God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis
Chapter
10: Christian Apologetics
“…Apologetics
means of course Denfense. The
first question is – what do you propose to defend? Christianity, of course: and Christianity as understood by the Church in Wales. And here at the outset I must deal with
an unpleasant business. It seems
to the layman that in the Church of England we often hear from our priests
doctrine which is not Anglican Christianity. It may depart from Anglican Christianity in either of two
ways: (1) It may be so ‘broad’ or
‘liberal’ or ‘modern’ that it in fact excludes any real Supernaturalism and
thus ceases to be Christian at all.
(2) It may, on the other hand, be Roman. It is not, of course, for me to define to you what Anglican
Christianity is – I am your pupil, not your teacher. But I insist that wherever you draw the lines, bounding
lines come a great deal sooner than many modern priests think. I think it is your duty to fix the
lines clearly in your minds: and
if you wish to go beyond them you must change your profession.
This
is your duty not specially as Christians or as priests but as honest men. There is a danger here of the clergy
developing a special professional conscience which obscures the very plain
moral issue. Men who have passed
beyond these boundary lines in either direction are apt to protest that they
come by their unorthodox opinions honestly. In defense of those opinions they are prepared to suffer
obloquy and to forfeit professional advancement. They thus come to feel like martyrs. But this simply misses the point which
so gravely scandalizes the layman.
We never doubt that the unorthodox opinions were honestly held: what we complain of is is your
continuing your ministry after you have come to hold them…
…We are to defend
Christianity itself – the faith preached by the Apostles, attested by the
Martyrs, embodied in the Creeds, expounded by the Fathers. This must be clearly distinguished from
the whole of what any one of us may think about God and Man. Each of us has his individual
emphasis: each holds, in addition
to the Faith, many opinions which seem to him to be consistent with it and true
and important. And so perhaps they
are. But as apologists it is not
our business to defend them. We are defending Christianity; not ‘my
religion’…
This
distinction, which is demanded by honesty, also gives the apologist a great
tactical advantage. The great
difficulty is to get modern audiences to realize that you are preaching
Christianity solely and simply because you happen to think it true; they
always suppose you are preaching it because you like it or think it good for
society or something of that sort.
Now a clearly maintained distinction between what the Faith actually
says and what you would like it to have said or what you understand or what you
personally find helpful or think probable, forces your audience to realize that
you are tied to your data just as a scientist is tied by the results of the
experiments; that you are not just saying what you like. This immediately helps them to realize
that what is being discussed is a question about objective fact – not gas about
ideals and points of view.”
In Christ's love, Fr. Robert Pax
