"Reducing our tendency to seek the Divine to the level of an 'animal urge'?"
<putting down the pitchfork>
C.S. Lewis doesn't say that our yearning for G-d is an animal urge. What he says is that G-d created humans the way we are for a reason; everything about us makes sense in some way. We experience hunger as a reminder to us that we need food; we experience thirst as a reminder that we need drink. We experience a longing for G-d as a reminder to us that we need G-d. It's not that it's an "animal urge" (he was unsure as to whether animals had an urge for G-d), it's that G-d created us in such a way that all our needs can be fulfilled.
That doesn't mean all our needs can be (or should be) fulfilled at any given moment. The fact that I'm hungry doesn't logically imply that there's a sandwich in front of me right now (more's the pity), but in C.S. Lewis' mind it does imply that food exists in the universe, because it wouldn't make sense for me to need something that doesn't exist.
I don't think C.S. Lewis sees it as a violation of free will that we have spiritual needs, because (as with any of our needs) we have choices as to how we try to fulfill those needs. Free will simply means that we can eat, have sex, worship G-d, etc. in ways that accord with G-d's will -- or not. That's the sin-as-perversion-of-good thing Leland brought up.
I adore C.S. Lewis, but I disagree with a lot of his theology. It's not at all surprising to me that the Narnia series (particularly the vicarious atonement deal and pretty much everything in The Last Battle) would be practically unpalatable to a non-Christian.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Divine Revelation
Date: 2005-06-09 08:35 am (UTC)<putting down the pitchfork>
C.S. Lewis doesn't say that our yearning for G-d is an animal urge. What he says is that G-d created humans the way we are for a reason; everything about us makes sense in some way. We experience hunger as a reminder to us that we need food; we experience thirst as a reminder that we need drink. We experience a longing for G-d as a reminder to us that we need G-d. It's not that it's an "animal urge" (he was unsure as to whether animals had an urge for G-d), it's that G-d created us in such a way that all our needs can be fulfilled.
That doesn't mean all our needs can be (or should be) fulfilled at any given moment. The fact that I'm hungry doesn't logically imply that there's a sandwich in front of me right now (more's the pity), but in C.S. Lewis' mind it does imply that food exists in the universe, because it wouldn't make sense for me to need something that doesn't exist.
I don't think C.S. Lewis sees it as a violation of free will that we have spiritual needs, because (as with any of our needs) we have choices as to how we try to fulfill those needs. Free will simply means that we can eat, have sex, worship G-d, etc. in ways that accord with G-d's will -- or not. That's the sin-as-perversion-of-good thing Leland brought up.
I adore C.S. Lewis, but I disagree with a lot of his theology. It's not at all surprising to me that the Narnia series (particularly the vicarious atonement deal and pretty much everything in The Last Battle) would be practically unpalatable to a non-Christian.