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Beyond the Shadowlands: C. S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell

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"There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else." The writings of C.S. Lewis have captivated the hearts and minds of many people, even spurring some to belief in the Son of God. He will be brought to the spotlight this fall with the theatrical release of the first Chronicle of Narnia. I've always found The Last Battle, the final volume of the Chronicles, to be the most rousing and magical, because of Lewis' creative perspective of Heaven.

Lewis considered the earthly life the Shadowlands. In Beyond the Shadowlands Wayne Martindale examines Lewis's thoughts on the afterlife, on Heaven and Hell. "In thinking about why I have been afraid of going to Heaven or have desired it so little, I have identified seven myths or false ideas I have held about it at one time or another and that Lewis's thinking has helped dispel." (16) He also examines six myths about Hell that Lewis brought clarity to.

In Part One (one chapter) of Heaven Dr. Martindale shows how Lewis took on each of the seven myths he once held. These include "Heaven Will Be Boring", "What! No Sex?", and "Just a Harp and Crown Trip." In Part Two (six chapters) he highlights Heaven in the fictional works of Lewis. As he puts it, after demythologizing the misconceptions, Lewis brings clarity by remythologizing the truths of Heaven into his writings.

In Part One (one chapter) of Hell Dr. Martindale shows how Lewis dealt with six common myths about Hell including- "A Good God Wouldn't Send Anyone to Hell," "A Physical Hell Would Be Cruel," and "No One Could Be Happy in Heaven Knowing Some Are in Hell." In Part Two (five chapters) he highlights Hell in the fictional works of Lewis.

There is also a chapter dealing with the issue of Purgatory in Lewis's writings followed by an Epilogue. I would say that in the chapter on Purgatory I learned the most about Lewis. I'd assumed that when Lewis mentioned Purgatory he meant in the "Romish" sense (as he put it), but he actually didn't like Rome's doctrine.

While this book is obviously focused on the works of C.S. Lewis, it felt more like a book on Heaven and Hell with a helpful friend pointing out the details and enriching perspectives (Lewis through Martindale). Extensive knowledge of Lewis's works are not required since Martindale sets up each work through summary and reflection. When I picked it up I was afraid that it would be merely a collection of Lewis quotes- that would be easier to read in his books. Quite the contrary, Martindale's created an independent work that brings Lewis back to life for a delightful interview on what really amounts to the good and evil around us. In relation to the growing collection of volumes written on the life and works of C.S. Lewis, Beyond the Shadowlands will long remain as an incredibly significant contribution to our understanding of Lewis.

In my younger years, I read almost all of the popular books C. S. Lewis wrote; and in the last several years, I've given many of them another run-through as my own children grow interested in them. Circumstances, too, have caused me to spend a lot of time recently thinking about the afterlife. I was pleased, then, to be given the chance to read and review a book that parallels my own interests so closely.

What did I learn? Well, for one thing, I understood more fully how extensively my reading of Lewis influenced my own view of the afterlife, particularly when it comes to how I envision heaven. For a long time, I've considered the fleeting experiences of true loveliness that we have in this life to be a brief glimpses into the heavenly realm; and the longing we have because those glimpses are lost so quickly is, deep down, a longing for the everlasting beauty of heaven. Heaven will give us what we long for; and the breathtaking beauty of a wilderness landscape, or a haunting piece of music, or even those moments when husband and wife understand and love each other so deeply that it hurts, point not to the beautiful wilderness itself or the music or the love, but beyond those things to the reality of heaven, when we will experience forever, always, steadily, the quality of perfect fulfillment for which those moments are but the briefest hints. These glimpses of heaven and the longing they cause are a theme found throughout Lewis's work.

Many of the other ideas I have about heaven may well have come from Lewis's writings, too. One of the things about myths and mythical stories is that we learn things without being so aware of it. They speak to us at a level below (or, more likely, above) the analytical one, and something that would have taken pages to explain to us in a didactic sort of writing--and even then we would not have gotten the heart of the matter--we understand fully, deeply, within our souls, with just one image. That's the greatest strength of imaginative stories: Through them we see and feel and know what we might not understand so completely otherwise.

