At this morning’s Bible study, the question came up about how to describe the concept of Jesus being both God’s Son and God himself. We talked about how we teach them what the Bible teaches and get them to grasp the concept at the level it can be grasped, then leave them with the appropriate level of mystery in how it actually cashes out in a way that transcends our ability to understand.
In that discussion, I brought up C.S. Lewis’ view of the importance of fantasy stories in the lives of children in order to develop their imaginations. Without a healthy imagination, they will never be able to grapple with the great mysteries of God.
In trying not to take too much time, I really didn’t give Lewis’ view the best description. I would like to rectify that here.
First, Gene Edward Veith describes Lewis’s point about the boy who read all the “wrong books” in this article…
Lewis went on to write fantasies himself such as The Chronicles of Narnia. One of the Chronicles, The Voyage of the Dawn Trader, features a boy named Eustace Scrubb, a product of permissive, liberal parents and the modern educational system. Being brought up a thorough-going materialist, he liked only books that were realistic. “He liked books if they were books of information and had pictures of grain elevators or of fat foreign children doing exercises in model schools.”
When Eustace finds himself in Narnia, with its talking animals and noble ideals, he is utterly lost. Rude, obnoxious, and self-centered, Eustace cannot function in a moral world. Then, he confronts a dragon. Since “Eustace had read none of the right books,” he does not even know what it is. “Most of us know what we should expect to find in a dragon’s lair,” writes Lewis, “but, as I said before, Eustace had read only the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons.” Partly due to this ignorance and to the twisted quality of his own moral nature, Eustace eventually turns into a dragon himself.
Finally, the mighty lion, King Aslan, destroys Eustace’s evil nature, and Eustace is reborn, a repentant sinner redeemed and changed by Lewis’s symbol for Christ. Eustace needed to “escape” from his materialistic self-centered worldliness into the larger, freer, more spacious world– not just of Narnia but of spiritual reality, which, though it cannot be fully seen, can be evoked, experienced, and symbolized.
Lewis’s point is that reading “the right books” can equip a child to recognize the dragons that lurk outside and within. The Chronicles of Narnia are some of those “right books” that can shape a child’s spiritual awareness far better than realistic books about grain elevators.
Compared to the naturalistic world that we are taught to believe in, the spiritual realm, as it is described in the Bible is a veritable Narnia of supernatural reality… Invisible beings carry messages from an uncreated Creator to humans–sometime appearing as men and other times as visions or dreams. There is a cosmic battle waging between good and evil. God manifests Himself as fire, wind, a cloud, and a thundering voice. God impregnates a woman, and the Creator of the universe is born as human baby. People are raised from the dead. God is three persons and one essence. God is in complete control of everything, and yet we are solely responsible for our actions. And so on.
As Lewis as famously said, Christianity is that myth that became fact. If our children are going to grasp these difficult concepts as well as the learn to embrace the spiritual reality that they cannot see or touch, they need to develop their imaginations as much as they need to learn long division.
I’ll leave you with one last Lewis quote…
“I suspect that men have sometimes derived more spiritual sustenance from myths they did not believe than from the religion they professed.”
Hmmm…interesting on many levels. It seems that in Lewis’ analogy (as it is represented above in the story of Eustace) imagination is synonymous with faith. This begs the question, “If faith is a gift from God, can one develop it like one develops his imagination or mathematical skills?”
I don’t see Lewis saying that imagination is synonymous with faith, but that (from the human side of the equation) without that skill faith would not be possible. If one’s mind is utterly immersed in a naturalistic worldview, one of the first steps toward faith in God would be an acceptance of a supernatural reality (if there is no supernatural, there is no God). To grasp the supernatural, it seems to me, one must have a functioning imagination–if faith is believing and trusting in what cannot be seen (Hebrews 11:1-3).
My one hesitation is expressing it like that is that the word imagination has connotation of believing in something that is not real. That is obviously not the sense of the word that I mean.
Also, in fairness to Lewis, I’ve condensed and summarized his views in my words, and I don’t exactly have his gift of written expression. So, it’s probably best to go back to his writings to really see what he means. Surprised by Joy tells his story of conversion and covers much of this concept. After reading that book, I found that I probably don’t share Lewis’s views on how we are regenerated (even though he never directly expresses his view). But even given that, I find his point here helpful.
Wow, that Veith article is fantastic! Here is a PDF you can download if you like to read from paper (like me)…
Funny, I just bought the Narnia books… I’ll read them with a different set of eyes now.
Jason, I have a different take on it. (I see a presuppositional debate on the horizon and I really don’t want to go there…)
I don’t think Lewis was in any way implying that we need to imagine our way into a saving faith.
Rather, I think Lewis saying that imagination develops the “muscles” that one employs in the exercise of faith.
The things that are intellectually tidy can be compared to pedaling a bicycle across a flat plain… the things that stretch us (like the Trinity, for example) are more like tackling a mountain range.
Our rational intellect serves us well when we’re on the flat plain of logic and reason. When reality just doesn’t make sense, and life puts us at the foot of a forbidding hill we must climb (the death of a loved one, the utter incomprehensibility of the deity of Christ, for example), we must bring (as Lewis put it) a “baptized imagination” to bear on the matter.
What takes place in our imagination is neither reality nor truth, but it lets us hear their echoes. Those echoes tell us that something is there, but the imagination cannot tell us what it is: that is the job of the intellect.
Perhaps Eustace’s problem could be summed up like this: he knew it was a dragon before him, but his failure of imagination kept him from trusting what his intellect told him. How many people said on 9/11, “I can’t believe what I am seeing?”
Put concisely, I think Lewis’s point is this:
The ability to imagine beyond the limits of our intellect is an essential skill, for neither imagination nor intellect is adequate in itself.
Well stated, Hugh.
Directly to Jason’s question, which is a good one… I would say that our faith is much like our personal holiness. We are responsible for it’s development–the Scriptures are pretty clear about this (for both our faith and our personal holiness). We are also hopelessly unable to develop it without God’s grace. We do our part, and we pray for God’s Spirit to enable us. Would you agree?
Also, check out God of the Fairy Tale by Jim Ware.
Hugh, I also believe that your point is very well stated. I agree with Lewis point about the need for “baptized” imagination- but that is precisely the point- it is first “baptized” then the imagination follows. I believe that this is the point of the story of Eustace. The scales needed to fall off before a new world was open to him. The question I meant to raise was one concerning the ordo salutis or, order of salvation. I will trust you guys that Lewis is not seeing faith and imagination as synonyms. My curiosity remains the same. The question I am asking is does imagination really play a role in faith? If so, in what way? Does it play a role pre-conversion? Does it play a role in the process of our sanctification? Eric foresaw the difficulty in Lewis analogy by pointing out that we believe in something real and substantial, not just a myth that requires imagination. Without trying to predict my response or where I am going with my line of questioning (I really am interested in what you guys think) I am curious of your take.
I am not real sure how you saw this as me trying to steer us into discussing presuppositionalism. Maybe my question sounds as though I was baiting you guys, but I meant to leave it open ended for the sake of discussion. Not only this, I know that on this blog I have overemphasized presuppositionalism and that I have done so in a less than winsome way, so I assume the responsibility for your reaction.
I wish we could discuss the article you posted, but I understand that this board is not for debating apologetic methods. The article was very interesting. I agree with some of what he said and felt his discussion on the circularity of arguments was very interesting. Obviously I disagree with several key arguments that he makes. Other parts I literally can not believe he is saying what he is saying without embarrassment. He does not understand Van Tillian presuppositionalism. I am open to being persuaded my view of apologetics is incorrect (despite the dogmatic way that I have represented myself here) if you will only show me where an argument that we use is not biblical or unintelligible. You will not make much progress with me by quoting guys on a website who define my view incorrectly (though you might make progress with some on this blog). Who wrote the article for answers.com? Whoever he is, it is obvious that he is an evidentialist. His language is clearly not neutral. 😉
That may not be the purpose of this blog and resulting comments, but it’s not off-limits either.
