Let me warn you up front that this is not a review. I only write on points in books that strike me and that I want to think about and record for future reference. This is mostly some very vague thoughts about one particular issue that came up in the book.

I will skip some general thoughts on the book I considered writing. It suffices to say that I did not find it to be a great biography. It was alright, but certainly not one of the best I’ve read.

I still appreciate the book and am thankful for the author. I came away with one point that made the reading worthwhile (because it made me think) – Lewis’ experience with apologetics.

Jacobs makes the case that Lewis felt that his work in apologetics was actually damaging his own soul. When he bested opponents (as was usually the case) he came out of it prideful. When he was worsted he came out dejected (that might be too strong a word). But all in all he felt that his endeavors in apologetics were not improving his spiritual state or aiding his sanctification. Perhaps, Jacobs suggests, this is why he spent some of his later years writing children’s books and fiction. For it was in the flourishing of his imaginative life that his soul prospered.

This sounds parallel to Chesterton’s point in Orthodoxy that it is usually the strict logician who drives himself mad. Imagination never drives a man to insanity, but logic does. Even good logic. I don’t have time to flesh this out, but if you’re familiar with Orthodoxy you know the argument.

I have studied apologetics a good deal. I’ve read Van Til and Frame and Keller, and Sproul and Gerstner, even Lee Strobel (not to mention a great deal of Lewis). I’ve watched too many debates between Christians and Atheists (I’ve probably watched Wilson vs Hitchens alone in various venues at least a dozen different times. I have never heard one that was good for my soul (no matter who got the better in the debate). I know about Classical Apologetics and Presuppositional Apologetics. I find myself doing apologetic work in sermons quite often. But I’m always drawn back to the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones from Preaching and Preachers:

God is not to be debated. God is not a subject for debate, because of who He is and what He is. Allowing what we believe about God, we can not allow Him to become the subject of debate. God is holy and a consuming fire; He is not a philosophic act or a concept. We believe we are dealing with the Living God. We must never allow ourselves to be put into a position where we are debating God as if He were a philosophical proposition.

Lloyd-Jones is not saying that we cannot debate anything, but that the existence of God should be off-limits. God is the living God, the I AM – not a philosophical idea, not a proposition up for debate. But the Doctor had certainly engaged in apologetics of various forms in his life, even if he would not debate the existence of God. Near the end of his life, in a talk entitled ‘the Living God’ (which you can find in its entirety on my blog), he said,

I have a terrible feeling – and it is terrible, because I am one of the chiefest of the sinners – that nothing has so caused us to forget God and to forget the living, acting God, as our concern about apologetics. We have regarded ourselves as the defenders, the guardians, the custodians of the faith. We are that of course, but I am afraid that we have often stopped at that, and we have given the whole of our time and energy to defending the faith, defending the propositions – and forgetting God. Now you see, it is all a question of balance. We have got to indulge in apologetics. But what worries me, as I look back across my life, is that I have probably given too much time and attention to apologetics. Thirty years ago it was still more necessary than now. It is always necessary, but then we were still fighting the old liberalism up to a point. And quite unconsciously one could be found a sort of an apologete and no more. God was really forgotten, and one got engaged in endless discussions and debates. You were defending the truth at this point and that point, and safeguarding the whole position, steadying the ark and putting your hands on it to steady it – forgetting God! I am quite sure of it, and I plead guilty to it myself. One often indulged in these apologetics in a more or less carnal manner, and one enjoyed scoring points off the other side. But the terrible thing was that God tended to be forgotten. So let us be very careful about this matter of apologetics. Let us keep it in its place.

I think Lewis, according to Jacobs, experienced exactly what the Doctor was talking about.

I have no deep thoughts to share, only one reflection: I thank God for C.S. Lewis’ apologetical works, but I’m more thankful for his imaginative works. It doesn’t shock me that he didn’t profit from his work in apologetics as much – neither do I. Perhaps more gifted Christians, especially writers, should spend time writing good literature rather than constantly debating non-believers. After all, it was George MacDonald and J.R.R. Tolkien (fiction writers) who won over Lewis.

I realize that some folks truly loving doing apologetical work. God bless you. Do your work and do it well. We need you. But I trust the Doctor’s wisdom when he says, ‘keep it in its place’ and don’t forget ‘the living God.’ Give a reason for the hope that is in you, but not as a debater. You are a herald of good news. A living God and a glorious Christ trump a good argument any day in my book.

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