CS Lewis

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Sep 2, 2009
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#1
anybody a cs lewis fan? i had heard that he was one of the most well known christian authors, but ive read all the books in the narnia series and im kinda surprised hes considered a christian author because of some of the things in these books.
 
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suaso

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#2
I haven't read any of his books. I saw the Narnia movie, but like most movie adaptations of books, it probably wasn't the best representation of the book. That being said, I didn't care much for the film. I got the impression that a great Christian allegory in the genre of Fantasy had already been done with J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Not to detract from Mr. Lewis's great contributions to literature, but I loves me some LOTR :D
 
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Slepsog4

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#3
Try reading some of his non-fantasy writings:

Mere Christianity
God in the Dock
The Great Divorce
The 4 Loves
A Grief Observed
The Problem of Pain
The Screwtape Letters
The Abolition of Man
Miracles
Surprised by Joy
 
Sep 2, 2009
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#4
its interesting that Tolkien and Lewis were actually friends and hung out at a little pub together. but yes the narnia books cant compare to LOTR. im a big fan of that series, and the movies. i thought the narnia movie was pretty good, and an ok adaptation but mostly its the other books in that series that actually has some unchristian things in them. i think theres even a scene in one of them where bacchus, the pagan god of wine and merryment, comes prancing out of the forest with a bunch of nymphs and parties it up with Aslan?
 
Sep 2, 2009
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#5
Try reading some of his non-fantasy writings:

Mere Christianity
God in the Dock
The Great Divorce
The 4 Loves
A Grief Observed
The Problem of Pain
The Screwtape Letters
The Abolition of Man
Miracles
Surprised by Joy
cool, i hadnt even heard of those. i just might check them out. thanks.
 
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suaso

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#6
Yeah, I hear his non-fantasy novels were pretty good. I also need to read some C.K Chesterton, as he is all the rage among my peer group these days. I haven't read for fun in about 2 years. Textbooks, textbooks, textbooks :(
 
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wwjd_kilden

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#7
Lewis never intended Narnia to be christian, neither did Tolkien intend LOTR to be (they said themselves, somewhere)

we don't always use our faith in everything we produce do we, why should they? - but they sure can write :)
 
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Groundhog

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#8
I enjoy C.S. Lewis. I thought "Miracles" was his best book, or at least his deepest, I think.
 
Jul 6, 2009
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#9
Lewis had some interesting ideas. He strongly believed that God inspired Christian ideas in some pre-Christian myths, such as the ancient mythological stories of gods dying and coming back to life. In his view, paganism wasn't the work of the devil, but actually God's way of preparing the gentiles to receive Christ's message. Which is why he felt it was okay to have pagan gods appear in Narnia.
 
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roaringkitten

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#10
Lewis had some interesting ideas. He strongly believed that God inspired Christian ideas in some pre-Christian myths, such as the ancient mythological stories of gods dying and coming back to life. In his view, paganism wasn't the work of the devil, but actually God's way of preparing the gentiles to receive Christ's message. Which is why he felt it was okay to have pagan gods appear in Narnia.

Which is precisely why C.S. Lewis is a false teacher. To say that God used paganism to reach the Gentiles by faith should be an alarm bell to any true believer that this man is a dangerous false teacher. Its sad that he has deceived multitudes of Christians with half truths and lies from the devil. His Narnia series are saturated with satanic witchcraft. Of course wolves wont appear as wolves, but as sheep.

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Matthew 7:15
 
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suaso

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#11
Lewis never intended Narnia to be christian, neither did Tolkien intend LOTR to be (they said themselves, somewhere)

we don't always use our faith in everything we produce do we, why should they? - but they sure can write :)
I have heard conflicting reports on that for Tolkien, not sure about Lewis. Some say Tolkien meant for LOTR to be influenced by his faith, other that it absolutely wasn't. Just like most of what we do is probably going to reflect how we believe, I guess it was inevitable that Lewis and Tolkien's fiction would have such underlying Christian themes.

