THE CORNERSTONE SEMINARY

C. S. LEWIS: THEOLOGIAN OF ETERNAL HOPE

A PAPER PRESENTED TO DR. MIKE CANHAM IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR CH603

BY ERIC SUNDT

VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA MAY 14, 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii DEFINING A LEGACY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 A LIFE OVERCOME BY JOY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 DEFINING ETERNAL HOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 LIFE-ALTERING HOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Hope's Impact on Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Hope's Impact on Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Hope's Impact on Suffering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Hope's Impact on Anthropology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Hope's Impact on Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 THE BENEFITS OF A VIBRANT THEOLOGY OF HOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Preface I had suspected for some years that a paper of this sort should be written. Particularly when I completed reading the various works of C.S. Lewis that I possessed back in the winter of 2011, I was regularly struck with the thought of how much beneficial insight he had regarding eternity, and how hopeful his theology was. So this paper is, for me, the opportunity to complete a project that I've looked forward to for a while. Even so, I did not anticipate just how easy it would be to review what he wrote and put together this paper. I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this paper. It has been a delight to read the many insightful things that Lewis had to say about eternity and about the hope of Christians for the future. His writing is very consistent with his theory; it is very easy to see how his ideas impacted the way he wrote. In the course of this reflection, I found myself drawn at multiple times to worship God, who has given this hope to His people. Considering the subject matter and all that could be said about it, this paper probably deserves to be ten times longer than it is. There is no way that I can exhaust in 20 pages the wealth of what C.S. Lewis wrote with specific focus on what he said about eternity and hope. Additionally, I was surprised with how little material I could find that had been written on this topic. As such, the reader will find that this paper is completely first-hand interaction with the writings of Lewis. In the scope of my admittedly-limited research, I simply could not find anyone else to provide extra comment to interact with along these lines. Thus, I submit this paper to any who might read it as an introductory work. Perhaps I, or others, can find time in the future to develop the strains of thought further. ii

DEFINING A LEGACY Whenever examining a figure in church history, it is always helpful to seek to summarize key points that can be learned from his or her life. When this analysis turns to Clive Staples Lewis, the common assessment is that his primary contribution is in the realm of apologetics. Indeed, his defense of Christianity was strong, and much can be learned from insights that he had concerning the Christian faith and how it correlates to the world we observe. His acumen for taking abstract concepts and making them easier to understand and for seeing truth clearly in tough issues has been duly noted. However, there is another aspect of his theology that has often been overlooked and is so pervasive for Lewis that it appears even in his apologetics; namely, Lewis's theology of eternal hope. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate from Lewis's writings that a robust theology of eternal hope is in fact Lewis's most substantial and lasting contribution to Christian theology, and is one of the key threads that tied all of his thought together. Some might contend instead for Joy (a technical term for Lewis) as this central thought, and it certainly is a key factor. The place of Joy will be seen in the first section of this paper, which provides a brief biography of Lewis from the content of his autobiography Surprised by Joy, as well as his fictional novel Pilgrim's Regress (based generally on his own life). The second section will set forth Lewis's theology of eternal hope from several of his writings to gain an overall understanding of what he meant. The third section will again look at many of his writings to show how this theology impacted many realms of life in his thought. Finally, the conclusion will seek to summarize these gleanings for the purpose of learning from Lewis and tracing out ways in which his theology of eternal hope can impact the lives of Christians today. 1

