Thanks for this. I'll use Lewis' words with the many evangelicals I know who would categorically refuse to read Chesterton, or Aquinas, or Augustine... they're Catholic. They have theological cooties.
I dearly wish American Protestants could get over this. The Catholic (and Orthodox) churches have 2000 years of theology we could learn from, if we could just pull our heads out of our fundamentalism long enough to listen.
I had a similar "discussion" with a former pastor about The Lord of the Rings. He didn't like it because it had magic, wizards, and was written by a Catholic. I said, "OK, but Tolkien helped lead C.S. Lewis to Christ."
One of my favorite aspects of Lewis is how effectively he serves as a bridge to so many truths and people. Perhaps more than anything, he is a connector.
I can kind of understand that attitude with Harry Potter on the basis that it blurs the lines too much. Rick Riordan (although a vastly less talented writer) falls into the same camp.
But Tolkien? Middle Earth? Good heavens! Shall we banish Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella too? Surely Aladdin and Ali Baba are verboten -- the latter is one of the best books to see Arab Muslim morality differs from Christian. But Tolkien? A boy who has not wished to be led by an Aragorn or asked himself if he would be Boromir or Faramir... a teen girl who has not cried with Aowyn... they are lesser people for it.
That a pastor would take that away from them in the name of God appalls me.
That line about humor being the bloom on dialectic rather than flippancy is such a precise diagnostic of what seperates effective apologetics from the stuff that just preaches to the choir. When I first read Cheserton in undergrad, the thing that struck me was how he'd make an argument so compelling that even disagreeing with him felt intellectualy engaging rather than combative.
Thanks for this. I'll use Lewis' words with the many evangelicals I know who would categorically refuse to read Chesterton, or Aquinas, or Augustine... they're Catholic. They have theological cooties.
I dearly wish American Protestants could get over this. The Catholic (and Orthodox) churches have 2000 years of theology we could learn from, if we could just pull our heads out of our fundamentalism long enough to listen.
I had a similar "discussion" with a former pastor about The Lord of the Rings. He didn't like it because it had magic, wizards, and was written by a Catholic. I said, "OK, but Tolkien helped lead C.S. Lewis to Christ."
One of my favorite aspects of Lewis is how effectively he serves as a bridge to so many truths and people. Perhaps more than anything, he is a connector.
I can kind of understand that attitude with Harry Potter on the basis that it blurs the lines too much. Rick Riordan (although a vastly less talented writer) falls into the same camp.
But Tolkien? Middle Earth? Good heavens! Shall we banish Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella too? Surely Aladdin and Ali Baba are verboten -- the latter is one of the best books to see Arab Muslim morality differs from Christian. But Tolkien? A boy who has not wished to be led by an Aragorn or asked himself if he would be Boromir or Faramir... a teen girl who has not cried with Aowyn... they are lesser people for it.
That a pastor would take that away from them in the name of God appalls me.
That line about humor being the bloom on dialectic rather than flippancy is such a precise diagnostic of what seperates effective apologetics from the stuff that just preaches to the choir. When I first read Cheserton in undergrad, the thing that struck me was how he'd make an argument so compelling that even disagreeing with him felt intellectualy engaging rather than combative.
I was struck by his comment on flippancy as well, which is why my next post tomorrow will be about the dangers of flippancy.