After dashing through C S Lewis’ brilliant if somewhat esoteric 1930s sci-fi/fantasy known as The Cosmic Trilogy, I picked up Jung’s even more esoteric Answer to Job.
After all that, it seemed time to return to Mere Christianity, which is so titled because it explains those doctrines which are generally uncontroversial amongst all Christian denominations.
The book comprises a number of talks which Lewis gave during the madness of the Second World War, covering right and wrong as a clue to the meaning of the universe, what Christians believe, Christian behaviour and some first steps in the doctrine of the Trinity.
He closes the first chapter on The Law of Human Nature as follows:
These, then, are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.
However, after yet another young person explained how they had been taught moral subjectivism in their compulsory “citizenship” classes, I was reminded of his book The Abolition of Man. I reviewed it previously here. It tells the tale of society’s path if mankind adopts the subjective morality advocated most notably by Nietzsche and his disciples.
Since Nietzsche’s lamentable Beyond Good and Evil was subtitled “Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future”, I’ll be researching the syllabus shortly…
