- Forget the questions. As you read, highlight key quotes and be ready to discuss in class.
Mere Christianity Final Assessment
- Due Monday upon return (April 9). Hard copy please.
This text is heavy and detailed. Lewis goes to great trouble
describing the definitions and implications of various Christian beliefs,
values, virtues and their implications. Based on your own reading and notes,
decide on six main points or
mini-chapters that you deem to be most important in relation to the way you
believe one should live a meaningful life (three must be from Book III; three
from Book IV).
Handle each thought with a two-fold approach.
- a) Explain what you understand to be the crux of Lewis’ thought and why you deem it significant as one of your six. Make sure you include two to three quotes from the book as you explain the text. (Your grade for this portion will be based on how thorough and spot on your understanding is.)
- b) Then write a meaningful reflection of your own belief on this topic. If it is application, explain how you personally pursue it. If your belief varies in some way, explain your own thought process and application. You may use any evidence you like to explain your own values. This may include quotes from other texts, logical explanations, personal stories, etc… (Your grade for this portion will be based on how thoroughly you explain your point of view. Make sure you give multiple lines of evidence to explain your reasoning.)
My Example: Key Concept: “Hope” from
III.10
a) Although it seems
lofty, the presence of hope does affect so much
of our behavior, politics, time management, and attitude in general. As a
Christian and a practical person, thinking about heaven has not
registered too much on my radar. I want to spend my time experiencing and
enacting God’s goodness on earth, not hiding out waiting for heaven in a
sheltered life. However, Lewis corrects this polarized perspective with a rich
balance. He mentions that realistically, because we are crafted for a divine kingdom, we will long for pure, beautiful, all-consuming divine experiences AND will most likely be let down. He mentions that our most common responses could lean in one of three ways: (1) The fools' way...in which we are constantly seeking pleasure, never being satisfied. We will find ourselves on an endless hunt for the next high, the next partner, the next accomplishment. (2) The Way of the Disillusioned...in which we become so cynical that we simply don't get burned anymore due to our lack of expectation. We will buffer our hurts by isolating ourselves until we are only surprised by good, but it doesn't leave us with much reason to fight for beauty. If that expectation is so unrealistic, why would we fight for it? (3) The Christian Way...in which we solidly lay our trust that the desires of our hearts are hints of the fulfillment which is not only possible but destined by design. Lewis captures what I would call nothing short of magic in that we keep having these experiences that hint at our desires fulfilled, for example the idea that heaven is symbolically references as musical because music is a part of life that make us feel the "ecstasy and infinity" which our hearts are programed to desire (121).
b) I dig the way Lewis demystifies the symbols of heaven that seem so silly until they are simple representations of what we all want (life that feels sublime, eternal, powerful, precious and full of joy). This chapter leaves a sweet permission to be a hopeless optimist, knowing that it isn't just a pipe dream to enact the kingdom of God, a place where love is enduring and tangible. Though I may get burned, I can rest my hope in enacting heaven, knowing that the Spirit is a co-laborer and that my investments in other people are eternal. I can also enjoy those sublime or transcending experiences not as counterfeits, but as hints of something greater, knowing that those are the places where God's presence is more evident and that they will come again. The hope of heaven is not a displacement of focus away from reality, but rather key that unlocks a fuller life right now in this moment. Perhaps the hope of heaven is the progression toward it.
No comments:
Post a Comment