2 A LIFE OVERCOME BY JOY1 C.S. Lewis was born in 1898, the youngest of two children (both boys) born to parents who were both bookish, but shared contrasting temperaments (his father more emotional and his mother more tranquil) that led him to distrust emotion from an early age (SJ 3-4). His imagination manifested itself while he was young, as he and his brother would often draw pictures and create worlds (SJ 6). His early aesthetic experiences (including these imagined worlds) were of a romantic nature, rather than being based on formal beauty, and they were rare. One key example was a time when his brother made a miniature forest out of moss, twigs, and flowers on top of the lid to a biscuit tin, which was Lewis's first awareness of beauty, such that it permanently impacted his imagination of Paradise (SJ 7). Regarding religion, there was some influence in his early life, but it did not really affect him directly (SJ 7). Though these years of childhood contained more of a settled happiness than later years of boyhood, Lewis did not recall them with as much nostalgia as the later years, saying, It is not settled happiness but momentary joy that glorifies the past (SJ 8). In his seventh year, his family moved to a new house, which came to be a defining characteristic of his childhood, for this house had distinct characteristics that shaped him, one of which was endless books that he was free to read to his heart's delight (SJ 10). His brother was sent off to boarding school and his life became increasingly one of solitude to read and write, solitude that was readily available in the large house and its grounds. He used one of the attics as his study and wrote his first stories (mostly of Animal-Land) there, including historical back-stories and illustrations, even including maps (SJ 11-13). During this time as he was living almost entirely in imagination (SJ 15), three events proved particularly significant.
1 In order to refrain from excessive footnotes, this section will contain in-line references to title and page number. SJ will be used to indicate C.S. Lewis, Suprised by Joy (Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 1955). PR will be used to indicate C.S. Lewis, The Pilgrim's Regress (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991).

3 The first of these events was a specific time when he remembered the event of his brother bringing the toy garden into the room, and it filled him with pangs of Joy, a glimpse of pure desire. The second event that brought this Joy was the reading of Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin, which captured his attention and brought out similar pangs of desire. The third occurrence was when he was reading poetry and came across a particularly touching line that carried his imagination away to desires beyond the reading (SJ 16-17). Lewis saw the main story of his life as being about the shared experience of these three occurrences. He described the common quality of the three as being, an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and from Pleasure (SJ 17-18). After this time, things changed dramatically for Lewis. His mother died, which took away his sense of general stability and peace (SJ 21), and then he started going to boarding school in 1908, which he said was intellectually a waste, but it did prepare him for the Christian life by teaching him to live with hope, in this case hope of the end of the school year (SJ 22, 34-36). A few years later, he moved on to an older school (Wyvern), where he ceased to be a Christian in his living as he followed pessimism and misguided religious practice to the indulgence of sexual appetite and overall paganism (SJ 58-70). During this time of his boyhood, the Joy he previously experienced had vanished from his life, but it returned all of a sudden when he came into contact with art based on the music of Wagner, and the memory and renewed experience of Joy filled him with insistent desire that he would have this Joy yet again (SJ 72-73). This connection to Wagner quickly to listening to Wagner's music, and then pursuing Norse mythology as a whole, which regularly provided the pangs of Joy he so desired. This pursuit as a whole produced a direct love of nature that he

4 previously did not have. He became more and more knowledgeable of Norse myth, and he suggested perhaps this worship was meant to prepare him for his later return to Christianity and real faith. At this point, Lewis's life became divided between his internal life of pursuing Joy and his external life of dealing with the world. The two often were disconnected, but this tension came to define him (SJ 76-78). Once again, Joy is the theme of his story. As the years passed, he became an intellectual prig (SJ 100) who came to be angry at God for not existing (SJ 115). And though he came to experience as much happiness as is ever to be reached on earth (SJ 147), he also discovered that this happiness, this Joy, was changing and wasn't the same anymore (SJ 165). As a result, he was determined to recover the old feelings, and he did this in a way that he could later see as encompassing two key errors. First of all, he was seeking the thrill itself, rather than the object of pursuit that created the thrill. Second, he was trying to produce this state of mind (the thrill) on his own, as if he could just create it ondemand (SJ 166-168). Through this time, he came to recognize clearly that the desire that created this Joy was not fulfilled by usual pleasures like sex or magic or other things (SJ 168-170, 177). There eventually came a day when he picked up a book by George MacDonald, the reading of which brought him to a fresh experience of Joy unlike those in the past: Up till now each visitation of Joy had left the common world momentarily a desert... But now I saw the bright shadow coming out of the book into the real world and resting there, transforming all common things and yet itself unchanged (SJ 179, 181). This was the start of his interaction with Christians, which was later followed by reading G.K. Chesterton, and by a relationship with a fellow solider, Johnson, who was a strong Christian and showed Lewis the value of virtues (SJ 190-192). At the same time, other friends of his began to challenge points of his thinking and he came to accept the Absolute as a self-aware reality, though not yet as God (SJ 199-210).

