Was C.S. Lewis "woke"?
WELL WAS HE?
C.S. Lewis passed away sixty years ago this week.
Also, this week on twitter, some folks discovered a paragraph of Lewis’s that doesn’t get passed around all that often1 and were wondering if it was legit (it is!).
This is from an essay about the Psalms, published posthumously. He’s talking about imprecatory prayers (curses, basically… prayers for God to do harm to other people). Lewis takes the position that such prayers are by nature immoral.
Having said that, some people were taken aback (or were skeptical) that C.S. Lewis actually wrote these words because either (a) Lewis would never take that position and speak that way about White Men! or (b) Lewis is racist, we all know this, so he couldn’t have said that!
Here’s the thing. You can make a pretty great argument the Lewis was racist (or at the very least ethnocentric and colorist). You can also make a decent argument for Lewis as someone who celebrates diverse communities, interracial marriage, and has characters who are not definitively good or evil *because of* their race.
I personally don’t think you have to look very hard to find some opinions on race or gender in Lewis that might make you feel a little uncomfortable or make you cringe. And we can trot out all the typical excuses for that, if we want to.
What I don’t think a lot of people know is that Lewis was passionately, deeply anti-colonialist (which is part of what is being reflected in the quote above, I think). He had really strong words to say about both British and American Imperialism… as well as the science-fictional idea of the human race spreading out among the stars.
Was Lewis “woke”? I guess that might depend on your definition. If you’re using the original definition (something like “aware of and concerned about racial and social injustices”) then the quote above would certainly argue “Seem likely.” If you mean the way it’s used in more conservative politics these days (something like, “liberals are goofy little critters who say even weirder things than you can imagine”) I’m gonna say… maybe? I don’t like trying to predict what someone would believe 60 years after their death, especially with someone like Lewis who we see adding more and more nuance to his beliefs over the years (notable in, for instance, his opinions about women).
Anyway, most of the twitter folks were just joking around when they said Lewis was woke. It was meant to be a bit of a jab at “Christians who are sick of talking about race!!!!!” online, saying, “Look, Lewis seemed aware of racial injustice, I thought you loved that guy!”
I’ve written A LOT about C.S. Lewis. I did 62 articles over several years for Tor.com.
Here are a few that might be of interest on this topic (tangentially or directly):
Ethnocentrism, Heathens, and Heretics in The Horse and His Boy
The Horse and Her Girl: C.S. Lewis and Aravis
Stumbling Into Heaven: Emeth, Aslan, and The Last Battle
Colonization, Empire, and Power in C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet
The Unforgiveable Sin, Womanhood, and C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces (for a clear example of how Lewis’s understanding of women and gender changed over time)
C.S. Lewis wrote some really amazing things that changed my life in a variety of ways. That’s true for a lot of people, and many others have had the same experience… no doubt one of the reasons that Evangelicals, for instance, really love him despite the fact that he wasn’t a Evangelical at all.
Anyway: C.S. Lewis. Dead. Complicated. Great imagination and wonderful writer.
The new Hunger Games movie is… surprisingly great!?
I’m embarrassed to say I never read the book, but I took my 14 year old and her best friend to see this movie and I *really* enjoyed it.
I don’t typically like prequels.
This one was interesting, fun, and shockingly on-point about a variety of nasty political realities facing our world today.
It’s the story of the Big Bad Guy in the Hunger Games, President Snow, and how he started his rise to power in his late teens.
Anyway, if you like the world of the Hunger Games at all, you may enjoy this movie!
This week I ordered a book from Hearts and Minds Bookstore
If you’re old enough, you might remember the days when there was a local bookstore in your town, and you could go there and chat with the owner or the booksellers about what they were reading, or what you were reading, or what kind of book you wish you could find.
And the bookseller, who knew you and what you loved well, would introduce you to new authors and new books and maybe even new genres.
There is a bookstore in Pennsylvania called HEARTS AND MINDS that specializes in Christian books, and the owners, Byron and Beth Borger, are delightful, personable, and incredibly well-read across a broad swath of books.
This last week I read the regular article they put out, Book Notes, about books to consider related to the horrific events playing out right now in Israel and Gaza. I found a book I liked the sound of (I found several, actually), filled out the order form on the Hearts and Minds website, and got a really kind, friendly, and personal note from Byron Borger (bookseller) within a few hours, and the book was in the mail the next day.
Here’s the book I bought, along with Byron’s description of it:
If there’s a book you want to buy2, or if you’re trying to find a recommendation of a book you’d like to buy, or if you’d like to buy one of MY BOOKS for yourself or for someone for Christmas, you can ask questions here, or you can make an order here, or you can send them an email, make a phone call, or visit in person!
Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street Dallastown PA 17313
read@heartsandmindsbooks.com
717-246-3333
Bruce on a blue carpet
The weather’s been pretty mild this week, and Bruce has been sitting on this outdoor carpet and watching the leaves fall.
Of course, he then eats the leaves.
His winter coat is starting to come in, too, so his already thick coat is getting thicker (and he’s shedding!).
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday (if you’re American and into Thanksgiving).
Peace to you and yours,
Matt
And WHY doesn’t it get passed around that often, hmmmmmm? A good question worth reflecting on.
While the Borgers certainly specialize in Christian books, they can get pretty much any book in print. So if there’s
Confession of personal bias: I don't really worry about people being 'woke,' since I associate that word with things like 'enlightenment' and keeping one's eyes open while driving.
You've written a lot about him, and so have I, but very briefly, I've really warmed to Lewis over the past 10 years. In my 20s I hated him with a passion. At a formative time I had him quoted against me on several fronts, including theology; but, he wasn't the one hurling those words at me. I've come to realize, thanks to his mixed example and some good writing about it including yours, that Lewis is a lot like Paul: his having been weaponized against me does not make him my enemy. He was a seeker of the same Truth I've been seeking all my life. His twisted cultural lens helped him birth "Till We Have Faces" (o the beauty) as well as "The Four Loves" (o the unnecessary pain). It was a problematic human lens, as is mine.
I think he could have done better waking up sooner to the realities of gendering and racializing people (and he could have been less eager to make sweeping proclamations in general). But I appreciate his determination to keep seeking, learning, and loving. His sincerity was formidable. And I'm grateful for him-- not least because I've learned, by not giving up on him, that some authors are problematic and deeply worthwhile.
I first “met” you in your essays on Tor.com. As a lifelong fan of CS Lewis, I was thrilled to see someone dust him off and share his writing with a new audience. I’d love to see those Tor.com posts collected into a book of essays!
Of course some of Lewis’ ideas are dated now, since he’s been dead for a long time. It frustrates me that the short attention span/sound bite driven world of social media has led to so much reductive thinking about everyone and everything. Everyone is reduced to good or bad, with no room for grey areas. Lewis was wrong and/or outdated in much of his thinking, but the quote you cite here (and I think much of his fiction) argues that he was pretty forward thinking regarding any notion that it was the white man’s job to instruct and “civilize” other races or cultures.