Is the Reformation to Blame for Secularism?

True Patriotism

The true patriot repents for and calls for the repentance of his nation: "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34 ESV).

The Life of Lewis's Imagination

The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jacobs shows how Lewis's imagination saved him from rationalism, and thank God it did. If the Great Knock had shaped Lewis more than G. K. Chesterton and Tollers, we might never have been treated to Lewis's beautiful fiction, at least not in the way we have it. Narnia might have read more like the Golden Compass.

Jacobs give us a biography of Lewis's imagination, which at times takes Lewis to task. Lewis would appreciate the criticism but at times Jacobs faults Lewis for not falling in line with evangelical feminism.

In defense of Lewis, the feminine is no more inferior in submitting to the masculine than God the Son is inferior in submitting to God the Father. Of course, no woman should submit to a man who is abusing his authority. She must appeal to Christ who made both male and female in his image.

God bless Lewis for saying, "The husband is the head of the wife just in so far as he is to her what Christ is to the Church. He is to love her as Christ loved the Church—read on—and give his life for her (Eph. 5:25). This headship, then, is most fully embodied ... in him whose marriage is most like a crucifixion." The problem is with men who don't give women anything worth their sacrifice.

I've read a lot of biographies of Lewis and George Sayer's Jack is still the best. Douglas Gresham's Lenten Lands is probably second (though it's really Gresham's autobio). Diana Pavlic Glyer's The Company They Keep is great on Lewis in community with the Inklings. Jacobs is probably my next fav.

It has a good bit of material absent from others, like the former student turned playwright who Lewis may have led to Christ simply by his example of honest scholarship in service of the gospel. The criticism is refreshing, especially after having read Gresham's hagiographic Jack's Life, and most of it is constructive.



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Stinking to High Heaven

Last night I was asked about a serious of prints hanging in our school library that portray a civilization developing out of nature, flourishing into a golden age, and then decaying into ruins. Someone remarked that we should probably take down the decaying into ruins part.

Here's an argument for keeping that front and center. Every civilization, except the very young ones alive today, have all over ripened, stunk to high heaven, and died. Every civilization except the one based on the church instituted by Christ.

Jesus never promised that the gates of hell wouldn't prevail against Constantine, medieval Christianity, the Great American Awakenings, or the Energizer Bunny. "The Bunny, the Bunny, Oh! I love the Bunny." Ok, I stop it now.

He promises that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church because he is the chief cornerstone. That means the source of Christian civilization will keep it "going and going and going." The church has outlasted every philosophical fad that predicted its demise from Voltaire, to Nietzsche, to Sartre.

So the question remains, what are we building on? What are we investing our time, talent, and treasure in? Is it a kingdom of the world, or are we trying to reform those kingdoms with the everlasting truth of Christ crucified, risen, reigning, and returning.