Tag: C.S. Lewis

“Think Again: Relief from the Burden of Introspection” by Jared Mellinger

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

Think Again by Jared Mellinger“Did he or didn’t he? Did he step out of bounds or not?”  In the world of sports, such questions are settled with instant replay. The referees look at the video monitor and think again about the play they had just presided over. But now with additional camera angles, the verdict is overturned. “No, he was in bounds! Play on.”

In real life, however, relying on instant replay is not always a good idea. Some people go to the cameras over and over again, rehashing each scene and second-guessing each decision. Introspection like that can be a harmful practice. Yet who hasn’t taken joy in reliving a precious moment or grown through uncovering a destructive pattern?

Jared Mellinger addresses this thorny topic gracefully in a new book Think Again: Relief from the Burden of Introspection (New Growth Press, 2017). No stranger to negative thinking himself, Mellinger shares what he’s learned through his life and ministry and draws from a host of reliable and helpful sources to cover this subject from almost every angle.

I imagine if I were to find a book on this topic in a typical Christian bookstore, the concept of having positive self-esteem might surface. That or a simple 8 steps to conquer this problem for good. Mellinger doesn’t frame the matter so simply. He gives a big picture and a theological worldview through which to look at introspection, rather than a simple prescription for a happier life. And concerning self-esteem, he resists the urge to give in to the cultural pull to affirm yourself. A sample of some of his takeaways on this point will help:

Psalm 139:14 does not say, “I feel good about myself, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” It says, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The focus is on God. The praise is directed to God, and the idol of self has been displaced. (p. 38)

Those with high self-image enjoy the praise they receive and think, I am awesome. Those with low self-image often want to receive praise they are not receiving and think, I am worthless. but through the idol-destroying power of the gospel, “I am awesome” and “I am worthless” give way to “Lord, I will praise you.” (p. 39)

As the above excerpt illustrates, the book is clear and easy to read. The illustrations are poignant and pertinent, and they get your attention: Dobby the house elf even makes an appearance. The author is well read on this topic and acquaints the reader with numerous resources, recommending some books and quoting from classic Christian authors: C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, D.M. Lloyd-Jones, Richard Sibbes, John Calvin, G.K. Chesterton, and many more.

The strategy put forth is not to avoid introspection altogether, but to think less of self and more of Christ. He does call for repentance when sinful motives are found, but he also warns against letting false guilt consume you. We are sinful and fallen, but he reminds us of how often Paul praised God for the evidences of God’s grace in the people he wrote to: we too must learn to see grace “in the mirror” (p. 97).

The book is not a theological treatise, don’t get me wrong. It is incredibly helpful and practical. Mellinger shares realistic scenarios and walks through likely reactions from introverts and others. He often draws from his own experience with introspection and how others helped him.

I can’t help but quote from his concluding chapter. This is really good:

The Christian life is a life of radical extra-spection. For every look to ourselves, we should be taking ten looks to Christ. And every time we look at ourselves, what we see should lead us back to Christ. Any sin we find should drive us to the work of Christ for us. And any good we find in ourselves should reveal the work of Christ in us and through us. Any weakness we find should lead us to the power of Christ toward us. (p. 155)

I can’t think of a better resource to give to those who struggle with doubts or the tendency to second-guess and over-analyze decisions and motives. This resource is filled with Gospel goodness and solid enough to help those in a variety of situations. It is a book one might want to give away to special people in your life who are tender but perhaps too often weighed down with care.

Book Blurbs:

“Astute, pastorally sensitive, and deeply searching” ~ Sinclair Ferguson, professor and author of numerous books including The Christian Life and Devoted to God

“I believe that for many people this will be a truly liberating book.” ~ Tim Chester, author of over 30 books including You Can Change

“Think Again will help you find freedom as you learn how to guard your heart while renewing your mind.” ~ Bob Lepine, Cohost of FamilyLife Today

See more reviews at litfuse.com.

Where to Buy:

Disclaimer:

This book was provided by the publisher. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

C.S. Lewis’s “Three Parts of Morality” and the Ten Commandments

~ Bob Hayton ~ Leave a comment


The following is a brief book excerpt from A Doubter’s Guide to the Ten Commandments: How, For Better or Worse, Our Ideas about the Good Life Come from Moses and Jesus by John Dickson (Zondervan, 2016; p. 163-165).

