“Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. Lewis wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. C. S. Lewis’s most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics in The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.”[1]
Leanne Payne was a C.S. Lewis scholar at Wheaton College and founder Pastoral Care Ministries. Her book, Real Presence is an exploration of C.S. Lewis’ view of the relationship between God and man. Payne gives this summary of Lewis’ view of the three aspects of man:
“Like St. Paul, Lewis describes man as consisting of spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body (soma). Both Plato and Aristotle also understood man as tripartite, but in their systems the
mind (nous, the principle of intellectual life, reason, and contemplation) is the immortal or spiritual element and the psyche is merely the animal soul (the principle of nutritive and sense
life), while the soma is the material principle in man. There is no equivalent of spirit (pneuma) in St. Paul’s sense in their [Greek] systems, and therefore they differ radically from both [the Apostle] Paul and Lewis, who understand the spirit to be the highest element in man, rather than the mind or intellect.
“In the Christian view the primacy of the spirit is of great importance, as we shall continue to see. Man’s spirit answers to the Spirit (Pneuma) of God, and when touched by His Spirit becomes
from our perspective the Higher Self or the New Man [Eph. 4:24], and from the other perspective (that of the Spirit of God), the Christ formed in us. This highest element in man is thus distinguished from the psyche (soul), which Lewis understands to include both the rational soul (the mind, conscious and unconscious, the will, the emotions, the feelings, the imagination, the intuitive faculty), and the animal soul (the instinctual and sensory faculties, etc.). Both spirit and soul are then distinguished from the animal body, the soma (the body as part of the material world). These three united make up the composite being called man.
“Soma, psyche, and pneuma each point to a realm of truth, only one of which is effectually acknowledged in higher education today–and that is the truth of soma or material nature. This is
the realm of the scientist’s truth, empirical truth, that can be discerned and measured by the senses. Because this kind of truth is today often understood to be the only one, the present view of man and mind is often reduced to a biological and chemical one.” [2]
Dr. Louis Markos wrote Lewis Angonistes. He describes Lewis’ view of man’s original design before the Fall:
[Alluding to Genesis 2:7] “…once our body is fused with a God breathed spirit, we become a living soul (an ‘I’) with the power to make judgments, to perceive beauty, and to know God in an intimate, relational way. While in this primal state, all is unified and effortless. Our soul directs our body, and our mind is free from any type of phobia or neurosis that would stifle or misdirect it… The animals recognize us as their natural lords and pay us homage, even as we care for them and draw out their potential… We gracefully surrender ourselves and our wills to our Creator. Obedience comes to us naturally…” [3]
Dr. Markos gives Lewis’ description of the spiritual aspect of man: “There is some thing deeper than our subconscious, something within us that yearns for a supernatural glory, a divine beauty, a spiritual light that our world cannot supply. It is that yearning that tells us most of what we know about heaven, and yet, that yearning must not be interpreted … as the origin of heaven. Quite to the contrary, our yearnings are but echoes of the greater heavenly reality we have never seen. They are, writes Lewis, in ‘The Weight of Glory,’ ‘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.’… We experience that yearning throughout our lives; it comes to us in glimpses that Lewis calls joy.” [4]
Dr. Markos contrasts man’s original state with the tragic consequences of the Fall as recorded in Genesis chapter 3. “[In our fallen state ] … we selfishly chose to call our soul our own … having rejected God’s higher laws, we immediately fall prey to the lower laws of nature originally created to control the animals. Our soul ceased to be the lord of our body and became its prisoner instead. As a result, our bodies, fell sway to base and destructive appetites and the suffering and pain that naturally ensue when our lusts are given the upper hand. Even our mind, once free of all phobias, fell sway to material, psychological forces…. ‘A new species’ writes Lewis, ‘never made by God, had sinned itself into existence.’ [5]
Leanne Payne gives Lewis’ view of regeneration through the gospel: “The redeemed man is, in one sense, no different from the unregenerate man in that he still consists of the same number of parts or elements—he is still spirit, soul, and body. Yet, united with that Reality beyond any and all nature, he is altogether different now that each part or element is redirected and revitalized. … the regenerate man is totally different from the unregenerate, for the regenerate life, the Christ that is formed in him, transforms every part of him: in it his spirit, soul and body will all be reborn. [Lewis, Miracles, p. 178] [6]
However the distinction between the material and immaterial sides of man does not imply an inferiority of the physical body (as in classical Greek thought). Dr. Markos observes Lewis’ view of the dignity of the body: “The Bible tells us to discipline our bodies, not so that we may cast them off when we get to heaven as things alien to the soul, but that we may be better prepared to wear and enjoy those glorious resurrection bodies that God has in store for us. [7]
The Times Literary Supplement praised Lewis as having “a quite unique power of making theology an attractive, exciting and (one might almost say) an uproariously fascinating quest” (21 October 1944). These qualities have continued to attract a wide audience of both Christian and nonChristian readers.[8]
C. S. Lewis’ discernment of man as spirit, soul and body provided a biblical model of man that enhanced his influential books.
J.B.W.
[1] CSLewis.com
[2] Leanne Payne, Real Presence: The Glory of Christ With Us and Within Us (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1995), 47.
[3] Louis Markos, Lewis Agonistes: How C.S. Lewis Can Train Us To Wrestle With The Modern and Postmodern World (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2003), 100-101.
[4] Markos, Lewis Agonistes, 166,167.
[5] Markos, Lewis Agonistes, 102-103.
[6] Payne, Real Presence, 49.
[7] Markos, Lewis Agonistes, 169.
[8] Mere Christianity Discussion Guide, p. 2 at CSLewis.com
Bracketed content and bold font added