2/26/2007 10:54:00 AM
Checkmate doesn't end with Lewis becoming a Christian, but it ends with Lewis becoming a theists. The last chapter, "The Beginning" tells of the last and final step towards becoming a Christian. Lewis had earlier in his life struggled with pluralism. He had a hard time accepting one religion as true in the face of thousands of options. Even after becoming a Christian, it seems that he maintains a portion of this thinking. He states on the matter: I do not think the resemblance between the Christian and the merely imaginative experience is accidental. I think that all thins, in their way, reflect heavenly truth, the imagination not least. 'Reflect' is the important word" (Check). So for Lewis, "The question was, no longer to find the one simply true religion among a thousand religions simply false. It was rather, 'Where has religion reached its true maturity?'" (The Beginning) To Lewis, there were 2 options: Hinduism and Christianity. Everything else was a 'vulgarization' or 'unrefined' version of these two. Hinduism lacked in two areas: First, its philosophy and practice existed in two separate arenas, and were not mixed, as “oil and water” in Lewis’ terms (The Beginning). Second, Hinduism did 5 not have the historical context that the Christian religion had. The gospels for Lewis did not possess the mythical elements that other religious traditions did. Of Christianity, Lewis says, "This is not 'a religion', nor 'a philosophy'. It is the summing up and actuality of them all." (The Beginning)
Checkmate doesn't end with Lewis becoming a Christian, but it ends with Lewis becoming a theists. The last chapter, "The Beginning" tells of the last and final step towards becoming a Christian. Lewis had earlier in his life struggled with pluralism. He had a hard time accepting one religion as true in the face of thousands of options. Even after becoming a Christian, it seems that he maintains a portion of this thinking. He states on the matter: I do not think the resemblance between the Christian and the merely imaginative experience is accidental. I think that all thins, in their way, reflect heavenly truth, the imagination not least. 'Reflect' is the important word" (Check). So for Lewis, "The question was, no longer to find the one simply true religion among a thousand religions simply false. It was rather, 'Where has religion reached its true maturity?'" (The Beginning) To Lewis, there were 2 options: Hinduism and Christianity. Everything else was a 'vulgarization' or 'unrefined' version of these two. Hinduism lacked in two areas: First, its philosophy and practice existed in two separate arenas, and were not mixed, as “oil and water” in Lewis’ terms (The Beginning). Second, Hinduism did 5 not have the historical context that the Christian religion had. The gospels for Lewis did not possess the mythical elements that other religious traditions did. Of Christianity, Lewis says, "This is not 'a religion', nor 'a philosophy'. It is the summing up and actuality of them all." (The Beginning)
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