And I suppose that's where the danger of mythical stories lies as well. It's easy for an imaginative image of things heavenly or hellish to become part of how we see the real heaven and hell without any thought on our part as to whether they are actually a helpful sort of image. Even when the image was meant to convey something right about heaven or hell, we may give little thought to whether the idea we carry away from that image is the correct one. For instance, in our mind's eye, we may see heaven as streets of gold and white angels and harps. If we take from that image the idea that heaven is a rich place, a pure place, and a joyful place, then the image has served us well enough, for it has conveyed real truth about the real heaven to us. If we see the image of golden streets, angels and harps, and we think "How unbearably boring!", then the image has not worked to give us the right idea about the real heaven, which will be the most exciting place ever--the sort of place for which all the Christmas celebrations and birthday parties and thrilling trips of our life have been the palest shadows.

Martindale shows us how C. S. Lewis has remythologized heaven and hell in his work. Lewis's work can help us see which of the ideas we have about the afterlife are wrong, and give us new myths to help us understand things more as they might be. Of course, we need to examine Lewis's myths as well to see if they are helping us grasp heaven as it really is or not. Martindale points to a few places where Lewis might have let what pleased his imagination stand over against what might be reasonably gleaned from scripture. Sometimes, perhaps, Lewis too easily let his love for an idea persuade him of the rightness of it.

There are times, too, when Martindale seems to accept the correctness of Lewis's thoughts when I wouldn't. For instance, there's the idea that predestination is simply historical events seen from the viewpoint of a timeless* God, who sees all of history laid out before him in one glance, and things that from our viewpoint are yet to come into reality are forever existing from his vantage point. It seems to me that this idea misses the boat because it misses the point that God intends to convey when he tells us that something was planned before the foundation of the world. When scripture tells us that something was predestined or planned outside of time, it is not telling us merely that God views that event "timelessly," and thus it is really a done deal before (or outside of) the experience of it by timelocked creatures; rather, it is also telling us something about the logical cause of that event. That event happens in time because God planned it, and God's plan brings it to pass. There may be other causes as well, like the choices of creatures in time, but the first cause is God's thought.

However, this is just a very minor quibble in comparison to the strength of the whole of this book. If you've read several books by C. S. Lewis, you'll probably find this book fascinating. All of his ideas about the afterlife gathered together in one book makes for a thrilling read. You'll be reminded why you long for the real heaven--a longing that is, above everything else, a longing for God himself. If you haven't read much from C. S. Lewis, I suggest you remedy that as soon as you can, and then read this book. We would all do well to think more on the substance of heaven and hell, for those who see the reality of the unseen--who, like the ancients, "desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one"--are those who live more nobly--more faithfully--upon this earth.

I re-read C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles every few years. There's something about Lewis' portrayal of Christ in the Lion, Aslan, that rings truer than any other description save those in the Bible itself. The same is true of Lewis' dramatization of how Christ relates to us, either as people of faith or of unbelief. There's a triumphant scene in "The Last Battle," for example, in which Aslan leaps joyously from one hilltop to the next, leading his followers deeper and deeper into his new creation with shouts of "further up and farther in!" Aslan's subjects experience the new creation as more "real" than the England and Narnia they've recently departed, and realize that they've been longing for this country all their lives. When I read this scene I experience those very pangs of longing for that brighter country, along with the thrill of realizing Christ's love, broader and deeper than I can comprehend, longs even more deeply to fellowship with me in that country.

If, like me, you're a fan of Narnia -- or of any of Lewis' work -- you'll relish Wayne Martindale's wonderful volume, "C.S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell -- Beyond the Shadowlands." Martindale serves as an experienced and loving guide to the landscapes Lewis painted of heaven and hell, primarily in fiction such as the Narnia and Perelandra books and the allegorical Great Divorce and Screwtape Letters.