5 Lewis soon came to another realization that he refers to as the ludicrous contradiction between my theory of life and my experience as a reader (SJ 213): all of the writers that he found sensible possessed the same regrettable quality their Christianity. He attempted to explain away this fact at the time, 2 but this effort would not be able to last long (SJ 212-216). While reading the Hippolytus of Euripedes, Lewis was overcome, his heart at once broken and exalted as it had never been since the old days at Bookham (SJ 217). The longing of Joy was back and he would never leave it again. A new philosophy of enjoyment was presented to him and it re-oriented his thinking such that he realized the foolishness of his previous pursuit of Joy for its own end (SJ 217-220). Joy itself, considered simply as an event in my own mind, turned out to be of no value at all. All the value lay in that of which Joy was the desiring. And that object, quite clearly, was no state of my own mind or body at all (SJ 220). He had come to recognize that what he really wanted was the object that his desire of Joy had been seeking all along. As this conclusion came to impact his philosophical thought and worldview, he came to a conversion to Theism, pure and simple. He did not yet recognize any connection between God and Joy, or hold a belief in the future life (SJ 220-230). This status did not last. After a few developments, Lewis came to recognize that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He recognized the fulfillment of Joy in God Himself (SJ 230-238). The subject of Joy lost nearly all interest after he became a Christian, because he recognized that the importance was not found in Joy, but in Joy's object (SJ 238). When Lewis wrote Pilgrim's Regress, he included there this pursuit of Joy and eventual recognition of Joy's proper place. The main character, John, has an early experience of a sweetness and a pang so piercing that he instantly forgot other things (PR 8). The rest of the story follows John's rational pursuit of this

2 He later commented, I thought... that Christianity itself was very sensible 'apart from its Christianity' (SJ 223).

6 experience, this pang, through many different philosophies and methods, until John is eventually converted to Christianity. Lewis reflects on this in the afterword to the book, and describes again the process in his past of testing all possible sources of this Joy and finding them wanting, then discovering that there is One who is the object of Joy who is not yet fully given, but will be (PR 202-205). So this is the centrality of Joy in Lewis's life as a motivator, but not the goal. Keeping this in mind, Lewis's theology of eternal hope easily finds its place. DEFINING ETERNAL HOPE There are many reasons why the modern Christian and even the modern theologian may hesitate to give to the doctrine of Christs Second Coming that emphasis which was usually laid on it by our ancestors. Yet it seems to me impossible to retain in any recognisable 3 form our belief in the Divinity of Christ and the truth of the Christian revelation while abandoning, or even persistently neglecting, the promised, and threatened, Return. - C.S. Lewis 4 Especially when considering quotes like the above, it seems impossible to overstate the importance of eternity in Lewis's thinking. His core theology of hope receives its most direct treatment in the chapter called Hope in Mere Christianity. As a brief summary (to be treated again later) of the importance and effect of hope, he said, Hope is one of the Theological virtues... the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.5 Lewis went on to discuss the fact that many seem not to want 'Heaven' at all; however, he believed that all people possessed an inner longing that could not be fulfilled in this world: The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. 6 He then stated three ways to react to this unfulfilled longing.
3 In order to avoid greatly distracting from Lewis's language, various features and spellings of British English will be preserved in their original form with the note [sic]. 4 C.S. Lewis, The World's Last Night: And Other Essays, Kindle Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002), Kindle Locations 925-928. 5 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 134. 6 Ibid., 135.