I thought it was interesting to see the difference between Lewis's Anglican influence and Tolkien's Catholic influence in their works. For Lewis the Jesus figure was a big strong lion, for Tolkien it was a little hobbit. Hmmm, I'm sure there's a book out there on the theology of these two stories to be written if it already hasn't been! At any rate, I love those types of stories. Mythology is very important, and Narnia/LOTR is sort of like our created mythology in the modern world.
 
Sep 2, 2009
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#12
hm, wouldnt Gandalf be more of the jesus figure in LOTR? or maybe Aragorn. wow, there really could be a whole book on the theology of those stories. im sure there is somewhere. i also think stories like these are our mythology, and they even do as old mythologies have done, incorporated other older mythologies into them.
 
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Kyra

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#13
Densetzu said it well, regarding Lewis and his use of mythology.

My favorite is the Great Divorce. I think Lewis has a solid grasp on human nature, which I really appreciate.

I also think that the Chronicles of Narnia give glimpses of many different spiritual principles, i.e. spiritual blindness(the last battle), elements of addiction and bondage,( the silver chair) how God works differently in different lives,(the horse and his boy) and of course redemption (lion witch and the wardrobe) etc.

Right now I'm reading through the Problem of Pain. If anyone else has read it, it would be fun to discuss. Also, I had a Chesterton phase and I love the Father Brown mysteries. : )
 
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wwjd_kilden

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#14
I didn't say it wast influenced, it obviously is :) but from what I've understood, he didn't intentionally write it christian- themed. - We'll never know for sure though, until we can ask him ourselves
 
Jul 17, 2009
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#15
anybody a cs lewis fan? i had heard that he was one of the most well known christian authors, but ive read all the books in the narnia series and im kinda surprised hes considered a christian author because of some of the things in these books.
I really enjoy CS Lewis and find many of his writings to line up with Orthodoxy. I think you would enjoy Screwtape Letters (which both disturbed me and cracked me up at the same time). Mere Christianity is pretty good as is N.T. Wright's (he's Anglican) Simply Christian. Those two books helped me on my journey toward God. N.T. Wright's written a lot of good books too, though he's not written fiction.


God bless, Semiazas (stay out of trouble! - lol)

;)
 
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ChristopherMichael

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#16
C.S. Lewis is the man!

If you liked the Chronicles of Narnia, you should check out his Space Trilogy. They're kind of like the Chronicles, but more for adults.

Out of Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength

They're grrreeeaatt!

- Topher
 
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Kyra

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#17
Semiazas what do you like to read? Fiction? Non-Fict? Sci-fi? Apologetics?
 
Jul 6, 2009
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#18
Though I've read quite a bit about CS Lewis, the truth is I've read very little of Lewis' own work. I have the Narnia series on my dresser, but I've only read the first chapter of The Magician's Nephew. I've also read a bit of the Screwtape Letters, which were quite good too, but I haven't read any of Mere Christianity or his other apologetics.

Its sad that he has deceived multitudes of Christians with half truths and lies from the devil. His Narnia series are saturated with satanic witchcraft. Of course wolves wont appear as wolves, but as sheep.

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Matthew 7:15
Man I love you guys! You people who think everyone else is of the devil, and that any verse mentioning false teachers proves that your views are right and the people you don't like are wrong. You're so predictable, and always good for a laugh!

Hug? ^_^
 
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Graybeard

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#19
Not being nasty here, just stating a point.
So are we now going to use the "Bible Discussion Forum" to discuss movies and the like??
 
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suaso

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#20
Well, it's a good point. On the one hand, movies/books/music are not generally "Bible Discussion" matters. Then again, the nature of a discussion like this involves some degree of theological thinking that may be a little too formal for the very informal and more relaxed/light hearted nature of the "miscellaneous" forum. It might be helpful if there were a forum for theology and general theological musings that something like this could be plugged into, but that isn't my decision to make.
 
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