{"id":1066,"date":"2013-11-16T17:35:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T17:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/11\/how-lewis-lit-the-way-to-better-apologetics.html"},"modified":"2013-11-16T17:35:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-16T17:35:00","slug":"how-lewis-lit-the-way-to-better-apologetics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/11\/how-lewis-lit-the-way-to-better-apologetics.html","title":{"rendered":"How Lewis Lit the Way to Better Apologetics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
In the south transept of London\u2019s Westminster Abbey\u2014where for a thousand years the kings and queens of England have been enthroned\u2014sits a crowded collection of statues, plaques, and engraved flagstones. Geoffrey Chaucer, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Charles Dickens are buried there; dozens more are commemorated there. On November 22, 2013, 50 years to the day after his death, C. S. Lewis will join them.<\/span><\/div>\n
Poets\u2019 Corner may seem like an odd place for a writer whose poetry is largely overlooked (though his first two publications were volumes of verse, and Lewis\u2019s poetry is far better than many remember or realize). But you needn\u2019t be a poet to join Poets\u2019 Corner. Musicians like George Frideric Handel and actors like Laurence Olivier mingle with Tennyson and Chaucer. The Corner is devoted to poets in the older, deeper sense of the word. They are \u201cmakers\u201d who assemble words (or musical notes or dramatic performances) for artistic ends.<\/span><\/div>\n
In this older, deeper sense, there is no place Lewis more rightly belongs. Indeed, perhaps we should think of the celebrated Oxford novelist, literary critic, and apologist above all as a poet. For Lewis believed that knowledge itself was fundamentally poetic\u2014that is to say, shaped by the imagination. And his poetic approach to commending and defending the Christian faith still lights the way for us today.<\/span><\/div>\n
Of course, everyone recognizes Lewis\u2019s great imaginative gifts. Often people will say that his great strength was his ability to present Christianity both rationally and imaginatively.<\/span><\/div>\n
His rational approach is seen in\u00a0The Abolition of Man,<\/em>\u00a0Miracles,<\/em>\u00a0and, at a more popular level,\u00a0Mere Christianity.<\/em>\u00a0These works show Lewis\u2019s ability to argue: to set forth a propositional case, proceeding by logical steps from defined premises to carefully drawn conclusions, everything clear, orderly, and connected.<\/span><\/div>\n
And his imaginative side, so the argument goes, is seen in\u00a0The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce,<\/em>\u00a0and, at a more accessible level,The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.<\/em>\u00a0These works show his ability to dramatize: to set forth an attractive vision of the Christian life, proceeding by means of character and plot to narrate an engaging story, everything colorful, vibrant, and active.<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the south transept of London\u2019s Westminster Abbey\u2014where for a thousand years the kings and queens of England have been enthroned\u2014sits a crowded collection of statues, plaques, and engraved flagstones. Geoffrey Chaucer, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Charles Dickens are buried there; dozens more are commemorated there. On November 22, 2013, 50 years to the day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Lewis Lit the Way to Better Apologetics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the south transept of London's Westminster Abbey\u2014where for a thousand years the kings and queens of England have been enthroned\u2014sits a crowded\" \/>\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\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/11\/how-lewis-lit-the-way-to-better-apologetics.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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