Re-Enchanting the Cosmos: The Imaginative Legacy of C.S. Lewis By Angela R. Treadway The Layman Online Wednesday, March 10, 2004 "Aslan is on the move!" Commentary Those familiar with C.S. Lewis' allegorical children's story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will recognize this phrase as the rumor of hope that the Great Lion Aslan, who had not been seen for many years, will return to Narnia. In his long absence, the once-lovely land and its inhabitants had been captured by the White Witch, whose icy grip had turned the country into a frozen wasteland where it was "Always winter and never Christmas." "Aslan is on the move!" Glimpses of him were seen at The Cove (the Billy Graham Training Center) in Asheville, N.C., during a weekend retreat February 27-29, hosted by the C.S. Lewis Foundation, which "seeks to encourage a renaissance of Christian scholarship and artistic expression through the mainstream of contemporary higher education." A daunting challenge As explained in its mission brochure, the C.S. Lewis Foundation has a daunting challenge before it: "There was a time when vital Christian faith and a passionate love for learning and the arts were viewed as being wholly compatible. The names Bach and Mendelssohn, Dante and Dostoevski, Newton and Pascal, Rembrandt and El Greco are illustrative of a long line of Christian scholars and artists for whom faith and vocation were intimately combined. A license plate at The Cove reveals a fan of C.S. Lewis at the retreat. "In stark contrast, Christians now find themselves largely isolated from the cultural mainstream and hard-pressed to envision, let alone fulfill, any meaningful role within a society that increasingly presses for the privatization of faith and its divorce from the important business of cultural formation. The consequences have been devastating not only for Christian scholars and artists, but equally important, for all Christians ... and Society." The foundation's efforts are a hopeful breath of spring air in the never-Christmas winter of today's American post-Christian culture and the weekend retreat at the Cove was a marvelous representation of its efforts. In what one person described as a "mountain-top experience," and with the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains as a backdrop, more than 100 people received intellectual insight, creative inspiration and Christian spiritual refreshment as lecture, drama, poetry, film, music and worship presented various aspects of the life and work of C.S. Lewis in "Re-enchanting the Cosmos: The Imaginative Legacy of C.S. Lewis." The legacy of Lewis And what a legacy it is! Through his books Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce and The Chronicles of Narnia, just for starters, millions of people have been led to a relationship with Christ or to a deeper understanding of their Christian faith. Just how big a spiritual impact Lewis' work has made was brought home by Dr. Bruce Edwards, professor of English and associate dean at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Edwards highlighted Lewis' three-dimensional vocational calling as a distinguished and original literary critic and historian; a highly successful author of fantasy, myth and science fiction; and a writer and broadcaster of Christian apologetics. Edwards rhetorically asked "Who is C.S. Lewis that we are mindful of him?" He listed four things that Lewis had that we vicariously share and should develop on our own: 1. Audacity – It is indeed audacious to claim to know something and claim it is true, and that certain other things are not true. 2. Authority – Lewis' authority was based on his vast knowledge, impeccable scholarship and education. He read Paradise Lost at the age of 6, and learned Greek, Latin, and even Sanskrit. By associating with the best and brightest in his field, coupled with his fervent desire to find truth, Lewis was able to speak with authority. Throngs of people would gather to hear him speak because here was a man who still believed in something. 3. Accessibility – Lewis knew how to reach an audience and build bridges among disparate groups of people. While a scholar of the highest caliber himself, he nonetheless scorned the pretentiousness of the intellectual and/or theological snob. Lewis understood the need to surrender our ego (eros) and notions of what "civilized" men and women are in modern society. He mentored many students, was an avid and prolific pen pal to many people from all walks of life, especially in America, and met weekly with a group of friends and colleagues (the "Inklings") in a local pub for mutual engagement of ideas and creativity – and, of course, the beer. Were it not for Lewis' persistent encouragement of his close friend J.R.R. Tolkien (another of the Inklings), the manuscript for the classic The Lord of the Rings may never have seen the light of day. And what a tragedy that would have been! In turn, Tolkien is partly responsible for Lewis' conversion from an avid atheist to reluctant theist to committed Christian. 4. Appreciation – Lewis had a deep love for the lost – and the ability to remember what it was like to be lost, and to not even be aware of being lost. Actor David Payne portrays C.S. Lewis in a one-man performance. Edwards discussed the creative tension between imagination and reason, a point that was reinforced by Dr. Stan Mattson, founder and president of the C.S. Lewis Foundation: "God's creativity and imagination is infinitely greater than ours could ever be." In today's culture, where the word "imagine" – or, more specifically "re-imagine" – has become a "four-letter word" for orthodox Christians, it was a refreshing reminder that both reason and imagination must yield to revelation. Christian imagination is that imagination illuminated by revelation, by the life and light of Jesus Christ. 