Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

1978

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department / School

English

First Advisor

John Kinyon

Abstract

Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength are, in a sense, escape fiction; but they are also much more than that. Lewis's Christianity is something that cannot be separated from his fiction; although he perhaps did not begin writing the trilogy with the idea of making it a Christian apologetic and, in fact, claimed that he never started writing anything with a moral in mind, his faith was so completely a part of him that it could not help expressing itself even when he did not have that intention in mind. According to Austin Farrer in his article "The Christian Apologist," Lewis never indulged in "the pretension to look deeply into the things of God…, even by implication, either on intellectual or on spiritual grounds.” What Lewis did do in the trilogy does, however, fit him into Farrer's definition of the theologian: A systematic theologian may vindicate the rationality of the faith more solidly than any apologist; but he does so simply by thinking it out and articulating the parts. He looks for the heart and sense of the doctrine. The trilogy does not present complex, controversial points of theology, but rather, the basic beliefs shared by all Christians or, as Lewis called it in another of his works, "mere Christianity."

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Lewis, C.S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963 -- Criticism and interpretation

Format

application/pdf

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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