Martindale's book is divided into two sections -- "Heaven" and "Hell" -- each of which opens with Martindale's summaries of popular "myths" about these destinations. Following the description of these myths, Martindale weaves in summaries from Lewis' work to show how it provides a more accurate and rich portrayal of Heaven and Hell. Once common myth, for example, is that "Heaven will be boring," a saccharine place of clouds, harps and fluffy angel wings. Lewis, in contrast, portrays a paradise that is perfectly real place of active delights, as in Perelandra, when the human character Ransom

"floats on the oceans, finding the water refreshing to drink; enjoys the help of the animals, who delight in aiding him; is dazzled by its colors, including a sky that suggests the aurora Borealis; and discovers a new genus of pleasure in the taste of its fruits and the refreshing baths of the bubble trees. . . ."

As Martindale observes, Lewis' treatment of Hell is equally robust. Heaven, in Lewis' work, is the full realization of human potential as God's image-bearers. In Heaven, people become all they were made to be. Hell, in contrast, is the full realization of the Human choice to reject God. In Hell, people achieve their desire to be "left alone," become something essentially sub-human, and find themselves tormented by that existence.

Martindale illustrates this theme with an episode from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, in which Aslan explains to Polly the effect upon Jadis, the White Witch, of stealing a life-giving fruit:

"Things always work according to their nature. She has won her heart's desire; she has unwearying strength and endless days like a goddess. But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery, and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it."

For anyone who is troubled by common descriptions of Hell (as I am), Lewis' works are a balm. In Lewis' conception, Hell is not arbitrary. Its punishments are measured, proportionate, and just, and it holds no one within its walls who did not choose to go there.

Martindale obviously feels the same way, and in this lies the one failing of Beyond the Shadowlands. There is something of an Arminian streak in Lewis' thinking about Heaven and Hell, or at least a studied aversion of categories such as "Arminian" and "Calvinist." Even a "soft" Calvinist might wonder how God's sovereignty and human total depravity relate to a concept of Heaven and Hell that relies so heavily on human choices. Martindale recognizes this problem, but doesn't discuss it in any depth. Similarly, Martindale acknowledges a few other aspects of Lewis' thought that might be controversial for many Evangelicals today, including his belief in a sort of purgatory and his hope that some who never hear of Christ might somehow be saved, but does not analyze them thoroughly. It would be a useful and interesting exercise to place Lewis' views on these subjects into a more concrete, historical perspective, and to contrast them with the major positions held by Evangelicals today. But this is not Martindale's purpose, and perhaps that kind of more searching analysis is better deferred to other sorts of books.

What Martindale does provide is an outstanding guide to Lewis' portraits of Heaven and Hell. If the History Channel ever produces a biopic on Lewis and his works, I hope Martindale is the narrator and host. If you've read any of Lewis' fictional and allegorical works, read Martindale's volume and you'll find yourself visiting warm, familiar places with new insight. If you haven't read much Lewis, start with the Narnia Chronicles, follow along with Martindale as you read through the rest, and you'll begin to see the grace of Christ and the life of faith in fresh and pleasant ways.

Note: The book reviewed was provided by Mind & Media as a gift from the publisher.

When I started this book, the only works of CS Lewis I had read were the Chronicles of Narnia. Some of the themes from the series that Martindale showed are ones I was already aware of, though hadn't carried the themes to the level that they are explained. Other themes are ones that I am eager to rediscover and share with my son as we read the series. The themes that remain so prevalent in the works of Lewis are of Heaven and Hell and how people are continually being prepared for one destination or the other. This preparation is often referred to as "Joy" which Lewis defines as a longing for something he desperately wants, but has not yet attained. It is this joy that caused him to write so many books and it is a joy for these books that caused Martindale to highlight Lewis' reoccurring theme.