'Re-enchantment,' 'Dis-enchantment' As Edwards explained, God created us in his image. God's imagination sang us into being (note that root!) Satan, who cannot carry a tune, brought cacophony into the universe (a theme reflected in Lewis' work and also in Tolkien's The Silmarillion). To say we are about the business of "re-enchanting" the cosmos, is to understand that there has been "dis-enchantment." God created the earth and all that is in it. The heavens declare the glory of God. These were all "enchantments." But Satan and our own sin through the Fall "dis-enchanted," and only through the redemptive power of Christ are we able to now continue God's "re-enchantment." Some of that creative re-enchantment took place in the one-man play, An Evening with C.S. Lewis, eloquently performed by actor David Payne, founder and artistic director of Rising Image Productions in Nashville. The playbill sets the scene: Lewis "has agreed to give an informal talk to a group of American writers who are visiting England. They have come to his home, just outside of Oxford, and are eagerly anticipating hearing the man who had become a legend in his own lifetime. They are not disappointed. Despite his failing health, Lewis is in great form. His audience is spellbound as he recounts the significant events and people that shaped his life with a display of oratory and humor that made him one of England's most famous public speakers." Payne portrays Lewis with great flair and humor, and the audience was spellbound by the moving performance. More re-enchantment came from actor and theologian Nigel Goodwin, founder and international director of Genesis Arts Trust in London, and a long-standing trustee of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. Goodwin's riveting stage presence and oratorical style captivated the audience as he gave his presentation, beautifully interspersed with appropriate readings of poetry by different poets, including Lewis and T. S. Elliot. "The arts are the key to re-enchanting the cosmos," he said, and later: "God gave us the arts for His glory, our own good, and the good of the watching world." While C.S. Lewis was master of the "Grand Narrative," the "Grandest Narrative" is the Gospel. Goodwin proclaimed that the Grandest Narrative is more about "FORgiveness" than "giveness." "What have you been saved from?" he asked. "What have you been saved for?" A welcoming hearth provided a warm and relaxing spot for retreat participants to spend some time in fellowship. Whatever gifts we have been given, use them for God's glory, wherever we may find ourselves. "Artists" are not just musicians, actors, dancers, but also teachers, plumbers, lawyers – anything we have been given, give back to the glory of God – that's what it means to "re-enchant" the cosmos. However, Goodwin cautioned about the dangers of leaving God out of the re-creative process. Regarding scientific "progress" in areas of genetic manipulation, Goodwin said: "The breath of God will not be found in the human genome." A grand vision Goodwin also shared a grand vision of what everlasting life with God might be like after we leave the "shadowlands." He related an anecdote about his young daughter's question if there will be hamsters in heaven. His joking reply – "Not too many, I hope." But, yes, there will be hamsters in heaven, along with the "real" version of every good and wonderful thing God has created. The magnificence of the world around us is just a glimmer, a shadow, of the reality that we will experience in the life everlasting. This echoes a theme in The Last Battle, the final book in Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series. Lewis writes: The new Narnia … was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more. I can't describe it any better than that: if you ever get there, you will know what I mean. It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed and then cried: "I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. … Come further up, come further in! Responding to Goodwin's invitation to go "further up, further in," a "Gathering of Inklings" celebrated God and the arts as several retreat participants and guest musicians shared their talents with the audience through poetry, song, drama, storytelling and even juggling, much to the delight of all present. On Sunday, a non-denominational worship service was held at the Chatlos Chapel, led by Hal Poe, the Charles Colson professor of faith and culture at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.. A powerful and moving sermon was delivered by Richard Belser, Rector, St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. 'Bead head wooly bugger' Belser told the story of Henry, who had always loved to fish and grew to be a top-notch fly-fisherman with the help of a special lure, the "bead head wooly bugger." Henry also was a Christian, and had the whole collection of works by Lewis. But over the years, a strange thing happened. He became a world-renowned expert on fly-fishing and especially bead head wooly bugger, and he knew all about theology, and could quote Lewis with the best of them. After all, Lewis is so very quotable! But ... he no longer actually fished and he no longer attended church. One day when his wife asked him to attend church, he declined in a rather condescending fashion. In anger and sadness and outrage that had been brewing for a long time, she marched up to him at the breakfast table, ripped the newspaper from his hands, and yelled, "Henry, you never go fishing anymore, and you don't go to worship. Don't you see what has happened to you? You have become a THEOLOGIAN and a FRAUD." Properly chastised, Henry went to his study and looked at the trophy case, with all his fishing prizes and honors encased in glass, and with the whole Lewis collection sitting on top. He took out a simple bamboo cane pole, drove to the little pond he had fished in as a boy, and caught a few small bream. He took the catch and gave it to a poor family that he knew needed and would appreciate the gift of fresh fish for dinner. He noticed one of the little boys in the family looking at the fishing pole, and it wasn't long before Henry had taken that little boy to the pond and taught him how to fish. And the joy that Henry felt watching that little child catch his first fish was greater than anything he had ever felt when he was catching prize trout. Henry also went back to his local church. "What are the bead head wooly buggers in your own life?" Belser asked. What gifts have we been given to use that somehow turn into obstacles? Where are our idolatries? So, in our great joy of being amongst creative like-minded fans of Lewis, Chesterton, Tolkien and the rest, let us not forget that Lewis, through his many Christian works, always points us to Christ. Enjoy Lewis' Grand Narrative . . . but never forget the Grandest Narrative of the Gospel! "Aslan is on the move!" For more information: The C.S. Lewis Foundation Rising Image Productions The Arts Centre Group C.S. Lewis and the Inklings Resources Mere Christianity Forum, Inc. Theology Through the Arts

Respond to this article

Home · Archives · The Layman · PLC Publications Presbyterian Lay Committee · Feedback · Links