7 The first way is the fool's way, which is to blame the objects in which the fulfillment is sought. Endless options are tried to see which one will be just right to complete the longing, which results in the person being always disappointed. 7 The second way is that of the disillusioned sensible man who quickly concludes that the whole pursuit is a pointless delusion, and abandons it altogether. He learns to expect less of life and settles in well to the life he has.8 The third way is the way of the Christian, which is Lewis's own perspective: Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists...if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.9 This, in its simplest form, is a statement of Lewis's theology of hope. The hope that he rejoiced in is the hope that all human experience will find its completion in eternity, including all that is implied there regarding knowing and experiencing God, being in 'Heaven,' judgment and reward, the resurrected body, and the nature of life itself. In speaking of eternity, Lewis was not talking merely about the future in this life. He delineated this in chapter 15 of The Screwtape Letters, a fictional book of letters written from an older demon (Screwtape) to provide instruction to a younger demon (Wormwood). The demon, referring to God as the 'enemy,' says the following about eternity, the present, and the future: Our Enemy destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself and to that point of time which they call the present either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure. Our business is to get them away from the eternal and from the Present ... the Future is, of all things, the least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays Hence nearly all vices are rooted in the Future. Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead ... He does not want men to give the Future their hearts, to place their treasure in it. We
7 Ibid., 135-136. 8 Ibid., 136. 9 Ibid., 136-137.

8 do We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the Future every real gift which is offered them in the Present. 10 Later in the book, Lewis says that God has guarded humans from the danger of feeling at home anywhere else than His eternal world, and speaks of the inveterate appetite that humans have for Heaven.11 Thus, for Lewis, eternity is meant ultimately to fulfill longing, but also impact the present and kill false hopes of the merely temporal future. Lewis also was not talking about the value or 'hope' of mere immortality. He praised the nature of God's progressive revelation, training men to love Him for Himself before later revealing the realities of immortality and eternity. Lewis believed that a religion that started with the focus on immortality was doomed, because immortality would serve as a bribe to men to fulfill their selfishness. He said that the essence of religion is the thirst for an end higher than natural ends; the finite self's desire for, and and acquiescence in, and self-rejection in favor of, an object wholly good and wholly good for it.12 The point is God Himself knowing Him and finding all joy fulfilled by Him. Eternal life is given, as it were, as a reinforcement of this point. It is the unending gift of a good God who gives us Himself forever. In Lewis's theology, eternity contains the realm of what is truly real; this life has only the shadows that point forward. One way this is seen is in his perspective of the miracles and life of Jesus, which were the firstfruits of that cosmic summer which is presently coming on. A man should speak of Christ's resurrection not merely as a fact, but as a direct and emotive symbol of hope, because he knows what is coming. The Son of Man is calling men out of the 'cosmic winter' through the spring and into the 'high midsummer pomps.' 13
10 11 12 13 C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1980), 67-70. Ibid., 132-133. C.S. Lewis, The Grand Miracle (New York: Ballantine Books, 1970), 88. Ibid., 62.

9 This realness is also seen (and most prominently seen) in the novels Lewis wrote. Not only miracles, but all of creation is a precursor, a foreshadowing of the reality to come. In The Silver Chair, in the Narnia Series, Lewis pictured Caspian (who had died in Narnia) as having a new body that was no longer fit for Narnia because it was now remade for the reality of Aslan's country.14 The Great Divorce (a separate work about Heaven) picks up on similar concepts during its extended and imaginative look at Heaven. Here Lewis pictures a Heaven that is so much more real that a flower is hard like diamond and a leaf is as heavy as a sack of coal. Earthly visitors look like ghosts, because the substance of Heaven is so much solider than things in our country that men were ghosts by comparison. 15 Everything in Heaven is ageless and full of life,16 and Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakeable remains. 17 The heights of imaginative exploration are reached in the Narnia series's The Last Battle, when Aslan comes to bring an end to Narnia and take his followers into eternity in Aslan's country. Before this occurrence, the character Jill suggests that it would be wonderful if Narnia continued forever. The response is that all worlds draw to an end, except Aslan's own country. 18 In Aslan's country, his followers are treated to food beyond compare: If you had once eaten that fruit, all the nicest things in this world would taste like medicines after it. 19 The end of Narnia does come shortly after this, and the reader is caught up in the strains of further up and further in as Aslan's followers continually follow him further and deeper into his land, a land which bears remarkable similarity to the Narnia that they left behind, but which is deeper and more

14 15 16 17 18 19

C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair (New York: HarperTrophy, 1981), 253-254. C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: HarperOne, 1973), 21. Ibid., 24. Ibid., 70-71. C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle (New York: HarperTrophy, 1984), 110-111. Ibid., 172.

10 meaningful.20 In fact, what they see is the real Narnia, for the Narnia they left behind was just a shadow, as all of the temporary lands are merely shadows of real places that exist in Aslan's country. Aslan's real world preserves all that was important in the shadowlands and the experience is like waking up from a dream. It is home at last! 21 The process of going further up and further in continues, faster and faster, and at last they come to the gates through which all their friends, and Aslan himself, are waiting to welcome them. Aslan summarizes the situation when he says, The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.22 They have moved from this life, which is only the cover page, on into the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.23 This, then, is the hope that C.S. Lewis envisions in his theology of eternity. The promise of eternal bliss with God is a joy worthy grasping at all moments that impacts all of life. Having summarized his theology all-too-briefly, it now remains to observe just how this joy-fulfilling hope impacts life as a whole for Lewis. LIFE-ALTERING HOPE Hope's Impact on Joy Perhaps the most easily-seen impact of eternal hope is upon the presence and pursuit of Joy. Lewis's conclusion, that Joy is ultimately fulfilled only by eternity and God Himself, has already been noted. The impact of this theology for daily life follows clearly from the claim. In an essay called The Weight of Glory, Lewis said the following about man's desires for joy: If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion
20 21 22 23 Ibid., 194-213. Ibid., 211-213. Ibid., 228. Ibid., 228.

11 has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. 24 For Lewis, there was no question whether joy should be pursued: it should. The question is not if but how and where it should be pursued. Lewis recognized that there were many false sources of joy, so the practical outflow of this connection between hope and joy was to pursue the joy in the right object, namely God Himself and His Heaven. If a transtemporal, transfinite good is our real destiny, then any other good on which our desire fixes must be in some degree fallacious, must bear at best only a symbolical relation to what will truly satisfy. 25 Lest this perspective seem a killjoy against any other pleasures, Lewis stated clearly that other joys were good; however, they had definite limits: The books or music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things the beauty, the memory of our own past are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.26 The recognition that eternal hope is the fulfillment of joy impacts present life by altering one's gaze to only those things that can truly satisfy. And a man will not lose his pleasures by abandoning earth for Heaven: The kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in 'the High Countries.' 27

24 25 26 27

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 26. Ibid., 29. Ibid., 30-31. Lewis, The Great Divorce, ix.

12 Lewis protrayed this concept in The Great Divorce with a man who had a dragon of lust that, once it was killed in Heaven, became instead a glorious stallion. 28 Hope's Impact on Love Eternal hope also impacts Lewis's theology of love. In The Four Loves, Lewis provided his most extended treatment of the topic, dealing with 'affection,' 'friendship,' 'eros,' and 'charity.' Before getting into each of these, he dealt with what he called Need-loves, which are essentially the result in our desires of a genuine need that we have, whether it be a need for food or companionship, or anything else. The love is brought about because of the need. And not all Need-love is a bad thing, for God specifically addresses our Need-love and invites us to come to Him for what we need.29 Indeed, compared to other Need-loves, our Need-love for God is in a different position because our need of Him can never end either in this world or in any other. 30 Friendship also will be fulfilled, not eliminated, in eternity. Friendship increases our love for each other and for God and will do so even in Heaven, for every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. 31 After discussing the 'natural loves' (affection, friendship, and eros), Lewis concluded that, The natural loves are not self-sufficient. Something else, at first vaguely described as 'decency and common sense,' but later revealed as goodness, and finally as the whole Christian life in one particular relation, must come to the help of the mere feeling if the feeling is to be kept sweet. 32 The natural loves cannot maintain themselves, and certainly cannot take the place of God. 33 They must be converted to charity, to Christ-like love, because natural loves can hope for eternity

28 29 30 31 32 33

Ibid., 106-114. C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1988), 4. Ibid., 15. Ibid., 62. Ibid., 116. Ibid., 118.

13 only in so far as they have allowed themselves to be taken into the eternity of Charity... the only eternal element is the transforming presence of Love Himself. 34 Thus, the completion of all human love is the work of Christ to work out His own love in and through His people. The object of our love is also changed in light of eternity. All of our love in this life is meant to point us beyond to the love of God Himself, who is the truest object for such affection. It is only be being like God that our human beloveds can excite our love, for they are the portrait of which He is the Original; they are the rivulets for which He is the fountain; they are lovable creatures, but he is Love Himself.35 Thus the hope of eternity changes the focus once more; love is focused ultimately on God instead of on people, to find it's everlasting completion in Him. Hope's Impact on Suffering Lewis believed that eternal hope has a very direct impact in the midst of suffering: Scripture and tradition habitually put the joys of heaven into the scale against the sufferings of earth, and no solution of the problem of pain which does not do so can be called a Christian one.36 There is a secret thread, a secret attraction in the things that each person enjoys, and all the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it tantalising glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. 37 It is in Heaven where this will be fulfilled, with each place in Heaven made specifically for each unique person.38 Lewis believed that God uses suffering in this world to keep us close to Him. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God... Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not
34 35 36 37 38 Ibid., 136-137. Ibid., 139. C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: HarperOne, 1996), 148. Ibid., 150-151. Ibid., 151-152.

14 encourage us to mistake them for home. 39 The Christian's final home is Heaven, where security will be forever found in the presence of God. Until that future day comes, suffering serves to remind men that all is not yet well and a greater hope is coming. How does this function of suffering work and how must it be dealt with? Lewis provided an example scenario. Suppose all seems well and he is enjoying life with his friends in a godless condition, forgetting the greater reality. Suddenly a pain or a trial comes in and destroys this illusion that all is well. The experience can be overwhelming as all that seemed right can suddenly appear broken, but then bit by bit, I try to bring myself into the frame of mind that I should be in at all times. I remind myself that all these toys were never intended to possess my heart, that my true good is in another world and my only real treasure is Christ. 40 Years later, Lewis experienced perhaps the most difficult such trial he had ever faced when his wife died. In a book called A Grief Observed, Lewis's journals during that time are recorded. They start off despondent, hopeless, and even angry at God, but eventually the emotional swells calm as Lewis continued to cling to God. Lewis reminded himself that his own conceptions of God need correcting at times; that God was to be desired for His own sake, rather than for the sake of seeing his beloved again. He reminded himself that the real glory of Heaven is God. 41 Suffering and hope are necessarily interwoven until eternity comes, for there will always be a need on this earth for reminders of what truly matters. And in the face of any suffering, the final hope is not that the suffering itself will cease, but that Heaven is coming where all desires will be finally met. On that Great Day, Jesus will fulfill all dreams and remove all sorrows. Thus, eternal hope is both the goal and solution to suffering, as well as the key method for dealing with suffering while it lasts.
39 Ibid., 116. 40 Ibid., 107. 41 C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (New York: HarperOne, 1994), 66-68.

15 Hope's Impact on Anthropology One of the most substantial impacts of Lewis's theology of eternal hope concerns how believers see other people. His thoughts on this topic must be quoted at length: It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden or my neighbour's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and godesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. 42 It would seem that not much more needs to be said to summarize this. Eternity impacts the nature of anthropology man is an eternal being of either horror or beauty. Eternity impacts evangelism it is not mere mortals who are being talked to, and the consequences are eternal. Eternity impacts daily life on this earth to transform all activities into intentional interactions. In addition, the resurrection of Jesus itself carries a vital impact on the perspective of the human body, on life, and on hope for the future. Lewis contended that the Resurrection was not regarding simply or chiefly as evidence for the immortality of the soul...Immortality simply as immortality is irrelevant to the Christian claim...A wholly new mode of being has arisen in the universe.43 Lewis held that Jesus is the founder of the New Nature, which results in great hope for the future when men clothed in spiritual bodies will join Jesus, who has kept His body also. 44
42 Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 45-46. 43 C.S. Lewis, Miracles (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 236-241. 44 Ibid., 244-266.

16 Hope's Impact on Choices As a final foray, a few words may be said about the impact for Lewis of eternal hope on the choices that are made by men in daily life, and specifically those geared towards doing good to the fellow-man. He asserts that it is quite impossible that those who know this truth [Christianity] and those who don't should be equally well equipped for leading a good life. He then makes a comparison to attempts to help a starving man. Someone without knowledge of medical sciences pertinent to the situation might give the starving man a large meal and thereby kill him. Similarly, the Christian and non-Christian attempts to do good in the world around them are not equal. The materialist holds an evolutionary view of man that sees civilization as transcending the men that make it up, and thus might make choices that favor society without regard for some individuals who are hurt. By contrast, the Christian believes that all men are eternal and will outlast all earthly civilization. Therefore, the Christian will seek to do things that promote each man's eternal good.45 The idea of reaching 'a good life' without Christ is based on a double error. Firstly, we cannot do it; and secondly, in setting up 'a good life' as our final goal, we have missed the very point of our existence. 46 In this connection, the method can be seen by which Lewis thought that Christians live better in this world than those who do not share this eternal hope: Because our Lord is risen, we know that on one level it is an enemy already disarmed; but because we know that the natural level also is God's creation we cannot cease to fight against the death which mars it... because we love something else more than this world we love this world better than those who know no other.47 Eternity impacts choices in the present life because it is the Savior's world that needs help, and every moment contains the opportunity to impact eternity.
45 Lewis, The Grand Miracle, 81-82. 46 Ibid., 85. 47 Ibid., 106.

17 THE BENEFITS OF A VIBRANT THEOLOGY OF HOPE In reflecting on this theology, the only appropriate response would seem to be an echo of Revelation 22:20, Amen. Come Lord Jesus!48 Lewis's expression of hope in the promises God has given for eternity is refreshing, delightful, enlivening, and, indeed, intoxicating at times. Reading the narratives that Lewis wrote is itself a practice of the sort of joyful longing that he wrote about. There is a real day coming when Jesus will return and set all things right; a day when reality will be completely seen, when what is currently hidden will be made visible and the shadows will flee. This message should be heralded and proclaimed! Perhaps part of what is so attractive and arresting about this theology is the fact that it is so unabashedly positive. The gospel can be stated both negatively (Jesus saved you from Hell) and positively (Jesus saved you to be with Him forever), and Lewis found a beautiful way of expressing the positive statement. Jesus is calling people to eternal joy. He is calling them to pursue pleasure, but to pursue it where it can really be fulfilled: in Him. It is this same message of hope and fulfilled joy that can be offered to the world today. As a brief aside, it is worth noting that at this point of Lewis's theology, there seem to be substantial connections forward in Christian history, specifically to John Piper. Piper's theology of Christian hedonism, the focus on desiring God, is certainly aided by Lewis's eternal hope. Some of the same quotes referenced in this paper from Mere Christianity or The Weight of Glory can be found in Piper's writings as he urges his readers to seek their pleasure in God. Piper seems to find Lewis's writing to be a perfect complement to the emphasis of his own ministry. This theology of hope needs to be taught and reinforced regularly in Christian circles. There is often much emphasis placed on the cross and all that Jesus did to provide payment for

48 Bible references are to the English Standard Version, unless stated otherwise.

18 sin so that guilty men could be set free, and this is appropriate. However, the message is entirely incomplete if the glories of eternity are not proclaimed just as strongly. For what did Jesus ultimately save men for if it is not for eternity and all that it contains eternal life with God? The present days are existing between two points in time: Jesus life and ministry on earth on the one hand, and His coming return and the associated events on the other hand. The Christian faith looks back and it looks forward. Thus, the amount of emphasis that Lewis places on eternity seems right because it is biblical. Romans 8 is filled with this perspective. Paul promotes the fact that men will be raised in like manner to Jesus resurrection in verse 11. He asserts in verses 1825 that present suffering is not to be compared with the glory to come, when even creation will be set free from the curse. And in verses 29-30, he proclaims the whole process of salvation, from foreknowledge to glorification. It is also worth noting that when Romans 6:23 speaks of the contrast to death as the wages of sin, it speaks of a free gift from God through Christ, and this gift is not forgiveness of sins, but eternal life. In Romans 13:11, Paul seeks to motivate his readers by reminding them that salvation is drawing ever-nearer. The focus of their action in the present is grounded in the hope of eternity. Peter speaks in a similar vein in both 1 st and 2nd Peter. 1 Peter 1:5 reminds the readers that they are those who by Gods power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. All of 2 Peter chapter 3 is connected, either directly or indirectly, to the question and reality of Jesus future return. Peter reassures the church that Jesus is indeed coming, even though He seems to delay. The most extended biblical treatment of eternity is the book of Revelation. Throughout the book, eternity is consistently set forth as the grounds for hope. The seven letters to the churches look back to Jesus first coming, and look forward to His second. Similarly, the entire

19 story conveyed in Revelation is one of the future, presenting hope for martyrs, warnings for the complacent, and comfort and strength for the weary. Revelation provides reminders (similar to Lewis) that every person is either for Jesus or against Him; there is no neutral ground. Then chapters 21-22 of Revelation describe in grand terms the fact of eternity and all of the joys that will be a part of the great City of God. One final point that should be made in this conclusion concerns the nature of some of Lewis's claims; namely, that some of the claims (specifically in the fiction novels) are of a very speculative nature. Lewis himself did not want this to create undue cause for concern or division: The last thing I wish is to arouse factual curiosity about the details of the after-world. 49 Here again is the impact of the imagination. Lewis appears to have speculated and imagined in such a way that was truly possible, with the emotions caught up in the joy of what has been promised. However, such speculation was not (and he was not claiming it to be) direct biblical truth. So even as Lewis's own eternal hope is dissected, care must be taken to differentiate between what is actually true and what is merely speculative. It is no use holding dogmatically to speculative understandings of things. In closing, it is best to be reminded once more of what has been discussed. All who are believers in Christ are not just saved from sin, but they are given eternal life. Jesus' followers have the opportunity to enjoy Him forever instead of wasting their lives on nothing. When that Great Day comes, all tears and pain will be wiped away, because God will have made His permanent home among men. Yes, please do come quickly, Lord Jesus!

49 Lewis, The Great Divorce, x.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Lewis, C.S. The Four Loves. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1988. . The Grand Miracle. New York: Ballantine Books, 1970. . The Great Divorce. New York: HarperOne, 1973. . A Grief Observed. New York: HarperOne, 1994. . The Last Battle. New York: HarperTrophy, 1984. . Mere Christianity. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. . Miracles. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. . The Pilgrim's Regress. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991. . The Problem of Pain. New York: HarperOne, 1996. . The Screwtape Letters. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1980. . The Silver Chair. New York: HarperTrophy, 1981. . Suprised by Joy. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 1955. . The Weight of Glory. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. . The World's Last Night: And Other Essays. Kindle Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002.

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