C. S. Lewis on the Inability of Science to Define Morality

“I dread specialists in power because they are specialists speaking outside their special subjects. Let scientists tell us about sciences. But…questions about the good for man, about justice, and what things are worth having at what price…on these a scientific training gives a man’s opinion no added value. Let the doctor tell me I shall die unless I do so-and-so; but whether life is worth having on those terms is no more a question for him than for any other man.”

— from the essay “Is Progress Possible?” in God in the Dock, 315.

C. S. Lewis on Good Writing

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Lewis was a diligent reader of writing samples submitted to him, both from close friends and from complete strangers. He offered general evaluative remarks, but also comments on specific lines and particular word choices. Sometimes he replied by offering a quick primer on the art of writing. To a little girl from Florida he offered these five principles:

• “Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean, and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.”

• “Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t say implement promises, but keep them.”

• Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean ‘more people died,’ don’t say ‘mortality rose.’

• “Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing.” Under this heading, Lewis goes on to say that the writing should delight readers, not just label an event delightful; or it should make them feel terror, not just to learn that an event was terrifying. He says that emotional labeling is really just a way of asking readers, ‘Please, will you do my job for me?’

• “Don’t use words that are too big for the subject.” Lewis illustrates this point by saying if you use infinitely as an intensifier instead of the simple word very, you won’t have any word left when you need to describe something that is truly infinite. (CL, 3, 766).

Another interesting snippet of this blog post concerns Lewis’s prolific correspondence:

As he became increasingly renowned in his later years, Lewis was inundated with letters on just about every topic imaginable—from spiritual direction to Spinoza to spelling. He did his best to answer as many letters as he could, though this became an onerous task. Lewis explained to one correspondent that he had answered 35 letters that day; on a different occasion, he noted that he had spent 14 hours that day catching up on his correspondence (CL 2, 509; 3, 1152).

— David Downing, “The Sound and Savor” of Words: Lewis on the Art of Writing at the C. S. Lewis blog

C. S. Lewis on Avoiding God

C. S. Lewis, “The Seeing Eye” in Christian Reflections (Eerdmans, 1967), pp. 168-167:

Avoid silence, avoid solitude, avoid any train of thought that leads off the beaten track. Concentrate on money, sex, status, health and (above all) on your own grievances. Keep the radio on. Live in a crowd. Use plenty of sedation. If you must read books, select them very carefully. But you’d be safer to stick to the papers. You’ll find the advertisements helpful; especially those with a sexy or a snobbish appeal.

(HT: Maverick Philosopher)

C. S. Lewis on the Nativity

Merry Christmas, everyone!  May we all see the Incarnation afresh.

The Nativity
by C. S. Lewis

Among the oxen (like an ox I’m slow)
I see a glory in the stable grow
Which, with the ox’s dullness might at length
Give me an ox’s strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they)
I see my Savior where I looked for hay;
So may my beast like folly learn at least
The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed)
I watch the manger where my Lord is laid;
Oh that my baaing nature would win thence
Some woolly innocence!

Lewis writes about the incarnation in Miracles. He names it as the central miracle, that, “every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.” In other words, the incarnation is the hinge that open the heavens. And they are opened (or reopened) in a way that completes the myths of old and reimagines the relationship of God to his creation.

Jesus, God incarnate, enters nature in order to reclaim her. God, Lewis says, is part of nature like the corn-king of old and more… “He is not the soul of Nature nor any part of Nature,” Lewis explains, “He inhabits eternity: He dwells in the high and holy place: Heaven is his throne, not His vehicle, earth is His footstool, not His vesture.”

So, the incarnation is God’s claim on us, not ours on him. He is the invader, the thief, the wrestler of Jacobs. “It is not to tell of a human search for God at all, but of something done by God for, to, and about, Man,” Lewis says.

Advent prepares us to encounter The Incarnation and to turn off the noise of the Christmas racket while we point square into the face of God.

(Via the C. S. Lewis Blog)

Interview with President of Walden Media (Narnia Films)

Thanks to C. S. Lewis scholar Devin Brown, professor of English at Asbury College, for bringing this interview to my attention.  As you probably know, Walden Media has produced the Narnia movies (including the forthcoming Voyage of the Dawn Treader) as well as great films like Amazing Grace and Charlotte’s Web.

Last spring Micheal Flaherty, President of Walden Media, visited Asbury College as part of its Engaging Culture weekend.  As those who have met him know, he is a truly great man–full of wisdom, enthusiasm, real joy, and deep compassion.

While he was on campus, Devin Brown had the opportunity to ask him about Walden’s mission, where its name came from, and even what his favorite scene [in the first Narnia film] is.  His responses to these and other questions can be viewed here.

C. S. Lewis and Lost

Cover of The Great Divorce

This is a program I’ve never gotten into (what’s going on?), but I’ve seen a number of blogs unearthing deep philosophical and spiritual themes from the series.  Apparently, some of the writers are fans of Lewis and Narnia, as David J. Theroux explains in this post from the C. S. Lewis blog.

ABC’s hit TV series Lost continues to receive attention regarding the influence of C. S. Lewis’s books on the plot, themes and characters. Last year, character Charlotte Staples Lewis (“C. S. Lewis”) joined the series with her arrival clearly taken from Prince Caspian.

And as reported in numerous articles this winter, the plot has included many parallels to Lewis’s book The Great Divorce in which numerous people who visit the outskirts of heaven remain “lost” as they cling stubbornly and vainly to selfish ways only to prefer hell in the process.

Most recently, in addition to Narnia-like magical lands, time travel and mysterious events, Lost has featured more overt symbols from Narnia, including “The Lamp Post” positioned at the island’s entrance, just as it is found at the edge of Narnia in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Further parallels pertain to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Here are some articles that take this subject of comparison further.

“The Lost Dawn Treader?”, by Todd Hertz (Christianity Today, March 2, 2009)

‘Lost’: ‘Caspian,’ See?”, by Jeff Jensen (Entertainment Weekly, February 18, 2009)

“Lost: The ties that bind,” by Molly Lemick (San Francisco Examiner, February 12, 2009)