay "Undragoned- CS Lewis on the gift of Salvation"
- Other stand out essays in this collection: "The Absence of Susan," "The Shadow of that Hyddeous Strength," "Was CS Lewis Reformed?"
Another insightful book from Pastor Wilson certainly worth a read, for both veteran and newbie Lewis readers. Makes me want to read That Hideous Strength again!
- Learned more about Lewis' personal life, and the nuance of his writings
- Was inspired to live with more Christian joy (see particularly his essay "Undragoned- CS Lewis on the gift of Salvation"
- Other stand out essays in this collection: "The Absence of Susan," "The Shadow of that Hyddeous Strength," "Was CS Lewis Reformed?"
Another insightful book from Pastor Wilson certainly worth a read, for both veteran and newbie Lewis readers. Makes me want to read That Hideous Strength again!
May 1, 2022
This is part of my year with Lewis. And I am so glad I read this. Douglas Wilson is pretty much a CS Lewis expert. His insights are amazing and it is clear he knows Lewis’s works very very well. He brings clarity and wisdom to this very important work. I really enjoyed the two chapters on the Last Battle. I also enjoyed his look at Lewis’s apologetic style (Wilson made a clear case that Lewis is presuppositional). Highly recommended if you have ever read Lewis this is a book you need to read.
February 28, 2023
Listened to the audio version. Excellent collection of essays on Lewis.
February 28, 2025
Compelling. Makes me want to re-read several of my Lewis books. Also brought to my attention some of Lewis’ errors that I did not know about.
May 23, 2022
“But as a result of Lewis making these in response to Abscombe, a myth has grown up in unbelieving circles that says that the great apologist Lewis got his clock cleaned by a real philosopher, and as a consequence he retired from the field of apologetics and took to writing about fauns, centaurs, and talking lions.
My purpose here is…to show that Lewis did not back away from this argument in the slightest, as established by a glance at his overall time line.” - Douglas Wilson
Useful and well-written.
My purpose here is…to show that Lewis did not back away from this argument in the slightest, as established by a glance at his overall time line.” - Douglas Wilson
Useful and well-written.
November 14, 2022
If our family didn't already have a resident Lewis scholar (i.e., my wife with her M.A. in British lit), this book would probably have provided more insight than I had already gleaned. Nevertheless, it did help stir some various thoughts for me to meditate on. I especially enjoyed 1) the argument that Emeth's presence in Narnia isn't as much of a problem as Evangelicals typically believe (chapter 3), and 2) the exploration of Lewis' evolving position on evolution (chapter 13).
December 23, 2022
Entertaining amalgum of various essays on C. S. Lewis - everything from determining what stance Lewis had on evolution, to emphasizing his warnings about the movement of society away from truth, to discussing whether or not the Narnia series depict Susan as an apostate. Often witty and insightful, always thought-provoking, reflecting on life and truth in light of Lewis' works.
April 11, 2022
Excellent collection of essays on Lewis—I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It didn't put to rest all of my concerns (of which there were and are a handful), but it certainly encouraged me to read more Lewis, and I guess that was the point, so a hearty "good job" to Pastor Wilson.
April 29, 2022
Plenty of fun that picks up on Lewisian loose strings
Mild bone to pick in the last essay - How can you talk about Lewis’s view on Creation and not refer to his actual attempt at depicting it?
None the less, nice to have in one place
Mild bone to pick in the last essay - How can you talk about Lewis’s view on Creation and not refer to his actual attempt at depicting it?
None the less, nice to have in one place
May 14, 2022
A collection of essays and articles that show not only the lasting insights of Lewis, but which also defend him (as much as is possible) against some of the bigger Evangelical and Reformed criticisms.
Mostly convincing and altogether edifying. Loved it.
Mostly convincing and altogether edifying. Loved it.
December 30, 2021
Very good, especially the chapters on The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength. Purchase it just for those chapters. But the whole book is very much worth reading.
April 20, 2022
I intended to skip reading the Ransom trilogy this year, but between Christiana and Doug, I'm not sure I'll be able to restrain myself.
There are evidently other things Wade needs to listen to so as to become familiar with standard pronunciations. "Eeeeeeemeth"? Really? 😉
There are evidently other things Wade needs to listen to so as to become familiar with standard pronunciations. "Eeeeeeemeth"? Really? 😉
May 5, 2022
A very stimulating collection of essays, many of which correct or clarify common misunderstandings of Lewis.
February 17, 2023
"He, along with Chesterton, has the capacity to edify you profoundly at the very moment he is saying things to make you wrench at your head in exasperation. I am thinking here of a book such as Reflections on the Psalms. But when he is on, which is almost always, you can be done with the wrenching and just enjoy the edification"
Part of me has always felt a little guilty for loving the work of CS Lewis. Our church had a short pamphlet on the way out that awkwardly reminded me of the writer’s somewhat sketchy views that placed him outside of the reformed and evangelical camp (purgatory, scripture, and the atonement to name a few).
While these concerns are troubling to me, I cannot escape the fact that Lewis’ marvellous works have profoundly enriched my soul and imagination. He had a powerful way of presenting holiness as both attractive and attainable. This created a tension within my mind that has been difficult to reconcile.
How can reformed evangelicals resolve this tension? This delightful collection of essays from Doug Wilson helps to point us in the right direction.
