by contra mundum » April 12th, 2006, 6:40 pm
Having now completed N. T. Wright's Simply Christian, which I mentioned in my previous post, I can now confirm that he is a worthy successor to Lewis, at least in the field of apologetics.
Notably, Wright starts Simply Christian in exactly the same place that Lewis started Mere Christianity: the human sense of, and longing for, justice and fair play. After starting from the same point, the two men approach the defense of Christianity from substantially different angles (Lewis's defense being more philosophical, Wright's more historical). But we're looking for a successor, not a clone. And there are many striking similarities between the two men. For example, as Karen also noted, Wright is the most elegant writer to defend the Christian faith this side of Lewis. Wright, like Lewis, is more concerned to defend the core docrines of Christianity than denominational distinctives, and prefers to revive dying words rather than euthanizing them (see, for example, his discussion of the word "church" in Simply Christian). Finally, Wright, like Lewis, is happy to uphold traditional morality at points where it has come under attack, but does it in a winsome manner--with no excessive austerity or foaming at the mouth.
“Doubt no longer, then, when you see death mocked and scorned by those who believe in Christ, that by Christ death was destroyed . . .”
Athanasius