The Youtube algorithm has apparently picked up that I’m interested in Lewis–could be worse. Here are two that it recently gave me, both of 5-6 minutes.
The first is a portion of a discussion between John Piper and Tim Keller, both Protestant (Presbyterian, specifically) ministers, specifically on Lewis’ self-description as a romantic rationalist. The “opposites” in the title don’t refer to the two of them, but rather to them vs. Lewis.
The second is by Dr. Edith Humphrey, professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, from an Orthodox perspective. She critiques his ecclesiology, in particular his metaphor of the rooms of the great house in Mere Christianity, but in so doing she appears to misrepresent his position. She appears to believe that he believed that the differences among the different branches (or “rooms”) were of no importance, but Lewis himself repudiates this in his preface:
Oddly enough, you cannot even conclude, from my silence on disputed points, either that I think them important or that I think them unimportant. For this is itself one of the disputed points. One of the things Christians are disagreed about is the importance of their disagreements. When two Christians of different denominations start arguing, it is usually not long before one asks whether such-and-such a point ‘really matters’ and the other replies: ‘Matter? Why, it’s absolutely essential.’
By the same token, he doesn’t say or imply that what he presents are the “essentials” of Christianity, rather that they are what’s common to all Christians (though I note that he didn’t consult with any Orthodox clergy as he did with Methodist, Roman Catholic, etc.).
But with probably more time given to my objection than it’s worth, the video:
