|
"I have never concealed
the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have
never written a book in which I did not quote from him."
C.S.Lewis (referring to George MacDonald)
C.S. Lewis (1898–1963)
“I am a democrat because I believe in the Fall of
Man ... Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked
power over his fellows.” One of the greatest Christian thinkers
of the twentieth century, C.S. Lewis was a respected scholar and
teacher at Oxford University for 29 years and then a professor of
Medieval and Renaissance literature at Cambridge University to the
end of his career. An atheist throughout his early life, he adopted
theism in 1929 and converted to Christianity in 1931. Although a
talented debater and writer-Lewis wrote many fictional, didactic,
and devotional works in addition to his sizable academic production-he
is not known as a political commentator. He avoided partisan commitments;
indeed, he turned down a title offered him by Winston Churchill,
thinking his critics would use it to accuse him of being an anti-Leftist
propagandist.
In spite of his indifference to politics as such,
he did often give prescient analysis of a variety of political topics.
One example is Lewis' sharp criticism of what he termed “the omnicompetent
state,” that is, the modern welfare state that promises a universal
curative for society's ills. He saw it as antithetical to human
freedom and the institutions that preserve it, and instead favored
a regime of limited government. He was suspicious of technological
advancement, but only because he thought that technology in the
hands of the omnicompetent state would result in widespread, all-pervasive
tyranny. He noted that the lure of the welfare state is understandable
in the face of seemingly limitless human suffering, yet he exhorted
his readers to be wary of the purveyors of utopian dreams. He instead
promoted the good actions of individual Christian citizens engaging
the challenge of living in a fallen and dark world, stating that
“the art of life consists in tackling each immediate evil as well
as we can.”
Sources: “Politics from the Shadowlands,” Policy Review,
Spring 1994 by John G. West, Jr., God in the Dock by C.S. Lewis,
edited by Walter Hooper (Eerdmans, 1970), and The Abolition of Man
by C.S. Lewis (Macmillan, 1947).
*******
What's Happening at Trinity Cathedral?
Portland, Oregon
The Center
for Spiritual Development
*******
(Check here for upcoming CS Lewis And George MacDonald
Seminars)
|