The book is primarily written with two main themes of Heaven and Hell in mind. Each place is demystified and then remythologized in the goal of intensifying the joy or lack thereof that drives people to the ultimate place that has either been prepared for them or that they have been preparing themselves for. If this preparation truly takes either a lifetime of your work or an eternity of the work of Christ, it does make sense that everything will be in full compliance with the wishes we have expressed through our threescore and ten. Lewis does state that the decisions are based on the love we have for Christ, but at times I found his conclusions to be anchored in the response of man rather than the sovereignty of God. While Lewis asserts that we grow toward one destination or another in the book, the main themes are still a better understanding of Heaven and Hell, and that is where I intend to base this review.
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When we are in Heaven, like these pilgrims, we can act on every impulse because every impulse will be good and right. No need to second-guess or hold back or check our feelings. There will be no need to watch our backs or guard our emotions against hurt from others because they will all be perfected in love, too. That will be true freedom, and that is the right way to think of perfection.
-page 28-29
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Have you ever had a sense that Heaven would be lacking some aspect of your life that you would sorely miss? Do you look upon the cultural pictures of what it will be like and find yourself uninspired? Likewise, do you look at the common understanding of what Hell is and find yourself thinking that it really isn't all that bad? It may be uncomfortable, but how bad could it be to be in the presence of so many rebels of God anyway? Isn't that where the real party is? Questions such as these are asked and answered in this book with a definition of Heaven as being in the presence of the one you sought in this lifetime and Hell is being separated from the presence of the one you avoided. So far, this seems fine to both parties. That is, until the ramifications for this preferred destination are presented. The supplied quote supplied several answers to the questions about Heaven. People are often worried that they will become bored or miss out on some carnal pleasure. We are looking at Heaven from the wrong angle. We need to remember that we are being prepared for Heaven during the time of sanctification on this Earth.
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2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
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We also need to take heed that Jesus is preparing a place for us. He is not preparing a place for me as I am, though. He is preparing a place for the real me as I shall be. This refers to the me that will be able to act on every impulse without fear or insecurity. This perfectly genuine me will be more myself than I am now, in this temporary home. We are in the Shadowlands now. Eternity is the solid existence we long for. If this is true, as the Bible affirms, then worldliness is escapism, (p. 46) not Christianity.

Both Heaven and Hell are demythologized and remythologized in this book. At first, I didn't know what to expect in such a claim, but as I read through it, it began to make more sense to me. Several misunderstandings of both places are refuted with scripture and reason. After that, Lewis took a firmer approach and wrote books with his thoughts of what sort of themes one would find in Heaven and Hell.

I disagree with several of his statements, most notably Purgatory and praying for the dead. He also makes allusions toward the notion that someone who mistakenly offers their services to idols and demons while believing that their services are born out of a longing for God will be counted in their favor. Having never read any of his books beyond Narnia, I cannot be certain of this, but it makes me wonder why he would remain so much an apologist for the gospel if anyone could do good works apart from the knowledge of Christ and have it counted toward their account. Again, let me stress that I have not read the works of Lewis in entirety and don't wish to judge him by a second-hand accounting of some of his errors. Also, since so many of his works were fictional he must be allowed a measure of license to present the themes he wishes to express.

Some of his writing includes the notion that those in Hell will be allowed to visit the outskirts of Heaven for the sake of spiting what they see. They have become so comfortable in their sins that they have no desire to be in the presence of God and most of them end up returning to Hell, despite the pleas of the saints who come to reason with them to remain. This notion is absurd, but the point Lewis is making is that people choose either for or against the presence of God and would not want their decision to be usurped.

At times, I wished I was more familiar with the works cited so I could follow and recollect the themes more clearly. Even though I am not more familiar with Lewis, this book has touched me. Certainly, my longing for Heaven has been enhanced through this reading. I'm not ashamed to admit that I woke up in the middle of the night after a reading and asked God to give me a deeper longing to see His face than I have at this time. This book is one that has placed a longing to explore more of CS Lewis' writings, which is the secondary reason why I do recommend this book. I have no doubt that one more familiar with the writings of CS Lewis will be able to appreciate this book even more than I have. As to those extra-biblical concepts that Lewis believed in, Martindale does an adequate job pointing them out, so any Christian with a rudimentary understanding of salvation by the grace of God should have no trouble accepting the writings of Lewis in the spirit that they were written in.

Dr. Wayne Martindale is a recognized authority on the works of C.S. Lewis. That said, I never felt that I was being lectured to or spoken down to as I read this book-though I now know that I need to read a LOT more Lewis.

The purpose of the book is to look at various myths of both Heaven and Hell, and compare them with the pictures of both that Lewis paints in his works. Martindale shows that Lewis' ideas of the afterlife are far more Scriptural than most of the common misconceptions that we have today.