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In the timeless Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis speaks of what he calls “the three parts of morality” — the social, the internal, and the spiritual. He employs the image of a fleet of ships that must get all three things right in order to function effectively:

There are two ways in which the human machine goes wrong. One is when human individuals drift apart from one another, or else collide with one another and do one another damage, by cheating or bullying. The other is when things go wrong inside the individual — when the different parts of him (his different faculties and desires and so on) either drift apart or interfere with one another. You can get the idea plain if you think of us as a fleet of ships sailing in formation. The voyage will be a success only, in the first place, if the ships do not collide and get in one another’s way; and, secondly, if each ship is seaworthy and has her engines in good order. As a matter of fact, you cannot have either of these two things without the other. But there is one thing we have not yet taken into account. We have not asked where the fleet is trying to get to. However well the fleet sailed, its voyage would be a failure if it were meant to reach New York and actually arrived at Calcutta. Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonising the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for; what course the whole fleet ought to be on. (Mere Christianity, 58-59).

Secular ethics tend to focus on the social dimension. If it doesn’t hurt another person, it must be fine. This approach tends to ignore the question of the goal of human life, in Lewis’s image where the whole thing is headed. Sometimes there is also a neglect of virtue or the internal character of a person. It is common now to hear people say that a public leader can be a complete rat-bag in private life, so long as he serves well for the public good. This has not always been the case. There was a time when, for example, a leader’s marital betrayal was seen as reason enough for someone to step down from high office. This was not mere moralism. The logic was: If “faithfulness” and “discipline” are not inner qualities of this leader, how can the public have confidence that such virtues will guide wider social decisions? It is true this old-fashioned rationale can be oppressive and unfairly employed, but there is something to it.

Religious ethics have their own, equally problematic, flaws. They are often strong on the spiritual dimension, what we are made for. But they can very frequently go astray on both the internal and the social dimensions. Religion can promote mere external piety, divorced from genuine virtue and love for others. Hence our distaste for the “religious hypocrite” I have talked so much about in this book.

The Ten Commandments are concerned with all three parts of the ethical enterprise. We are urged to find satisfaction in our Creator and his blessings. Then we are guided to honour our family and our neighbours. And, finally, the strange tenth commandment drills down to the engine room of our soul and asks, What do we truly desire?

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Learn more about this book at Zondervan.com or Amazon.com.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher through the Amazon Vine program. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

Eustace, the Gospel and the Power of Story

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

If you’ve read the Chronicles of Narnia, you’ll remember the character, Eustace. He’s a weasel of a boy who enjoys being a brat to his cousins. He is transported to Narnia and there meets Aslan, and becomes a different person altogether. His story is clearly analogous to the Christian life. He is confronted with the gospel and then is progressively transformed into the image of who Aslan desires him to be.

This post will try to bring together two ideas surrounding this. First, the incredible power of story to convey the realities of the gospel. Second, I want us to think closely about Lewis’ account of Eustace’s “conversion” and appreciate anew the beauty of sanctification and the gospel of grace.

To illustrate the power of story, consider this quote from Michael Flaherty, president of Walden Media. In this interview, he comments about the making of the movie for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I found this section of the interview fascinating. It reveals how counter-cultural grace truly is – and the power of story to bring it home to people in a powerful way.

You Patrick Henry [College] students have all read Dawn Treader, and you know that in it God’s grace is a strong theme. You know that Eustace becomes a dragon because, Lewis writes, he gave in to his own dragonish thoughts. So we’re talking with the screenwriter and director and someone says, “Before Eustace gets un-dragoned, let’s have him fight another dragon, and as a reward for him fighting that other dragon and beating him, Aslan will un-dragon him.” I knew there was no way we could talk these guys out of having another dragon in the movie, so I said, “Why don’t we do it another way? Why don’t we have that fight and have Eustace do something incredibly cowardly—retreat, leave everyone in danger—and then Aslan will un-dragon him.” They looked at me as if I had said the craziest thing in the world, and they asked, “Why would anybody give somebody something they didn’t deserve? And that’s when I realized the opportunity for stories and how much work we have ahead of us as believers—to explain grace and to explain that undeserved favor that we get from the Lord.

