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Event Website
https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-2023.htm
Start Date
8-5-2023 5:30 PM
End Date
8-5-2023 6:20 PM
Description
As one of the most-read Protestant authors of the last two centuries, the legacy of C.S. Lewis is surprisingly rooted in his various writings about Hell. And yet, even though his works are permeated with the mysterium tremendum et fascinans, Lewis rarely spoke directly or clearly about Hell, such as he did in a single chapter in The Problem of Pain (1940). He nonetheless attempted to demythologize Hell from God’s viewpoint in The Pilgrim’s Regress (1933), Satan’s outlook in The Screwtape Letters (1942), and the human perspective in The Great Divorce (1945), his last and perhaps, most insightful reflection on the subject. Of them all, Lewis considered The Great Divorce to be his “Cinderella” book, and his magnum opus on the subject of Hell. But interpreting the book is often as controversial as the doctrine itself. This paper intends to present The Great Divorce as Lewis intended, not as a theological exposé on the doctrine itself but as a practical theology concerning Hell.
Included in
Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Modern Languages Commons, Modern Literature Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons
Grey Town: The Practical Theology of The Great Divorce
As one of the most-read Protestant authors of the last two centuries, the legacy of C.S. Lewis is surprisingly rooted in his various writings about Hell. And yet, even though his works are permeated with the mysterium tremendum et fascinans, Lewis rarely spoke directly or clearly about Hell, such as he did in a single chapter in The Problem of Pain (1940). He nonetheless attempted to demythologize Hell from God’s viewpoint in The Pilgrim’s Regress (1933), Satan’s outlook in The Screwtape Letters (1942), and the human perspective in The Great Divorce (1945), his last and perhaps, most insightful reflection on the subject. Of them all, Lewis considered The Great Divorce to be his “Cinderella” book, and his magnum opus on the subject of Hell. But interpreting the book is often as controversial as the doctrine itself. This paper intends to present The Great Divorce as Lewis intended, not as a theological exposé on the doctrine itself but as a practical theology concerning Hell.
Comments
SESSION VI
5:30 PM—6:20 Eastern
4:30 PM—5:20 Central
3:30 PM—4:20 Mountain
2:30 PM—3:20 Pacific
9:30 PM—10:20 GMT