Reading Lewis: The Great Divorce

One of Lewis' most popular titles seems mis-named. The Great Divorce is not about marriage or divorce or about the family at all. It is a parable about heaven and hell and the great division ("divorce") between the two.

In this story, Lewis portrays heaven as the Reality toward which every desire has always been leaning. Even evil desires have in them some kernel of the joy that heaven -- and only heaven -- could ultimately fulfill.

Hell, in this view, is a place of torment not because of the exquisite physical terrors but because of its failure to be much of anything at all. Hell isn't the opposite of heaven in The Great Divorce; it is "not a bang but a whimper," to borrow a phrase. The tiniest molecule of heaven could hold the entirety of hell.

And this life here on earth? From that vantage-point, after death, our earthly life will seem in retrospect either a region of hell (because it really all began there) or the first taste of glory.

I have long thought that every man has tasted hell many times in his life. Not when he burns his finger but when he feels that aching pang of being Left Out, especially when he realizes that he alone is the cause of his isolation and rejection.

Reading CS Lewis: "Why I Am Not a Pacifist"

I have a new item on my bucket list: I want to read the works of CS Lewis. I've always enjoyed reading Lewis. His gift for the perfect analogy is, I suppose, one of the reasons he is so clear and compelling and why he still has such appeal so many decades after his death in 1963.

Some of his works I know well from frequent exposure. I teach a class on Lewis in my high school, so I read Mere Christianity and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with my students every year. But I've never really read all the way through his essays, stories, and sermons, collected in works such as The World's Last Night, God in the Dock, and Of Other Worlds.

And his letters! Lewis made it a point to respond personally to every letter he ever received from a reader, either in a hand-written note or dictated to his brother Warnie, who typed. It is estimated that he wrote some 10,000 letters. There are three collections that I am aware of, and with that many letters sent to that many fans, I suppose Lewis letters will continue to surface from time to time.

So this is the first of my posts on my readings in the book A Year with CS Lewis, from his essay "Why I am Not a Pacifist."

Lewis argues against pacifism on two grounds:

1. Jesus' admonition to "turn the other cheek" is not to be taken absolutely, to apply in all circumstances (e.g., a student striking a teacher, a criminal attacking an officer) but is rather concerned with inter-personal relationships. This is a distinction I have heard before and which seems reasonable.

Except that the actual pacifism demonstrated by Jesus (and commended later by Peter in his first epistle) did not have anything to do with personal relationships. He was abused by strangers, by representatives of the religious authority and the State. Nothing personal about those attacks, yet Jesus, who had every reason to retaliate, to protect Himself, submitted meekly to those torments.

2. Pacifism is politically impractical. In the end, the strictly observant pacifist is dominated by the bully, whether in the schoolyard or in international relations. In a fallen world, pacifism works well only as a theory, not in real life.

Except that "in the end" the unspeakable suffering of Jesus did prevail -- as did the suffering of the protesters in India and the civil rights activists in the American South. Given enough time, it would appear that it is pacifism, not militarism, that is ultimately triumphant.


This isn't, of course, mere theory. All of us have to make daily decisions about how we will respond to abuse and threats. "Turn the other cheek" and "love your enemy" are what Christ taught and what He exemplified.

And it's not just a personal matter. The Newtown shootings have thrust the gun debate back into the national spotlight. I have yet to hear a Christian argue for the right to bear arms along the lines of WWJD. It seems that whenever a Christian argues for the right to protect and defend with deadly force, the teachings of Jesus must be set aside.

I am no pacifist, but I cannot argue against the biblical soundness of the position.


 

Why I Still Teach

I’m one of those rare people who actually enjoys his work. I don’t drag myself to work, even on Mondays. 

Why? I get to work with kids in their late teens, at that crucial point in their intellectual and spiritual formation when they’re working out their own answers to the most important questions they’ll ever consider.

“What should I do with my life?” 

“I know what I’ve been taught, but what do I actually believe?” 

“What really matters and should claim my attention, and what is inconsequential and can safely be ignored?”

I can’t answer all those questions for my students. I can’t find God’s call for their lives or tell them what they believe, but in our time together in my Bible classes I try to help them understand what kind of God has called them and how He’s spoken through His Word. 

Sometimes I like to take my seniors on an on-campus “field trip.” We walk down to the hallway where the class composites line the walls, and they can see my “trophy case,” the images of those hundreds of students who have sat where they sit now, in my classroom. They’re not only looking at their future, they’re looking at what I’ve done with the last 35 years of my life.

I know that most men my age who began in the classroom have moved on to other things by now: administration, industry, the corporate world. But 35 years after I started out with sophomore English and eighth grade Bible classes at the old Homewood campus, I’m still herding the kittens every weekday. 

And (most days) loving it.

I'm beginning to think more and more that teaching is a young man's game. So why have I stayed in it for such a long time? There are several reasons. Here are some:

3. There’s a buzz in a room full of teenagers. Sure, there are days when teens are annoying (I try not to show it), but most days I love the sheer energy of teen life. It both keeps me young and ages me prematurely, I’m sure.

2. As a Christian parent, my wife and I have appreciated all the help we have received in raising our three sons and one daughter. As a teacher, I am grateful for the opportunity to help Christian parents in that vital task that God has assigned to them, passing on their faith.  

1. And the Number One Reason: I’m pretty sure I have the best job in the world. I get to invest my professional energies in the two things that will survive the planet: people and God’s Word. A zillion years from now, when the universe has burned up and vanished, the results of what we did in that building on Washington Church Road will endure. The people who sat in those chairs will be thriving in God’s New Heaven and Earth. 

And I get to play a role in their intellectual and spiritual formation? 

Astonishing!