How about if I make a future post with my objections to a strictly presuppositional approach, and we can debate it directly?
Jason, given your concerns about the propriety of being concerned about training pre-regenerate children in hopes of moving them toward faith (because it discounts the order of salvation), what do you do with Deuteronomy 6…
Do you see this as not applicable today? Or do you see this as only applying after regeneration?
Fair point, Eric. I will confess my ignorance and admit that I am not sure what you mean by “property of being.” I know this is a philosophical term that is commonly used, but a brief definition would be helpful for me, I apologize.
I never said that I was concerned about training pre-regenerate children in hopes of moving them toward faith, or that I believed that this would discount the order of salvation. I am simply curious about the relationship between faith and imagination. We know that the order of salvation says nothing about imagination (and I don’t think Lewis meant to imply that imagination should be included in the ordo salutis, that is not what I am implying). So how are “faith” or “belief” and imagination related?
My concern is not theological as much as it is practical as I am a father myself and curious about a good biblical view of training my own children.
Off hand, I don’t see any reason to believe (biblically or otherwise) that a developed imagination prepares one for faith…but as you pointed out- that is not what Lewis is saying. At the same time, I don’t see any reason to believe that imagination cannot serve one’s faith.
Again…not a fideist. I think Lewis’ point about the baptized imagination was one that, in context of that particular story, was meant to illustrate regeneration. That is not to say that it informs us of Lewis’ view of the role of imagination in faith. That is why I raised the question.
The answer to your Deuteronomy question is that we are to teach those who are in the covenant community (i.e. the visible church) God’s Word in obedience to Deut. 6:4-9. This would include our children as well as our servants in the Old Testament time. I try to apply this passage today to my family through family devotions where I teach them God’s Word, talking about God in day-to-day life, and by catechizing my children. This is where understanding the Reformed view of the means of grace is helpful.
I am simply seeking conversation about the relationship of faith and imagination. I thought that was interesting.
propriety: the quality or state of being proper
🙂
Sorry I missed your comment about the open debate concerning apologetical methods. I would be interested in debating the issue directly, but I don’t feel the need to “convert” you guys just so you will know. I certainly feel that we have more in common in our views on apologetics than we what we disagree on. I want you to know too that I did not mean that comment as a dig on how you run your blog. I just knew from the past that we want these discussions to be assessible to everybody and I appreciate that.
Jason, my link to the definition of the term was just reflecting the fact that lots of folks who read the blogs here don’t know what it means. Until a few months ago, I didn’t either.
This topic is to good to derail the thread. My apologies to all for starting us down that rabbit trail…
Jason, sorry if I put words in your mouth. I’m probably a little preconditioned by some our previous debates. 🙂
Understandably so. It is mostly my fault.
Hugh, fair enough. I am a little defensive I confess. Next time, link to a guy like Frame and let the best of the guys define their own position.
Jason, could you give me a title if I were going to read one book to best understand presuppositional apologetics? I’ll use that as the starting point for the discussion on apologetic methods. Thanks!
Well, that is tough to say. I am usually a big advocate of reading original sources before critiquing their view, but with Van Til, it is not easy reading. He assumes a lot of his audience. But Christian Apologetics would be his book that I would point you to.
Richard Pratt wrote a great book for college/high school students called Every Thought Captive and this is usually the one I recommend because of it is an easier read.
But, for purposes of this post and what you are seeking to do, I recommend John Frame’s Apologetics to the Glory of God. This is the best book on the subject in my opinion and knowing you- I believe you will absorb it’s content with no problem. Get this book and use it.