For how exactly we see the gospel and sanctification in Eustace’s story, I turn to G.K. Beale. Beale’s massive biblical theology of the NT is not where you’d expect to find a treatment of Eustace and his “un-dragoning,” but again the power of story allows Beale to illustrate Paul’s teaching about the Christian life perfectly by this.

The true believer is someone who is no longer an unbelieving “old man” but instead is a believing “new man.”…

C.S. Lewis pictures this theological reality in his Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The character Eustace was a very spoiled boy who had become so enamored with a dragon’s treasure that he became the dragon itself. Lewis’s point is that Eustace’s transformation into a dragon represented his dragon-like heart. In a subsequent scene, Lewis depicts Aslan, the messianic lion, leading Eustace up to a mountain, at the top of which is a garden (echoing the garden of Eden) and a big pool of water with marble steps leading down into it (reflecting a baptismal scene). Aslan tells Eustace to undress himself by shedding his dragon skin and go into the water. Eustace realizes that he has no clothes, except for his dragon skin. So he begins to scratch off a layer like a snake sloughs off its old skin. But after doing so, he still looks like a dragon, with dragon skin. So he scratches off the next layer, but he still appears as a dragon; so he scratches off yet a third layer of scales, but he cannot change the fact that he is still a dragon. No matter how hard he tries, Eustace has no ability to change his dragon-like nature.

Finally, Aslan tells Eustace to lay down, and he will remove his dragon skin once for all:

The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt…. Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off — just as I thought I’d done… — and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thinker, and darker, and more knobbly looking that the others had been…. Then he caught hold of me and… threw me into the water…. After that… I’d turned into a boy again. After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me. [C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Harper Trophy, 1994), 115-116]

Afterward, Eustace rejoins his friends, and he apologizes for his bad, spoiled behavior: “I’m afraid I’ve been pretty beastly.” [Lewis, 117] With regard to Eustace’s subsequent behavior, Lewis concludes,

It would be nice, fairly nearly true, to say that “from that time forth Eustace was a different boy.” To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun. [Lewis, 119-120]

Lewis’s description is clearly his attempt to represent the biblical portrayal of the reality that people, on the basis of their own innate ability, cannot do anything to take out their old, fallen, sinful heart and create a new heart for themselves. Only God can bring people back to Eden and create them anew in the last Adam, and when he does, the bent of one’s desires and behavior begins to change and to reflect the image of the God who has re-created them into a new creation. Immediate perfection does not come about, but a progressive growth in doing those things that please God does occur. [G.K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology (Baker, 2011), 847-849]

This is food for thought, and may be cause for you to consider reading through the Chronicles of Narnia, again. (And if you haven’t read through them, shame on you! But now’s your chance!)

“The Christian World of the Hobbit” by Devin Brown

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

The Christian World of The Hobbit by Devin BrownBook Details:
  • Author: Devon Brown
  • Category: Literature
  • Publisher: Abingdon Press (2012)
  • Format: softcover
  • Page Count: 208
  • ISBN#: 9781426749490
  • List Price: $14.99
  • Rating: Highly Recommended

Review:
I remember the first time I entered the world of Middle-earth. I was twelve or thirteen and noticed an interesting little yellow book on my mother’s shelf. I’m not entirely sure if she ever read it or not — as that kind of book was not what I remember her reading. But I asked if I could read it and eagerly dove in. At that age I don’t believe I was even aware there was a sequel to the book. But from the first few moments I was hooked.

Fantasy literature isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and all books in the genre of fantasy are not created equal. Few rise to the level of art achieved by J.R.R. Tolkien. His books, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, are among the most widely read in the English language. And like countless readers of Tolkien before me, I found the world he crafted to be enchanting and alluring.

Tolkien’s world, the land of Middle-earth, is a place readers long to return to. Yet spending time in Middle-earth is not an exercise in futility or a way to check out of the here and now. In an ironic fashion, Tolkien’s world inspires noble efforts in the real world, and calls us all to live better and nobler lives.

Tolkien scholar Devon Brown, elaborates on this quality of Tolkien’s works:

…it might also be argued that the biggest reason his works have been so deeply loved, both in the previous century and the present one, is because they not only entertain readers — they also enrich their readers’ lives and make them more meaningful. (p. 11)

A Christian world?

