C.S. Lewis Then and Now [Paperback]

Wesley A. Kort (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2004

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was a distinguished scholar of medieval and Renaissance literature who taught at both Oxford University and Cambridge University. After his conversion to Christianity, Lewis began writing Christian apologetic works aimed at a popular audience. It is for these works that Lewis is now best remembered; especially in the U.S., where his books have sold in the millions and continue to be popular today. Perhaps because of this popularity, however, Lewis's Christian writings are generally dismissed by theologians as oversimplified and conceptually flawed. With this book, Wesley A. Kort hopes to rehabilitate Lewis and to demonstrate the value and continuing relevance of his work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Almost 40 years after his death, C.S. Lewis continues to capture headlines. Recent controversy about the "de-Christianizing" of his Narnia series has again raised questions about the value of Lewis's apologetics and the merit of his religious fiction. Taking a broad look at Lewis's weaving together of Christianity and culture, Kort (religion, Duke Univ.) offers a refreshing new reading of Lewis's life and work. He argues that evangelical Christianity's appropriation of Lewis is mysterious, because Lewis did not advocate a withdrawal from or an opposition to modern culture, as many evangelicals do. Instead, writes Kort, Lewis knew that Christians will always find themselves situated in a particular culture and define themselves religiously within that culture. With his deep erudition in 16th-century English literature, especially Spenser and Milton, Lewis strove continually to emphasize that Christian doctrines, such as redemption and creation, imbue language and literature, enabling us "to have and discover right relations" between ourselves and our culture and religion. Kort concludes by arguing that, although we cannot recover Lewis completely for our time, he provides a model of Christian engagement with culture that neither despises culture nor diminishes Christianity. Although Kort provides perhaps the most challenging and cogent reading of Lewis now available, the scholarly tone of the writing and its frequent lapses into academic jargon will make it accessible only to a limited audience.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Taking a broad look at Lewis's weaving together of Christianity and culture, Kort offers a refreshing new reading of Lewis's life and work...Kort provides perhaps the most challenging reading of Lewis now available."Publishers Weekly

"[Kort] penetrated Lewis's world in a way that few before him had."--America

"Wesley Kort has given us a literary Rosetta Stone to update and understand some of Lewis' themes that are pertinent to contemporary life."--Presbyterian Outlook

"This book should contribute to a greater appreciation of C.S. Lewis by all levels of readers."Choice

"Wesley Kort takes the opportunity of C.S. Lewis's recent centenary to assess the author's ongoing appeal, to examine his critique of modern culture, and to explore the varied riches he has personally found in decades of rereading. Taking into account a wide-ranging legacy of fiction, autobiography, and essay, he concentrates his attention on Lewis's ability to imagine a rich, collective life --a shared communal vision. Kort argues that the post-modern world in which we live is ripe for a writer so adept at building bridges between various constituencies, so versatile in his mastery of different kinds of writing. After years of teaching Lewis to Duke undergraduates, he now brings his smart, timely discoveries to the rest of us."--Peter S. Hawkins, Boston University

"C. S. Lewis Then and Now promises to make Lewis compelling not only to many lay people, but also to the kind of academic religious studies reader who (unlike millions of lay readers, many of them Christians of various sorts) has not been able to appreciate him. Kort shows that Lewis was not only criticizing 'modern culture' but looking for a fruitful, interactive relationship between Christianity and culture."--Larry D. Bouchard, University of Virginia

"If you last read something written by C.S. Lewis during your student days, or if you have never read anything at all by him, you may want to pick up C.S. Lewis Then and Now by Wesley A. Kort....Kort has given us a literary Rosetta Stone to update and understand some of Lewis' themes that are pertinent to contemporary life. This well-written book houses many ideas that should be entertained in sermons and studies throughout congregations that take seriously solid thinking to the glory of God."--The Presbyterian Outlook

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195176634
• ISBN-13: 978-0195176636
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,582,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Co-opting Lewis?, January 15, 2002

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This review is from: C.S. Lewis Then and Now (Hardcover)

Even though I'd read many books on C.S. Lewis before reading this one, the author was able to highlight several themes in Lewis's writings that I hadn't really noticed before. It did seem to me, however, that he took an unnecessarily large amount of space to make his points, and no one will confuse Kort's writing with Lewis's own vibrant prose. (I think this book must have set a record for most occurrences of the word "militate".) This is not the first time that I've read a socio-cultural analysis that has seemed to drain much of the life, energy, and interest out of its subject.

Kort seems very sympathetic to Lewis; he is less sympathetic with typical Lewis fans (although he is unfailingly polite in expressing that lack of sympathy). Kort makes sure to use the shibboleths of political correctness--"racism", "sexism", and "homophobia"--without taking the time to define their meaning or to justify their use.

The book's concluding chapter is the most interesting and the most controversial. Kort seems to think that the most important way to continue the Lewis legacy is not to appreciate and propagate Lewis's ideas but to do the work in our day and society that would be analogous to the work Lewis did in his day and society. So, what would be analogous? Kort writes that "[o]ne advantage that our own time and place give us over Lewis is that we will not be tempted, as perhaps he was, by nostalgia for a Christian culture", and he proposes the celebration of diversity as a major thrust of a proper modern Lewisian project. Kort's description of a C.S. Lewis for our times, makes me less interested in awaiting his appearance and more interested in reading the writings of the old one.