The Lion's Country: C. S. Lewis's Theory of the Real

by Charlie W. Starr, Diana Pavlac Glyer (Foreword)

Using a philosophical lens to more deeply examine, appreciate, and understand C. S. Lewis’s writings Drawing on C. S. Lewis’s essays, sermons, and fiction, The Lion’s Country offers a comprehensive exploration of Lewis’s understanding of reality―important, Charlie W. Starr argues, to more fully understand Lewis’s writing but also to challenge and inform our own thought about what constitutes the Real. For Lewis, reality is not simply a matter of what we can ascertain with our senses; the Real includes but also transcends the physical. Indeed, for Lewis, who is perhaps the most influential Christian writer of the 20th century, God is the most Real thing there is. Yet during the modernist era when Lewis lived, taught, and wrote, the prevailing view was that the only legitimate knowledge was that which could be derived from empirically provable facts. Lewis’s rejection of such a narrow belief prompted him to ask, “What are facts without interpretation?” and led to his lifelong pursuit of experiencing and understanding the Real. Much of his fiction, including The Chronicles of Narnia, is fundamentally about how we can encounter reality and be certain of what we know. Starr’s unique look at Lewis’s philosophical and theological underpinnings extends even to a discussion of heaven and what it would be like to see the face of God. Including a never-before-released passage from Lewis’s unpublished Prayer Manuscript, The Lion’s Country is an essential contribution to Lewis studies.

Genres: Faith

160 pages, Paperback

Published April 6, 2010

Reviews

[Isaiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was intially apprehensive of Dr. Starr's style given that I tend to be more familiarized with academic philosophy & theology, which all have broad similarities in format. However, upon further reading, I found a goldmine of Lewisian research. Dr. Starr combs through Lewis's corpus to arrange what I would describe as the skeleton, or more accurately, the skeleton, marrow, and organs, of C.S. Lewis's theory of "The Real"/"Reality."

In this volume, one will discover a myriad of things about Lewis's thought and how it impacts his fiction & academic writing. Furthermore, for those familiar with the literature on Christian Platonism & a Sacramental Worldview, an attentive eye will help discern how Lewis freshly stands in continuity with the Great Tradition of catholic, orthodox, Christian thought—particularly in its Christian Platonist (Platonist in the Gersonian sense) instantiation.

Lewis's view of reality is grand. It is at once sacramental and Platonic; classically idealistic and Christian; manifold and hierarchical; vertical and horizontal; mysterious and utterly real.

The first four chapters, 1-4 (plus the preface), lay the groundwork for Lewis's thought & furthermore survey his pre-Christian & immature worldview. The largest chapter (I think), chapter 4, the Apologetical Decade, is integral for understanding the succeeding five chapters.

In my mind, chapters 5-9 are the best (they also compose majority of the book's content).
They are as follows:

5. Mystery & the Real
6. Hierarchy Part One
7. Hierarchy Part Two
8. Transposition
9. Sacrament & the Problem of Knowing

The last chapter on Heaven was nice, but it seemed to serve as a simple case study of sorts using Heaven itself as its piece of analysis.

All around a gem of a book.

Some gems:

"After all, 'If nothing is self-evident, nothing can be proved.'" p. 32
(Echoes the Aristotelian axiom, "From nothing comes nothing")

"Lies and dreams present false reality but, once they are known for what they are, only their ability to decieve ceases. They remain real lies and real dreams: 'In fact we should never ask of anything ''Is it Real?'', for everything is real. The proper question is ''A real what?'', e.g., a real snake or a real delirium tremens?" p.61

"We can't imagine perfect goodness because we ourselves are tainted by evil. Good came into the world once, and we missed him completely; we even crucified him." pg. 72

"As being increases, so does meaning." pg. 78

There's far more, but I won't give away my favorites or all the gems so easily.

Further up, and further in!

[Dylan Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my top five favorite books in the extensive category of secondary literature about C.S. Lewis. In my opinion, very few books about Lewis's thought have influenced my own thinking as much as this one. If I were you, I would read it, meditate on it, and then read it again.