the Great Divorce .. not really fond

[jo]

[Mary]

Not me, Jo. I pretty much liked it. To me, the vehicle metaphor was secondary to other aspects, such as the idea of Hell being a place where people keep moving farther and farther away from each other. You just have to like a book where N. Bonaparte's special place after death is a swanky house clear out in the boondocks of Hell. It's been a few years since I read it, though. I might feel differently upon reading it again, especially now that I have read The Screwtape Letters.

[jo]

I read Screwtape first and after it, TGD seemed unsophisticated and rather clumsy to me. It's not that he was making bad points but I just didn't like the manner in which he chose to make them..

[fopdoodle]

[jo]

[Marcus_P_Hagen]

[jo]

[David]

I like The Great Divorce precisely because it is brilliant theology. I guess that is the appeal of the book to many people. It takes an innovative theological look at many ideas and comes at them from different angles.

For example, the book develops that idea the Hell is metaphysical and not judicial. In church you are usually taught that God says, "You didn't believe, so to hell you go." It is a kind of jail sentence or punishment for a crime, .i.e., judicial. Lewis's idea is that if you were completely out of touch with God through sin or unbelief, you would go to hell because you were suited to live there and living in heaven would be too painful. You would, in essence, have no other place to go. And if you did go up to heaven you would find out you did not belong there. Being in hell has to do with the kind of being, person, you are, so it metaphysical.

So it is things that like that make it striking to me. I don't like theologians or theology but Lewis can cast it in the imaginative form of fantasy/allegory and make it palpable.

[rusmeister]

[Tony]

[David]

[contra mundum]

[jo]

[contra mundum]

Thank you, Jo, for the welcome. Much appreciated.

[princessquitealot98]