Someone has suggested that "Transposition" represents some of C. S. Lewis' best theological thinking. It was really a sermon about spirituality, and the objections that the materialistic thinking (Freudian and naturalistic) of Lewis' day had against it. Many non-believers and "religious pessimists" had protested that the spiritual life of the Christian was a mirage, a psychological projection. To answer this objection Lewis developed a theory called transposition, which meant for him an "adaptation of a richer to a poorer medium."

He explained this to his audience by suggesting that the Christian looks at so-called spiritual events "from above" -- that is, with a godly and "heavenly" viewpoint. The non-believer sees events without God in mind. For Lewis, the Christian's devotion to God, however it is expressed, is not merely a "desire for Heaven" or desire for immortality - it has been placed in us by God.

Since "Transposition" was preached on the day that many Christians celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit, Lewis used the example of glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, to make one of his major points. He admitted this event was difficult for him to understand, as it was (and still is) for a great percentage of Christians. But he defended this instance of glossolalia (in Acts) because -- although it was for him "an extreme example" of spirituality - he believed it needed defending because of what was at stake. Lewis thought the existence of the spiritual life (as a whole) was under attack by the "mind of the age." "Transposition" was his attempt to articulate his defense of the spiritual life, which he believed with all his heart and mind to be straight from the love of God.

"A Slip of the Tongue" was the last sermon Lewis preached. It was given at the invitation of the Chaplain of Magdalene College, Cambridge, in the college chapel (at Evensong) on January 29, 1956. About a year earlier Lewis had accepted a position at the college as Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature. The chapel register reported that the little chapel was so crowded with people (over 100) that extra seats had to be brought in. This sermon was first published in Screwtape Proposes a Toast and Other Pieces (1965). He was helping his publisher plan this volume just before he died.

Lewis started this sermon like he did so many, by identifying with his listeners. When a layman like himself was asked to preach, he told them, the most likely way he could be entertaining and useful would be if he started where he was. Thus the sermon would be like comparing notes with the audience. "A Slip of the Tongue" is a very short and intimate sermon, especially when compared to his other university talks.

Lewis told of his recurring temptation to just "dabble and splash" with God ("that sea," after the term by St. John of the Cross) and neither "dive nor swim nor float, careful not to get out of my depth and holding on to the lifeline of the temporal" (worldly as opposed to spiritual). Sometime before, he had made a slip of the tongue by exchanging the words "eternal" and "temporal" in a prayer. The whole sermon was Lewis' way of explaining his almost constant battle to separate the spiritual from the worldly in his life, and to not let temporal desires weaken his spiritual life with God.

It is interesting to note that in the first Shadowlands -- the video made in the 80's starring Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom -- there is a scene which illustrates the point Lewis was making in "A Slip of the Tongue." Early in the video, Lewis and his future wife Joy Gresham were walking near Magdalene College. In trying to explain his faith to her, he asked Joy if she "knew how to dive." He then explained that when he first became a Christian he was afraid to "let go"; he was always "holding on to something." He told Joy that he learned what Christianity was really about by "letting go" of himself, and by ending his own desire for self-preservation. In learning "to dive," the same principle held; a person must jump in and let go of his or her fears. So in this sermon, when Lewis told his hearers about his temptation just "to dabble" in God, instead of "taking a leap of faith," he was telling them about something very near to the center of his faith.

C. S. Lewis was a powerful and effective preacher. Although primarily an apologist and "literary evangelist," it is to his credit that he used his versatile gifts well and effectively in the pulpit. He was equally at ease preaching to sophisticated Oxford dons and students as well as to soldiers and laypeople. His creative imagination, wonderful use of language, and great empathy for his fellow human beings produced a Christian who was a powerful and effective communicator of the faith.

Lewis' sermons were not "popular preaching," as noted. But their theological insights and brilliant practical wisdom make their reading and study well worth the effort for the modern preacher.

Perry C. Bramlett is the founder of "C. S. Lewis for the Local Church," a teaching ministry of seminars, retreats, and book studies on the life and works of C. S. Lewis. He can he contacted at 123 Bonner Ave., Louisville, KY 40207, (502) 897-7457.