The essays provide some fascinating insights into many areas of Lewis’ work – apologetics, evolution, predestination, education, the cosmos, and Narnia. Throughout, Doug asks the question, “was Lewis reformed?”. Although his answer may frustrate some, and while I think he may be reaching at some points, I think he sees a side to Lewis that others miss.
Our goal should not be to remake Lewis in our image, nor should it be likened to a “struggle over the body of Moses”. He wouldn’t have called himself a Calvinist or an evangelical to be sure. That said, his writings are full of truths that not only resonate with the core tenants of these traditions but also challenge them to respond to their own shortcomings.
Doug gives us the tools to critically engage with Lewis’ work, and not just to simply get him off the hook. In some cases, there isn’t even a hook – only misconceptions that have failed to grasp his entire system of thought, however disorganised it might be. While we can't (and shouldn't) excuse all his troubling statements, Doug in his ever-witty fashion helps us to understand how Lewis can (and should) ignite joy in the heart of the hardest Calvinist.
Part of me has always felt a little guilty for loving the work of CS Lewis. Our church had a short pamphlet on the way out that awkwardly reminded me of the writer’s somewhat sketchy views that placed him outside of the reformed and evangelical camp (purgatory, scripture, and the atonement to name a few).
While these concerns are troubling to me, I cannot escape the fact that Lewis’ marvellous works have profoundly enriched my soul and imagination. He had a powerful way of presenting holiness as both attractive and attainable. This created a tension within my mind that has been difficult to reconcile.
How can reformed evangelicals resolve this tension? This delightful collection of essays from Doug Wilson helps to point us in the right direction.
The essays provide some fascinating insights into many areas of Lewis’ work – apologetics, evolution, predestination, education, the cosmos, and Narnia. Throughout, Doug asks the question, “was Lewis reformed?”. Although his answer may frustrate some, and while I think he may be reaching at some points, I think he sees a side to Lewis that others miss.
Our goal should not be to remake Lewis in our image, nor should it be likened to a “struggle over the body of Moses”. He wouldn’t have called himself a Calvinist or an evangelical to be sure. That said, his writings are full of truths that not only resonate with the core tenants of these traditions but also challenge them to respond to their own shortcomings.
Doug gives us the tools to critically engage with Lewis’ work, and not just to simply get him off the hook. In some cases, there isn’t even a hook – only misconceptions that have failed to grasp his entire system of thought, however disorganised it might be. While we can't (and shouldn't) excuse all his troubling statements, Doug in his ever-witty fashion helps us to understand how Lewis can (and should) ignite joy in the heart of the hardest Calvinist.
December 20, 2021
Engaging and helpful look at Lewis' thought and impact on Wilson's life and thought. Wilson helps us understand some of Lewis' more controversial theology and realize that some of it is not what it seems. Most helpful is the quotes from Jack that he points us to throughout. My favorite nod being:
“And yet all loneliness, angers, hatreds, envies and itchings that it contains, if rolled into one single experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt by the least in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all.” (The Great Divorce, 138)
Doesn't get any sweeter than that. Thanks for thinking and writing hard, Mr. Wilson.
“And yet all loneliness, angers, hatreds, envies and itchings that it contains, if rolled into one single experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt by the least in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all.” (The Great Divorce, 138)
Doesn't get any sweeter than that. Thanks for thinking and writing hard, Mr. Wilson.
July 20, 2022
Wilson's collected essays on Lewis are excellent and varied, addressing many of the most common as well as the more nuanced questions about Lewis's theological convictions as evidenced in his many and diverse works and writings. I found Wilson's analysis helpful on a number of levels. Some of the positions can get a bit technical, but Wilson remains honest about Lewis's positions, even while acknowledging that some changed over time (for better or worse). All the while, Wilson gives Lewis due credit and honor and helps clear up several muddy puddles that modern Christian readers of several bents tend to step in while reading Lewis. I'm thankful for this book.
December 30, 2022
So delightful that I read it in one sitting. The only dud was his chapter on “The Tao of Lewis,” which was originally written in 2001. I think Wilson’s understanding and appreciation for natural law have grown since then, and his later essays in this book show this growth. I was gratified to learn that Samuel Parkison had the exact same reaction, and said so much better than I could in his review, which you can find below. If you’re a Reformed lover of Lewis, then fill your pipe and grab you a mug of ale and go read this book.
October 2, 2022
I began reading this book this morning. I completed it about 4 hours ago. It is that good. If you have read C.S. Lewis, and if you have weighed Lewis' thought, and considered how he was prophetic and biblical in his assessments of the failures of materialism/naturalism/secularism/atheism/scientism, you will devour this book. Wilson is a genius, too, and in this piece, he (Wilson) offers his paean to his intellectual mentor. Excellent book.
August 21, 2022
The element I liked most about this book was the amount of knowledge of Lewis and connections that can be made about his worldview through a compilation of connections of his writings. Excellent little source of references.
December 18, 2021
As a collection of essays, this book can be repetitive at times. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed them, with only a couple of exceptions. What’s not to like when Wilson talks about Lewis?!
December 22, 2021
Fun little collection of essays
January 15, 2022
Really enjoyed this.
April 22, 2022
A wonderful collection of essays on all things Lewis. I enjoyed each take and I believe all the conclusions were well founded.
April 25, 2022
Exceptional! Here's one to return too again and again.
October 8, 2022
Just amen.
January 3, 2023
C. S. Lewis always pays dividends. Wilson has invested a lot of time in reading him over the years.
June 2, 2023
Just fantastic reflections upon Lewis from Doug Wilson's perspective.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews