Gerard Reed - C.S. Lewis and the Bright Shadow of Holiness

Copyright 1999
by Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City

2014 eISBN 978-0-8341-3441-6

Printed in the
United States of America

Cover Design: Ted Ferguson

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked NKJV is from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

Scripture marked RSV is from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

Scripture marked KJV is from the King James Version.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reed, Gerard.

C. S. Lewis and the bright shadow of holiness / Gerard Reed.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-8341-1752-5 (pb)

1. Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963Religion. 2. Christian literature, EnglishHistory and criticism. I. Title.

BX5199.L53R44 1999

To my parents,
Paul and Lucile Reed,
who have for nearly 60 years
encouraged and supported me

and to the memory
of my Aunt Edith Lantz
who gave her life to editing
Nazarene Publishing House
curriculum materials
and who encouraged me
to read and write on the Holy Spirit

Contents

PART ONE
The Bright Shadow of Holiness

1. Heavenly Tracings of a Holy One
The Bright Shadow of Holiness

2. The Most Beautiful Thing in the World
A Particular Thing

3. The Fire Forever Burning
Most Numinous of All

PART TWO
Gods Holy Temple:
Glorious and Excellent by Design

4. A Mind like the Mind of the Maker
A Shadow of an Image

5. A Will Still Free to Will Gods Will
The Modus Operandi of Destiny

PART THREE
A Most Ungodly Bent Toward Evil

6. Were Vandals, All of Us
All Sin Is Sacrilege

7. Theres a Devil in This Mess
The Bent One

8. We Choose to Lose Our Way
The Fall Is Simply Disobedience

9. The Ravages of Sin
The Soul Has Gone Out of the Wood

PART FOUR
Gods Holy Provisions
The Whole of Christianity

10. Called to Be Holy
People of a Particular Sort

11. Perfectly Christian
The Whole of Christianity

12. Conformed to Christ Jesus
All Men Were Intended to Be

13. Put On the New Man
An Alteration of the WillDie Before You Die

14. Perfect Submission
Give Me All

15. All to Jesus I Surrender
The Key to All Doors

16. Part of His Body
Joined to the Immortal Head

17. Refined by Trials
Made Perfect Through Suffering

PART FIVE
Holy, Holy, Holy God

18. Holy Father
God Himself Has Taught Us How to Speak of Him

19. Holy Son
The Good and Terrible Lion of Judah

20. Holy Spirit
He Is Always Acting Through You

F EW 20TH-CENTURY FIGURES have more pervasively influenced Christendom than C. S. Lewis. His books continue to sell well 35 years after his death. The seven volumes of The Chronicles of Narnia stud each years list of best-selling childrens stories. Mere Christianity continues to sell in Christian bookstores and is on the shelves of most secular outlets as well. No other Christian writers books have been so continuously in print or so widely sold. And few, if any, writers have so effectively helped evangelize non-Christians (such as Chuck Colson), who acknowledge Lewiss theological insight for helping open them to Gods grace.

In a September 1996 issue of Christianity Today devoted to Movers and Shapers of Modern Evangelicalism, John Stackhouse Jr. reviewed the most influential books published since World War II and noted that one authors books indisputably affected American evangelicals during this period more than any of the other authors mentioned.

A recent column in Christianity Today by Charles Colson, The Oxford Prophet, contends that Lewis is a true prophet for our postmodern age.

A prophet he may well be, but Lewis never claimed status as more than a lay theologian. Having read many theologians, however, Im persuaded he understood Christianity better than many who occupy prestigious seminary chairs. What he did claim to do was to clearly explain the traditional Christian faith, and his thoroughly grounded faith informed virtually all he wrote. His was a thoroughly converted mind!

Similarly, though he never devoted a sustained treatise to holiness, his works include a mass of material concerning it just because holiness of heart and life is one of the central concerns of traditional Christianity. Most clearly, I think, Lewiss emphasis on transformation, the divine working of the Holy Spirit, infusing grace and conforming believers to the image of Christ Jesus, squares with the call to holiness that is central to the Wesleyan tradition. One finds in him an emphasis upon both the crisis moments of decision, grace-sustained choices that chart lifes directions, and the supernatural growth process that slowly builds character. So while he cannot be packed into a tidy compartment in the holiness tradition, his thoughts about God, creation, sin, and salvation all support and shed light on holiness themes.

This book, C. S. Lewis and the Bright Shadow of Holiness, tries to mix several elements. In part it often resembles an anthology of Lewis quotations, for he is eminently quotable! One of my main struggles was to decide which quotation to leave out, or how much to delete from one included. Amply quoting one whose thought and expression far surpasses my own is, of course, fully justified! Indeed, if I can dangle a literary lure before the reader that will lead him or her to follow up a brief selection and read more of Lewis, one of my goals will be realized.

Second, this book, by virtue of the items selected, tries to interpret Lewiss thought, to place it in categories that (though not necessarily pronounced in his work) seem to help us understand his views on the subject addressed. Here I have tried to be fair, to not impose my presuppositions or expectations on him. I simply hope I have been true to Lewiss basic views. Still, since I looked for his ideas on holiness, it is likely I read into some of his statements more than is actually there! But such is the nature of such endeavors!

Third, his words regularly stimulate me to add insights and comments from noted theologians and thinkers, as well as many of my own, which I trust are true to the basic thrust of his views. Lewis was solidly rooted in mainstream, consensual traditions of the Christian Church, and I seek to show how his views square with the truly formative thinkers of the past, such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. Nevertheless, such ideas must be understood to be purely my own ruminations and expositions, which I hope illustrate or expand on Lewiss stance.