Dean's Letter

December 2005
From The Very Reverend David Bird, Ph.D., Dean and Rector

Enjoying C.S. Lewis

As I write, the USA is anticipating a new phenomenon: the first movie version of C.S. Lewis' masterpiece, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Rarely, if ever, does a film convey the greatness of a literary original, yet clergy are secretly hoping for a new "spiritual classic" of the screen for their Advent and Christmas sermons.

In the early nineteen seventies, I was a young school chaplain and responsible for ensuring the teaching of religion throughout grades 1-12. Fortunately my predecessor had a literary bent and had brilliantly decided that the teaching of religion in the Fourth Grace should consist of one book only: "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." This was a tremendous boon to me in teaching the fifth grade (I taught religion to grades 5,6,11 and 12). Their Holy Week assignment was to read through the story of Christ's crucifixion and then compare it with Lewis' description of the death and coming back to life of the great lion, Aslan.

Try it. Suddenly one can see the powerful evangelistic message of Lewis. The gospel message takes on new life for us in this wonderful children's story that captivated me in early childhood and provided an entry into the mystery of God and the nature of sacrifice.

Somehow Lewis is able to provide a huge range of possible avenues of interest for people of completely different interests: science fiction, brilliant academic literary criticism, armchair theology (in the most positive sense of that term), ethics, novels and poetry. (I am sure there are other categories I should have included.)

Ironically many of us who so confidently recommend his writings have difficulty somewhere with aspects of his faith and personality. He could be abrasive. He was much more in tune with the real world than depicted in either of the movie versions of his life, based on the play "Shadowlands." He did not lead the sheltered life people suggested. He saw pain, real pain. This included the death of his mother was he was only nine; service in the devastatingly horrific first world war; and, between the two, a psychologically traumatic experience in the school he referred to by the pseudonym, "Wyvern College."

Lewis was a real person, deeply in touch with the world, who knew human tragedy and pain at first hand. His relationship with Mrs. Moore, many years his senior, whom he and his brother looked after for the rest of his life, will engage speculative, psychologically-driven authors for years to come. The story of Lewis' brief marriage to the American writer on the Ten Commandments, Joy Davidman, is chronicled in "A Grief Observed." Now the book is sold as by C.S. Lewis. When he wrote it, he sent it to his regular publisher under the name Neville Clark. He did not want it published because of who he was but because of what it said. When I was young, Neville Clark's book was frequently recommended to us. Only later was Lewis identified as Neville Clark.

Since Lewis' death his reputation has soared. The evangelical Anglican, Jim Packer, points out that not even Pope John Paul II nor Billy Graham has received the title, "A Christian for all Christians," but Lewis has. Packer points out that Lewis has become a kind of icon for evangelical Christians: "despite his smoking and drinking; his belief in purgatory; . . . his use of the confessional" and his "critical, rather than fundamentalist, approach to Scripture" these are but some of the areas where he diverged from evangelical Christians.

How, then, does one come to enjoy Lewis? I suggest by just getting hold of his books in a library and seeing which volumes truly captivate us. Not all of us will like equally everything he has written. Sometimes we will find him infuriating (often because he is remarkably able to tear down our hidden prejudices or build up a case for a position we would love to ignore.) Usually we will find something we have not thought of before. Always we will find clear, comprehensible prose and know ourselves to be in the hands of a master.

— David

>> Back to Dean's Letters

who we are . worship services . iglesia de guadalupe . ministries . children & families
calendar . news . sermons & ideas . join us . sitemap . home

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
81 North Second Street, San Jose, California 95113 . 408-293-7953
trinicat@pacbell.net . www.trinitysj.org