The Fictional Gospel of C.S. Lewis

Introduction

I am hearing the name of Clive Staples Lewis more and more these days lauded as a Christian hero. Years ago I considered writing this article, but anticipated his name and influence would fade with time. However, I recently sat in a class with about forty-people, and at least eight (20%) of the class referenced C.S. Lewis as one of their favorite authors.

Therefore, I am writing this article to warn against reading Lewis for spiritual edification, and to cease recommending his resources, with rare exceptions, as helpful to the Christian life.

What’s Good about C.S. Lewis?

C.S. Lewis has some excellent points and is undoubtedly a wordsmith, but he is not a theologian and his version of Christianity is not a helpful one. I will start this article by stating that his “Lord, Liar, Lunatic” argument, from Mere Christianity, is a phenomenal resource and should be catechized into all of our young people, not because C.S. Lewis said it, but because of the power behind the argument.

Likewise, the depiction of Christ as Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia as a powerful and dangerous, yet meek, lion is also something that should be emphasized in the present world. In Mere Christianity he also calls God “the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from” which is a lost doctrine in most churches.

’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. – Mr. Beaver

Finally, The Screwtape Letters is a powerful look at how people are tempted and there is great value in reading this book to consider the wiles of the devil. An incredible quote comes from a demon’s perspective describing the Christian’s service to God (whom he refers to as the 'Enemy'),

If the Enemy appeared to him in bodily form and demanded that total service for even one day, he would not refuse… He would be relieved almost to the pitch of disappointment if for one half-hour in that day the Enemy said, 'Now you may go and amuse yourself'. Now if he thinks about his assumption for a moment, even he is bound to realize the he is actually in this situation every day.”

Despite these great points—having read much of C.S. Lewis for seminary and pleasure—this is where my appreciation ends. As I continue to read Lewis I continue to grow more and more apprehensive towards his strange views of the Father, the Son, the atonement, and the Scriptures.

Atonement

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the atonement that Aslan makes is not to God for sin, but to the Witch as a replacement. It would seem to imply that Christ’s death was a payment to Satan for the redemption of mankind. The Bible clearly teaches that Christ died to save us not from Satan, but from the wrath of God. The old adage says, “Christ saved us from himself, by himself, for himself.”

Matthew Hall said, “[Lewis’s] understanding of the atonement is biblically problematic…and misses the heart of the gospel.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones was no fan of Lewis either, he said, “Lewis had a defective view of salvation and was an opponent of the substitutionary and penal view of the atonement.” (Both Quoted from Mere Atonement by Ariel Vanderhorst)

Other articles have pointed out that Lewis didn’t just miss this in this one spot, but in many other places misunderstood, and even rejected, penal substitutionary atonement. These discrepancies went unchecked because Lewis had a deficient view of the Scriptures.

Inspiration of Scripture

In Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis says that the psalmist was “blatantly wrong” for his use of imprecatory psalms. C.S. Lewis shows himself most clearly in this book to reject the plenary inspiration of Scripture. But, if you have this hermeneutic of Lewis then you’ll see, though more subtly, that he rejects the truth of the Bible in many other places, no-where so clearly as in Creation.

Creation

The first book chronologically of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Magician’s Nephew, shows a sort of Molinistic universe in which Aslan (Lewis’ God figure) creates a multitude of universes and gets a different result in all of them.

Further, one of the most troubling lines in all of the cannon of Lewis is from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Aslan implies that there is something of creation that is outside of him,

Do not cite the deep magic to me, witch, I was there when it was written.

This directly contradicts everything the Bible speaks of when it says, “By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him (Col 1:16).”

Lewis, as far as I have read, did not speak definitively on evolution, however, he almost certainly never affirmed young-earth creation. BioLogos has latched onto this and lifts Lewis up as a banner of open-minded Christians who go where the “science” leads rather than what the Scriptures teach.

This is keeping in line with what I discovered in Mere Christianity.

Mere Christianity

Mere Christianity was a book I was overjoyed to get to read in seminary, having heard so many good things about it. It was to my surprise and horror, then, when I found very little Christianity in Mere Christianity. For all of the great notable quotables of Lewis, his gospel is not the gospel of God. I do not intend to ever read Mere Christianity again or intend to refute every point, but if you liked this book I’d encourage you to reread it with a critical eye towards its usefulness; there are plenty of articles that have torn this book apart. If I were a contemporary of Screwtape intent on destroying faith, I would write a book thoroughly destroying Christianity and title it something to the effect of Mere Christianity.

Universalism / Inclusivism

*Major Spoiler Alert* Almost every reader of The Chronicles of Narnia is shocked to find out that Emeth, in The Last Battle, is welcomed into Aslan’s heaven even though he was an avowed worshipper of the false-god Tash. Lewis implies that good worship of a false god is counted as righteousness to the true God. The issues with that belief are too myriad to list, but one thing is clear, it misses EVERYTHING the gospel teaches. This is not Lewis’s only indication of inclusivism, but it is the strongest. If you read Lewis with this hermeneutic you’ll notice it everywhere, the god of Lewis and the gospel of Lewis is not in keeping with the Scriptures or God’s plan.

Providence

In The Chronicles of Narnia the Christ figure, Aslan, is frequently absent for hundreds of years. The idea that God is working all things for good to those who love him and are called by his name is absent from Narnia, and it’s only when Aslan remembers Narnia is there any goodness done there. Esther and Mordecai would be confused with the lack of providence in Lewis’ Narnia, so would Paul (compare Romans 8:28).

On Listening

Finally, I’ll include this only because my dissertation is on teaching the church to listen. Most of the resources I found on listening were helpful across the board, it is almost a universal truth and common grace that listening is important to humanity. I was already an avowed enemy of C.S. Lewis, but I was shocked when I came across this:

They had been listening well (to the sermon) up to this point (when the application contradicted the preacher’s life). Now the shufflings and coughings began. Pews creaked; muscles relaxed. The sermon, for all practical purposes was over; the five minutes for which the preacher continued talking were a total waste of time – at least for most of us. (From The Sermon and the Lunch)

I will grant that the sermon Lewis was listening to did have some serious flaws, but Lewis’ reaction was not because the preacher was misusing God’s Word or showing himself to be a false teacher; Lewis gave a completely worldly reason for his stopped ears that the hypocrisy coming from the pulpit negated the message. According to this logic, if every preacher who ever ascended the pulpit were seriously compared to his perfect obedience to the Word he preached, then every listener would have ample excuse to stop listening. But God’s Word remains true even if the devil himself were preaching it.

Conclusion

So now, beloved reader, I do call you to stop listening to C.S. Lewis, not because I dislike his message personally, but because his message is contrary to the Word of God; Lewis disparages who God is, what his Son accomplished, and what Christianity is.

Lewis delivers very well polished stories and messages, but they are of his own making, not expounding or building on the Word of God. To believe Lewis’s god is to follow a false jesus and to render the cross of Christ empty of its power.