C. S. Lewis on the Defense of the Faith (part fifteen)

In 1945, C. S. Lewis was invited to address a gathering of Welsh Anglican priests and youth workers on the subject of Christian apologetics. Here are his remarks, published in the book, God in the Dock, and, as needed, some commentary on them.

One last word. I have found that nothing is more dangerous to one’s own faith than the work of an apologist. No doctrine of that faith seems to me so spectral, so unreal as the one that I have just successfully defended in a public debate. For a moment, you see, it has seemed to rest on oneself: as a result when you go away from the debate, it seems no stronger than that weak pillar. That is why we apologists take our lives in our hands and can be saved only by falling back continually from the web of our own arguments, as from our intellectual counters, into the reality–from Christian apologetics into Christ Himself. That also is why we need one another’s continual help–oremus pro invicem. (Let us pray for each other.)

I have fallen into doubt many a time, not because my arguments for Christianity seem to be a weak pillar on which to lean, but the other side of the coin, seeing other’s arguments for their faith that feel so powerful and true. I remember once reading a book on Zen Buddhism that had me reeling for a day. But resorting to “Christ Himself” (as Lewis advises) and reflecting on the argument a bit made me realize the falsehood of that view. There is indeed a danger to the apologist/defender of Christianity, to our faith, that comes from interacting with opposing views. Lewis rightly encourages us to find help from the Lord Jesus and from one another, and to pray for each other.