BOLIVAR – Daniel DeWitt is a senior fellow at Southwest Baptist University (SBU) in Bolivar, where he leads the Center for Worldview and Culture. He is the host of the “Mere Caffeination” podcast and author of numerous books, including his forthcoming book, C.S. Lewis: The Writer Who Found Joy.
This summer, DeWitt will help lead an SBU trip to Ireland and England. Participants will visit key sites from Lewis’s life – from his childhood home in Ireland, to the real lamppost and park that inspired his Chronicles of Narnia, to his home in Oxford, England. To learn more, visit sbuniv.edu/worldview.
Lewis died 60 years ago, on the same day as United States President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. One of his enduring works, The Abolition of Man, was first published 80 years ago, in February 1943.
In a recent interview, I asked DeWitt to discuss the continuing relevance of Lewis’ writings, especially his 1943 work, The Abolition of Man.
Benjamin Hawkins: Please tell me briefly about your forthcoming book, C.S. Lewis: The Writer Who Found Joy.
Daniel DeWitt: “I have a new children’s book coming out on C.S. Lewis with B&H Kids this summer. My goal is to introduce children, and those who read aloud to them, to Lewis’s life from childhood through his death on the same day President Kennedy was assassinated. I highlight the many ways Lewis sought joy throughout his life, from his religious upbringing, through the grief of losing his mother, in the midst of his failed atheism, and down the path he walked with J.R.R. Tolkien which ultimately led to faith in God. I want kids to know they can find the same joy in God. For adult fans of Lewis, I’ve hidden a lot of interesting bits and pieces about Lewis’s life, so there’s some fun for readers of all ages.”
Hawkins: Why do you think Lewis’s works remain important for 21st century readers?
DeWitt: “C.S. Lewis was a careful student of the human experience. He didn’t seem to have an unexamined emotion. He brought that level of disciplined reflection and insight to all of his writings, connecting faith with what it feels like to be human. Lewis wrote for both the intellect and the imagination, leaving little room for readers to hide from his arguments and appeals. I think this is what makes him so timeless. His style is often immitated, but never duplicated.”
Hawkins: Many people are familiar with Lewis’s Narnia series, but fewer are familiar with his 1943 publication, The Abolition of Man. Why is this work signficant today?
DeWitt: “Lewis modeled what it looks like to fulfill one’s calling with excellence. His book The Abolition of Man comes from a paper he delivered at the University of Durham in northern England for an annual lecture series.
“That an academic paper could survive, yet alone thrive, through the decades making its way into popular publication is a remarkable accomplishment in itself. In The Abolition of Man, Lewis gives a prophetic warning about the dangers of relativism, of attempting to reduce our moral instincts in response to the Natural Law to mere emotional states subject to personal opinions and whims.
“While this is not the most readable or enjoyable of Lewis’s writings, it remains relevant for its ability to expose a fundamental problem with the spirit of the age. The Apostle Paul tells us God has written his moral law on our hearts (Romans 2:14-15), which is what Lewis refers to as the Natural Law. To ignore or reduce this reality diminishes our very humanity. To achieve this end, the thought leaders Lewis was criticizing sought to relegate the universal sense of morality to personal psychology. This fits into a vision of the future desired and predicted by atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who said psychology would eventually become the most authoritative of all the sciences.
“Parents and ministry leaders would do well to reflect on Lewis’s thoughts in The Abolition of Man, as all of life is bound up in our response to God’s moral law. Even when the prevailing mood of the moment says it’s okay to ignore it, to seek to define reality as one chooses, there is still something stubborn inside each of us pointing to ‘true north.’ That’s why Lewis encouraged his readers to train their affections to properly respond to the objective realities of the good, the true, and the beautiful.”