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Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: April 29th, 2010, 10:31 pm
by mwanafalsafa
Did Lewis ever write anything discussing other major world religions at length, particularly mentioning why some of their teachings are unbelievable compared to Christian beliefs about Jesus, the Resurrection and the Afterlife?

I'm particularly curious about Lewis' take on the Buddha. So far as I have read the Buddha seems to have prescribed almost exactly the same sort of behavior as Jesus, namely charity, humility, self-awareness, and a general effort to overcome our personal ego-issues. Where they differ seems to be only regarding ideas about the nature of God (or Gods) and the Afterlife. Why does Lewis accept Jesus' claim to be God over what the Buddha (or Muhammad for that matter) said about 'otherworldy' entities?

Thanks!

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: April 30th, 2010, 12:20 am
by Nerd42

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: April 30th, 2010, 4:34 pm
by Theophilus

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 6th, 2010, 4:06 am
by mwanafalsafa

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 6th, 2010, 8:36 am
by rusmeister
I would actually recommend not Lewis per se here, but the book that brought Lewis to begin to accept it: "The Everlasting Man" by G.K. Chesterton. (Free online and in the public domain)
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/boo ... g_man.html

Lewis described it as one of the books he found the most helpful. It presents the Christian view from a standpoint that makes sense of world history, and both man and Christ's place in it.

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 6th, 2010, 9:07 pm
by Nerd42

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 10th, 2010, 10:12 pm
by Nerd42
OK finished reading The Everlasting Man. I of course disagree with Chesterton's extreme devotion to Catholicism as opposed to all other forms of Christianity but his defense of Christianity in general and his reductio ad absurdum argument against many of today's secular historians is basically sound I believe.

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 11th, 2010, 12:45 am
by rusmeister

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 11th, 2010, 8:49 pm
by Nerd42

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 12th, 2010, 5:21 pm
by rusmeister

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 14th, 2010, 5:50 pm
by Nerd42

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 15th, 2010, 1:52 pm
by rusmeister

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 16th, 2010, 6:23 pm
by Theophilus

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 17th, 2010, 2:34 pm
by Nerd42
I'm not trying to make Chesterton Protestant, but Lewis, I think, was much more effective precisely because he tried his best to indulge in controversies within Christian thought as little as possible. In a book that focused on why the Catholics are right and the Protestants are wrong, making the kind of statements Chesterton makes about Catholicism would be quite appropriate, but I think they were inappropriate here.

I think Lewis's image of a hall with many rooms was quite right, especially since he asks people not to find the one that suits them best, but the one with the doctrines that are true. If the Anglican position was correct, he trusted that the holy spirit would lead people to the Anglican position in their own studies Chesterton, on the other hand, uses his Catholicism as a club to beat Protestants over the head in a book that's supposed to be about what's unique to Christianity, not what makes the Catholic version of Christianity correct and the Protestant version incorrect.

The Bible says that for every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. My point is that his venturing into these controversial waters was inappropriately timed, that's all.

Re: Lewis' thoughts on other major religions?

PostPosted: May 17th, 2010, 4:10 pm
by rusmeister