A Brief Word To Al Mohler On Lewis And Tolkien
There is an excellent article by John Robbins of the Trinity Foundation on C.S. Lewis that I think everyone ought to read: Did C.S. Lewis Go To Heaven?
However, I want to make a few comments about the evangelical adoption of Tolkien and Lewis; in particular I want to make a few comments on Al Mohler's adoption of these two men as patron saints of Literature.
First, if someone is a Catholic (e.g., Tolkien) and you want to refer to him as a Christian, you ought to go out of your way to show that either: 1. he did not understand the teachings of Rome or 2. he did not believe the teachings of Rome.
Second, if you (Mohler) are unaware of what Lewis actually said about Christianity, then please do not call him a Christian. If you are aware of what he said about Christianity and still call him a Christian, then please explain what you think Christianity is.
That's pretty much it, for now. We'll see if he responds to me. I just can't believe that someone with the professed concern for doctrinal purity as Dr. Mohler would refer to either of these two men as Christians without argument or qualification.
As far as I am aware of the teachings of Lewis and Tolkien, neither one of these two men were friends of a truly Scriptural worldview.
posted by Zac @ 10:50 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
In that Lewis paper of Robbins that I linked to (which he, apparently, presented at ETS) he said he was writting about a book about Lewis. That would be good to read.
D, you should write a book about Tolkien.
Are you saying that Lewis and Tolkein were not Christians?
Here's what I'm saying:
1. There are only two ways that I am aware of that a Catholic may be a Christian. A. He may reject the teachings of Rome which contradict the Bible (which is a good deal of the teachings of Rome). B. He may be ignorant of the teachings of Rome and actually believe the Bible.
2. If any "evangelical" wants to assert that a Catholic is a Christian, I think he is obligated to show that either A or B is true in the case of the person they are referring to. If A or B is not true, then they are not, as far as I can tell, capable of being Christians (according to the Scriptural definition).
3. If one actually looks at what C.S. Lewis said about Christianity, he plainly contradicts much of the teachings of Scripture, including, it seems, the gospel. I direct you to the article which I linked to in the post. It is full of quotations from Lewis himself.
4. I think that if you look at the article, you will see that Lewis would at least say that evangelicalism is not "his brand" of Christianity. What is it about evangelicalism that he doesn't like? It seems to be Scripture alone and belief alone that he doens't like. If one rejects these, I find it hard to understand how one can be a Christian.
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