The Great Divorce (Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis)

C. S. Lewis

Lewis was a master of writing a message in a way that was accessible to many. Because of his lucid...more

Lewis was a master of writing a message in a way that was accessible to many. Because of his lucid style, religious and nonreligious readers picked up his works. And reading The Great Divorce shows why Lewis is still read widely today. His writings are thought-provoking stories that have theological reflection woven throughout in an intricate and subtle way. The book is about a bus ride from hell to heaven, explaining why people end up in heaven or hell. Since everyday choices have eternal consequences, Lewis seeks to show how decisions and even indecision result in eternal consequences. Rather than God assigning people to hell, Lewis attempts to explain the punishment of hell as the choices people make that prevent them from seeing and enjoying heaven. Petty things that dominate our lives will also torment us for eternity. Either we choose life or death. And no choice is still a choice. Either we kill sin or we will cling to them until they become our master and we their slave. At one point, one of the heavenly guides that explains heaven to one rider on the bus is George MacDonald, a Christian writer and teacher of the mid 1800s whose ideas influenced Lewis greatly. For some this will be a welcome inclusion. For others, a warning. One interesting feature about Lewis' concept of hell is an attempt to mediate between the evangelical view of eternal conscious punishment and MacDonald's universalism. It seems Lewis suggests that if people leave hell and stay in heaven, hell was only purgatory. But for those who return to hell, it is hell. Lewis' writings are provocative because the reader can find himself or herself in the pages because of the various people described. His theological reflections will give many pause to think about philosophy, but hopefully the more important questions are not dismissed: where am I headed? This was an interesting read - one I will pick up again.   hide

I loved this book, particularly the way it portrayed the difference between the saved and unsaved. ...more

I loved this book, particularly the way it portrayed the difference between the saved and unsaved. Not sure I totally agree with the ability to be saved after death, but not going to whine...I'll leave that to God. Regardless, the dialogues in particular were interesting and not too long for what they were conveying...and the metaphysics was clearly along the lines of St. Thomas Aquinas...so I approve. But hey...it's rare I have any complaints whatsoever about Lewis or his amazing writing!   hide

"Then some re-adjustment of the mind or some focusing of my eyes took place, and I saw the whole...more

"Then some re-adjustment of the mind or some focusing of my eyes took place, and I saw the whole phenomenon the other way round. The men were as they had always been; as all the men I had known had been perhaps. It was the light, the grass, the trees that were different; made of some different substance, so much solider than things in our country that men were ghosts by comparison. Moved by a sudden thought, I bent down and tried to pluck a daisy which was growing at my feet. The stalk wouldn’t break. I tried to twist it, but it wouldn't twist. I tugged till the sweat stood out on my forehead and I had lost most of the skin off my hands. The little flower was hard, not like wood or even like iron, but like diamond. There was a leaf--a young tender beech-leaf, lying in the grass beside it. I tried to pick the leaf up: my heart almost cracked with the effort, and I believe I did just raise it. But I had to let it go at once; it was heavier than a sack of coal. As I stood, recovering my breath with great gasps and looking down at the daisy, I noticed that I could see the grass not only between my feet but through them. I also was a phantom. Who will give me words to express the terror of that discovery? 'Golly!' thought I, 'I'm in for it this time.'" -C.S. Lewis The Great Divorce    hide

What would happen if the damned were able to take a holiday to Heaven? Such is the question of,...more

What would happen if the damned were able to take a holiday to Heaven? Such is the question of, "The Great Divorce." Through the use of allegory, Lewis presents the call to repentance as a vacation where the ghostly damned have opportunity to meet and converse with the blessed spirits of heaven. As each ghost is presented the Gospel as it applies to his or her own situation the reader is confronted with the very same questions and each ghost serves as example of the various kinds of unbelief. Covering such as liberalism, works righteousness, lust and pride, "The Great Divorce" is both a clever manual of apologetics that strips away the thin defenses of unbelief and a call to repentance.   hide

Previous authors I have read have helped me to realize that our occupations and passions may...more

Previous authors I have read have helped me to realize that our occupations and passions may actually not just be vanity (then there would be no point to work, go to school, do anything) but may be given to us by God to serve him in some way. That they may actually be an important part of God's plan for our lives and others. However, C.S. Lewis in "The Great Divorce" reminds me that while I may be fond of my job, my property, my family, even my own children, that we should surrender all things to God and that we will take nothing from this life that we are fond of into heaven. It is a reminder to put treasure for ourselves in heavenly things, for where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.   hide