REAL PRESENCE: THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW OF C. S. LEWIS AS INCARNATIONAL REALITY
Description:... In the REAL PRESENCE, Leanne Payne explains the spirituality of C.S.Lewis as revealed in his fiction and nonfiction writings. Payne is in part an interpreter of C.S. Lewis; in part a Christian apologist to the philosophical community; in part a spiritual director (telling us how to 'grow our own spiritual life'). She is also a minister in her own right - she has an international ministry of spiritual (emotional) healing. She has a somewhat arcane writing style which takes just a little bit to decipher. But her understanding of Lewis is great. His spirituality was foundational to the development of her own, and she articulates it very well. She explains it in light of classic, historic Christian doctrine, especially that of the early church. This book is very helpful in understanding her own subsequent books, all of which I highly reccommend, esp HEALING PRESENCE, RESTORING THE CHRISTIAN SOUL and LISTENING PRAYER. She has a tremendous understanding of (as she terms it) 'Incarnational Reality', the essential Christian assertion that, through the Holy Spirit, God comes to live right inside the believer. It is in listening to and collaborating with the Holy Spirit, who indwells us, that we are healed and caused to grow. Lewis wrote much about this concept (in large part symbolically, in his fiction); and it is from him that much of Payne's own understanding comes. It is to this concept that she refers in the title of this book - THE REAL PRESENCE. The book is a tremendous help in understanding the complexity of Lewis' writing, especially his fiction. Without understanding his underlying spirituality, it is hard to appreciate any but the most superficial aspects of meaning in the imagery and characterizations in his fiction; it also informs much of his nonfiction. Payne does an excellent job of explaining that spirituality and does so with frequent quotes from and references to Lewis' writings. (Perhaps you thought that the Narnia Chronicles and his outer space trilogy - PERELANDRA,OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET,THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH - were simple children's books.
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