Magdalene Bridge and College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (Wikimedia Commons photograph by Simon Palmer)
Relatively late in his teaching career, C. S. Lewis left Oxford and took a professorship in this Cambridge college.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the wee hours of the night since our return from Egypt (and, most immediately, from France)\u00a0on Sunday evening, when (as I\u2019ve inevitably been doing) I wake up thinking it\u2019s time to head out when it\u2019s really only 3:00 AM, I\u2019ve been reading in an anthology entitled The Shadow-Lands of C. S. Lewis: The Man Behind the Movie<\/em>, gathered and lightly annotated by Peter Kreeft, of the Department of Philosophy at Boston College. \u00a0It\u2019s affecting me powerfully, as reading the works of Lewis always does, and I\u2019m afraid that, if you read what I write, you\u2019ll be subjected to the effects of this latest encounter over the next few days and weeks. \u00a0(I\u2019m going to try to resist the temptation to go thoroughly Lewisian all at once, and will try to let things trickle out in relatively small increments.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been a deep admirer of the Anglican scholar, novelist, and apologist C. S. Lewis on multiple levels since my mid-teens \u2014 I cannot commend him to your attention enthusiastically enough<\/em> \u2014 and the passage below will stand as one example among very many of why that is so:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mere morality is not the end of life. \u00a0You were made for something quite different from that. \u00a0J. S. Mill and Confucius (Socrates was much nearer the reality) simply didn\u2019t know what life is about. \u00a0The people who keep on asking if they can\u2019t lead a decent life without Christ, don\u2019t know what life is about; if they did they would know that \u201ca decent life\u201d is mere machinery compared with the thing we men are really made for. \u00a0Morality is indispensable: but the Divine Life, which gives itself to us and which calls us to be gods, intends us for something in which morality will be swallowed up. \u00a0We are to be remade. \u00a0All the rabbit in us is to disappear \u2014 the worried, conscientious, ethical rabbit as well as the cowardly and sensual rabbit. \u00a0We shall bleed and squeal as the handfuls of fur come out; and then, surprisingly, we shall find underneath it all a thing we have never yet imagined: a real Man, an ageless god, a son of God, strong, radiant, wise, beautiful, and drenched in joy. \u00a0(from God in the Dock<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
(By Man<\/em>, of course, Lewis intended Human<\/em>. \u00a0He died on 22 November 1963 \u2014 the same day on which the dystopian novelist Aldous Huxley also died and the day on which President John F. Kennedy was assassinated \u2014 in time that hadn\u2019t yet achieved our era\u2019s remarkable enlightenment and bliss regarding gender issues.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 In the wee hours of the night since our return from Egypt (and, most immediately, from France)\u00a0on Sunday evening, when (as I\u2019ve inevitably been doing) I wake up thinking it\u2019s time to head out when it\u2019s really only 3:00 AM, I\u2019ve been reading in an anthology entitled The Shadow-Lands of C. S. Lewis: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
"Mere Morality"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" In the wee hours of the night since our return from Egypt (and, most immediately, from France)\u00a0on Sunday evening, when (as I've inevitably\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Mere Morality"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" In the wee hours of the night since our return from Egypt (and, most immediately, from France)\u00a0on Sunday evening, when (as I've inevitably\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-08T16:11:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/03\/Magdalene_Bridge_and_College_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_1407456.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"Mere Morality\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-08T16:11:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-08T16:11:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" In the wee hours of the night since our return from Egypt (and, most immediately, from France)\u00a0on Sunday evening, when (as I've inevitably\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Mere Morality”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Mere Morality\"","description":" In the wee hours of the night since our return from Egypt (and, most immediately, from France)\u00a0on Sunday evening, when (as I've inevitably","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Mere Morality\"","og_description":" In the wee hours of the night since our return from Egypt (and, most immediately, from France)\u00a0on Sunday evening, when (as I've inevitably","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2019-01-08T16:11:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/03\/Magdalene_Bridge_and_College_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_1407456.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html","name":"\"Mere Morality\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-01-08T16:11:39+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-08T16:11:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" In the wee hours of the night since our return from Egypt (and, most immediately, from France)\u00a0on Sunday evening, when (as I've inevitably","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/mere-morality.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Mere Morality”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69040\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"At](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/03\/Magdalene_Bridge_and_College_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_1407456.jpg\")
<\/a>