I doubt Lewis was a Real Christian either, real Christian tend not to put Pagan gods and goddesses in their fiction.
Jarred, you can't be serious. Don't you know that Lewis was one of the most influential Christian writers of all time? Many of his books (The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, Miracles, The Problem of Pain, etc., etc.) are considered classics of Christian literature and theology. I do hope you realize because his numerous books have sold so well over the decades he has been one of the great evangelists for Christianity of all time. How many millions of people have you reached? (I ask this not to be rude, but to make you think.) From what I've read about his personal life, although he had some flaws, in general he seems to have been an extremely generous man who cared very much about other people in the true Christian spirit. He also took that verse about "praying unceasingly" to heart and apparently spent a great deal of time praying every day.
To understand why he puts pagan gods in his works I think you would have to know more about how Lewis came to Christianity. He was having trouble accepting Christianity as the true religion since there were so many other religious myths and beliefs in the world and in history. The writer JRR Tolkien, Tolkien's son Ron, and some of Lewis' other friends eventually convinced him that Christianity was the myth that became true. That is to say, the myths of other religions sprang from the inborn need to reach God and thus in reality were merely incorrect tellings of the true story of God found, they believed, in the Christian tradition. As such the old myths did not need to be cast aside entirely as some sort of heathen thing, but accepted as historical artifacts of man's rather admirable desire to find and understand God. (I'm sure I'm leaving a lot of his philosophy on this point out, but hopefully you at least get a sense of it.) After all, Lewis is not suggesting that people should worship pagan gods. Besides, Lewis was a professor of Medieval and Renaissance literature. He considered mythic gods to be important parts of modern humanity's literary heritage. And, of course, like any work of fiction or allegory, stories about the old myths can still be used to teach lessons.
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Mithrandir-Olorin22
15 years ago
And the "Most influential" tend to be the fakest, that's the down side of being the dominant religion on the planet.
"It's not about money.... It's about sending a Message..... Everything Burns!!!"
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