I think that the richest parts of this book are those sections where Martindale explores in depth Lewis' conceptions of heaven and hell. These read like literary criticism, but they are easilly accessible to any reader. Readers who are familiar with Lewis' writing will want to explore them again, and those of us who have not read as much of Lewis as we should (or would like) will find ourselves buying more books!

One of the things that I was hoping to gain from this book is an explanation of Lewis' alleged heterodoxy. I've heard him accused of universalism. I've heard that he believed in Purgatory. From reading Mere Christianity, I can tell he was fairly ecumenical. Martindale defends Lewis from the first two charges in this work.

Much of Martindale's book is literary criticism: he looks closely at the symbols and imagery that Lewis uses, and shows their meaning in terms of Heaven and Hell. He assumes that the reader has at least a passing familiarity with Lewis' work, which I am increasingly aware that I do not have. The Space Trilogy is referenced many times-I have put reading that trilogy at the top of my must-read list. I've decided that I really need to start reading more C.S. Lewis-the weekly readings out of Mere Christianity aren't enough. And I'm buying the Narnia set to read to my daughter.

The benefits of reading this book are numerous. I've gained an appreciation for C.S. Lewis beyond what I already had. But more importantly, my desire for heaven and my outlook on the afterlife has been slightly changed. More than a merely spiritual existance, we have a life to look forward to-a life full of enjoyment and pleasure, unburdened by the worry and bondage of sin. We will be able to do what we want, because our desires will be pure.

This book should be on the shelf of anyone who reads and enjoys Lewis' works, both fiction and nonfiction. It should also be on the shelf of anyone who is interested in learning some very different ways of looking at both Heaven and Hell.

C.S. Lewis was once described as the man who could convince people to believe in God who were letting their intellects get in the way. Wayne Martindale brillianty proves why. He looks at the fiction of Lewis and finds the truth in these works. By concentrating on Heaven and Hell, he directs the focus to the most misunderstood part of the Christian existance and one of the major difficulties that non-Christians have, what is Heaven and Hell?

As far as what I got out of it is that Heaven is the full realization of what we as humans can become, the "fullfilment of the human potential" as he puts it. He blows apart the myths that "heaven will be boring" by saying, essentialy, how could heaven be boring if you're in the presence of the one who created pleasure in the first place. Hell, on the other hand, is the shriveling up of human potential, all the negative effects and aspects, therefore it's so nearly nothing. That's why the myth of all the interesting people being in Hell is ridiculous because it's complete selfishness. My favorite part is what he says about Ghosts, that their shriveled up souls, dried up without potential or any hint of being human, i.e. Jacob Marley in Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Basically what he's saying is that our limited understanding of us just being in the "Shadowlands," a Lewis word from The Great Divorce, makes the potential of what is on either side easily corruptible.

Brillantly written with endnotes and great biblical quotes. Highly recomened for anyone interested in what else is out there.

Of course nothing can be a true substitute for reading the works of C.S. Lewis, however, this book is a great introduction to these works in how they weave together Lewis' take on the Christian doctrines of Heaven and Hell. Wayne Martindale does a great job of discussing the various works of Lewis and bringing out particular passages that concern the main topic. He also brings in the insight from other Christian authors that influenced Lewis in order to weave a more complete picture of Lewis' views on the subject. This is much here that provides food for thought and reflection. Lewis has helped me a lot in my own life when it comes to doubt and faith.

This book provides quotes from a wide range of Lewis's works and is set out in a very clear format. I recently wrote an essay on C S Lewis and this book was one of the most useful.

This book suffers from two faults. First, it does very little beyond restating what Lewis wrote in his books. None of his books are very long, so I suggest you skip this one and just get it from the horse's mouth. Second, Martinadle falls into the same old trap of casting Lewis in his own image. Lewis was an enigmatic square peg, but so many readers twist Lewis' words to endorse their own ideas because they've fallen in love with the picture of C. S. Lewis that live in their minds. This effect helps book sales, but it leaves Lewis misunderstood.