In Lewis’s George
MacDonald, An Anthology – 365 readings, Lewis provides 365 quotes from
about 15 of MacDonald’s works. Some of these works are novels, some collections
of sermons, some fantasy or Faerie stories, and some reflections. Some of the
quotes are short, many are substantial, much more than a couple of lines.
Could I provide
365 quality quotes from one author? If I could, how long would the process take?
I’ve been reading C. S. Lewis and Andrew Murray, both prolific writers, for
almost 60 years, and in the instance of Lewis, a few thousand of his letters. Murray
and Lewis would be my only possible candidates, but could I really provide 365
quality quotes? I wouldn’t know until I tried. How long would the project take?
Then consider
that the Anthology was published in 1946. Lewis became a Christian in
1931, and while he first read Phantastes years earlier, I don’t know
that he read any more of MacDonald until he surrendered his life to Jesus
Christ in 1931. I don’t know when Lewis began working on the Anthology,
but let’s say it was 1945, so we’ll give Lewis one year to compile the book.
This means that from 1931 – 1944, 13 years, Lewis read and absorbed and
integrated MacDonald’s extensive body of work – while Lewis was teaching,
writing, doing academic research, reading scores of other books and articles
and academic papers, engaged in voluminous correspondence, caring for a
demanding older friend, maintaining significant friendships, and brushing his
teeth.
The Anthology
is a remarkable accomplishment and indicates the mass of the iceberg below
its tip – the Anthology is the tip; we can only wonder at what lies
below. Thankfully Lewis gives us a glimpse of the iceberg’s mass in his Preface.
At this juncture
I want to bring in Andrew Murray, for there is a remarkable similarity between Murray’s
appreciation of William Law and Lewis’s debt to George MacDonald. Just as Lewis
wrote a Preface to introduce readers to MacDonald, Murray wrote an Introduction
to his, Selections from the Writings of William Law. Lewis and Murray both
acknowledged that MacDonald and Law were not perfect, that they had blind spots;
but having made the acknowledgments, they were joyful in endorsing the glorious
core of their respective writings, the core being Jesus Christ and the glory of
God.
Murray and Lewis
were both vigorous intellectuals. Rigorous thinking was a hallmark of both men.
W. T. Kirkpatrick, “the Great Knock,” put Lewis through intellectual boot camp,
providing him with a foundation that he built upon throughout his life.
Murray left
South Africa as an adolescent, with his brother John, to attend college in
Scotland and seminary in Holland – both demanding academic environments –
before returning to South Africa to become a leader in the Dutch Reformed
Church and the greater Kingdom of God. Murray had occasions when he had to deal
with heretical teaching within the ranks of Dutch Reformed pastors, and his
concern for sound Biblical theology helped spur him to, with the help of
others, establish a divinity school in South Africa to counterbalance Dutch and
German theological trends away from the Bible in Europe.
In MacDonald,
Lewis touched Christ; in Law, Murray touched Christ. Or better, both men were
touched by Christ, by His transcendence, by His glory, by the luminosity of the
Living God.
I think there is
something we can learn from Murray and Lewis here, and I think it is worth spending
some time looking at the similarities of Lewis’s Preface and Murray’s
Introduction. You don’t need to be well – versed in Lewis or Murray or
MacDonald or Law to follow this, because we’re looking at basic principles and
understanding, but of course I hope you will enjoy what you read and that you’ll
find food for reflection.
As I have
pondered Lewis and Murray and their appreciation of MacDonald and Law
respectively, I have concluded that what was important to Murray and Lewis was
the centrality of Jesus Christ – Lewis saw this in MacDonald, Murray saw this
in Law – they saw Christ and the Cross and the transcendent glory of God, and
thus they could freely compile the Anthology and the Selections for
others with confidence.
Lewis used the
term Mere Christianity to indicate those Christian doctrines and beliefs
which the Church has held to be true throughout the ages, the cardinal elements
of our faith, and as much as people have tried to force Lewis into a particular
Chrisitan box, from Evangelical to Roman Catholic, Lewis remains a “mere
Christian,” who worshipped within the Anglican Communion.
While Murray was
committed to the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, serving terms as its
moderator, he was also very much a “mere Christian.” Murray worked with pastors
and missionaries from various traditions, and he drew spiritual nurture from brothers
and sisters outside of the Reformed tradition. It is no mystery why Andrew
Murray’s writings have touched generations of Christians across the Kingdom of
God – Christ and His Kingdom were everything to him; he has been called the
Apostle of Abiding Love.
To be continued…
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