Abstract:
In this article, I analyse C.S. Lewis’s attitude towards the theology and the theologians of his
time. Lewis often emphasised that he was not a theologian. Sometimes he does so out of
modesty, to excuse minor errors that a specialist in the field would not have made. More often
than not, however, something else plays a role: Lewis’s dislike of the theology and the
theologians of his time. Although he intended not to become a party in theological controversies,
Lewis occasionally took sides. He expressed himself in extremely negative terms about the
liberal ... movement, which in his experience... dominated the theology of his time. By assuming
them to be in error, and showing how they had arrived there, he participates in the practice he
elsewhere rejected as ‘Bulverism’. Moreover, he employed pejorative, sexually tinged
metaphors. Only on one occasion did Lewis provide arguments for his rejection of liberal
theology, and on that occasion he limited himself to New Testament exegesis. On another
occasion, Lewis states that he allows only marginal, religiously irrelevant revisions of Christian
doctrine. Ironically, his own revisions sometimes went beyond this – for example, in the case
of the traditional doctrine of hell. In this article I suggested that for Lewis, the practice of faith
implicitly is the ultimate criterion.
Description:
Prof. Dr Sarot is participating
in the research project,
‘Biblical Theology and
Hermeneutics’, directed by
Prof. Dr Andries van Aarde,
Post Retirement Professor
and Senior Research Fellow
in the Dean’s Office, Faculty
of Theology and Religion,
University of Pretoria.
