Mere Preaching: What We Can Still Learn From C.S. Lewis
By Harry L. Poe
The lesson from Lewis is to preach for the congregation that God has given, rather for one’s old seminary classmates and professors.
Dealing with the Eternal Issues
Lewis dealt with the eternal issues. He affirmed the truth of the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. He also explored what they have to do with day to day life and society at large. His essays, his sermons, his books of apologetics and his fiction all deal with the fundamental teachings about Christ and the Christian understanding of God, such as, the incarnation, the second coming, creation, divine sovereignty and human freedom, revelation, prayer, heaven and hell, the problem of suffering. Lewis helped people understand why these teachings matter.
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Lewis wrote that he labored "to expound ‘mere’ Christianity, which is what it is and what it was long before I was born . . . whether I like it or not."5 In regards to the importance of passing on essential Christianity to the next generation, Lewis remarked in several of his writings that he was not at all interested in being original or innovative. He aimed at passing on that which he had received.
This task is more difficult than it seems on the surface. Each generation has its own context, and Lewis taught the great doctrines in relation to the great issues of his own day and time. Preachers tend to be tempted in two alternative directions that Lewis avoided. Some gladly embrace what they consider doctrinal preaching, but it consists in nothing more than a lecture on how some eminent and worthy theologian of the past explained the doctrine. Others ignore doctrinal preaching entirely in order to focus on the “felt needs” of the audience.
The Bible tells us precious little about God apart from God’s dealing with people. Even those veiled references to God in the heavenly realms surrounded by the hosts of angels deal with God’s dealings with people. All Christian doctrine is practical theology that affects people and human society. Lewis understood that the context of life provides the occasion for expounding how the truth of Christ solves the dilemma of life.
The Responsibility of Interpretation
C. S. Lewis studied Greek and Latin literature while an undergraduate at Oxford and went on to study and to teach medieval and renaissance literature. Immersed in the world of poetry, allegory, and language, Lewis took seriously the responsibility of interpretation. As one who devoted his professional life to the interpretation of old texts, Lewis grew increasingly conscious of how lazily, incompetently, or irresponsibly people may go about interpreting a text. If literary scholars can create outrageous new methods for interpretation, then those who interpret sacred scripture are not immune from the same dangerous tendencies. Unfortunately, mishandling of the Bible can occur as easily with a conservative as with a liberal.