Brown explores the world Tolkien made in a new book The Christian World of the Hobbit (Abingdon Press, 2012). In this work, he demonstrates how Tolkien’s Christian worldview bleeds through his written works and permeates the world he made. This aspect of Tolkien’s work is puzzling to many. His books have almost no references to God or anything remotely similar to church or religion, and yet they are hailed by many as Christian novels advocating a Christian worldview. Sure there is a fight between right and wrong, and right wins — but is that enough to classify the book as Christian?

Brown’s analysis uncovers abundant clues from the author himself, both inside the covers of his books, as well as from his own reflections and letters about them, which put this question to rest. Tolkien’s use of the term “luck” and “good fortune” is an ironic way to point the reader toward the conclusion that it wasn’t just luck or fortune, but Someone behind it all. Gandalf’s statement to Bilbo on the final page of The Hobbit makes this clear: “You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventure and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?” Brown points out that Tolkien as much as acknowledges this in one of his letters:

In a letter, Tolkien offers this additional statement about the veiled power at work in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: “The story and its sequel are… about the achievements of specially graced and gifted individuals. I would say… ‘by ordained individuals, inspired and guided by an Emissary to ends beyond their individual education and enlargement.’ This is clear in The Lord of the Rings; but it is present, if veiled, in The Hobbit from the beginning, and is alluded to in Gandalf’s last words. (Letters 365)” (pp. 49-50)

Additional evidence is found in Tolkien’s statements about his work being “fundamentally Christian” in nature:

“The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision” (Letters 172). [p. 24]

“I am a Christian” and then adds in parentheses “which can be deduced from my stories” (Letters 288). [p. 26]

Tolkien’s work is Christian at its core, but not in a superficial manner. Tolkien despised allegory, and would frown on much of what passes as Christian fantasy today. Brown considers works of this type as merely “Christianized.” In contrast, Tolkien’s thoroughly Christian worldview shapes the very fabric of his stories in a subtle yet profound way. And Tolkien did desire his readers to entertain that worldview for themselves after encountering it in his stories.

Brown also explores the morality inherent in Tolkien’s view of Middle-earth. The struggle to better one’s self plays a prominent role throughout the story. Bilbo Baggins is no ordinary hero, conquering by his skill with the sword and enduring thanks to his bravado and courage. Instead Bilbo takes on himself and wins. He faces the darker parts of his heart head on: he steps out of his cottage to begin the adventure, he resists the greed and selfishness that entice him to abandon his companions, and ultimately he finds a life spent in service of others is the only truly satisfying way to live.

Evaluation

This book is well-written, lucid and clear. And the artistic touches throughout make it a pleasure to interact with – even in the Kindle version. It abounds with quotations from Tolkien’s work and letters, and includes pertinent quotes from other Tolkien scholars. The life of Tolkien, and his own Christian journey are recounted, as well as his famous literary society and its influence on his career. C.S. Lewis features prominently in the book – as he both knew Tolkien as a friend and appreciated his literary output (Brown is also a Lewis scholar). Throughout the book, Brown’s first-rate grasp of Tolkien scholarship is apparent and yet he manages to keep the book very accessible.

For those who have read The Hobbit more than once, Brown’s work will be a joy to read. Even if you are familiar with Tolkien’s work only through the films by Peter Jackson, reading The Christian World of the Hobbit may spur you on to read the books that have endeared themselves to generations of readers. J.R.R. Tolkien was a Catholic Christian, but his view of morality and Divine providence as conveyed through his stories, is something evangelical Christians will appreciate. Brown allows us to enter Tolkien’s universe with a well trained eye, ready to see the glimmers of the Christian worldview that permeates it all. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it.

Author Info:
Devin Brown is a Lilly Scholar and a Professor of English at Asbury University where he teaches a class on Lewis and Tolkien. He is the author of Inside Narnia (2005), Inside Prince Caspian (2008), and Inside the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010). He has spoken at Lewis and Tolkien conferences in the UK and the U.S. Devin has published numerous essays on Lewis and Tolkien, including those written for CSLewis.com, ChristianityToday.com, SamaritansPurse.org, and BeliefNet.com. Devin earned a PhD at the University of South Carolina and currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Book Trailer:

Where to Buy:
  • Christianbook.com
  • Amazon
  • direct from Abingdon Press

Disclaimer:
Disclaimer: This book was provided by Abingdon Press. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.