Lewis Is Considered by Many

Lewis is considered by many to be one of the most profound and thorough Christian apologists of his time. In many of his texts that adamantly defend his faith, Lewis takes an almost exultant and unswerving loyalty to his religion. This is why my reading of "A Grief Observed" is so shocking. In an explosive text, Lewis deals with the primary question of a "shaken faith" that often conflicts believers of Christianity.

His moment of crisis that is described through this book is the death of his beloved wife, the poetess Joy Davidman Gresham. It is the apparent intention of the author to convey a moment of crisis within his spiritual devotion. Yet through his narrative we come to gain a greater knowledge of the depth of his fate. C.S. Lewis uses "A Grief Observed" as a demonstration of the ultimate strength of Christianity and a reaffirmation of his belief in God.

Lewis's primary device in showing the strength of his belief and worship is the juxtaposition of his spiritual beliefs at the outset of the book with his concluding analysis. The death of his wife is the catalyst for Lewis's religion crisis.

He begins his first chapter with the rhetorical question, "What reason have we, except our own desperate wishes, to believe that God is, by any standard we can conceive, "good"? Doesn't all the prima facie evidence suggest exactly the opposite?" Lewis within one sentence contradicts a lifetime of Christian defense. The power exerted within this sentence is a result of not only his former work, but also its profound implications.

Lewis evokes both a spiritual and rhetorical logic within this passage to offer both evidence and claim within the same sentence. This passage characterizes the inherent conflict within the book; Lewis asks two essential questions; whether God exists and if He exists whether he is "good" or "evil." He seems to affirm the former within the context of the above passage.

The fact that God exists is answered in the context of his latter question, it doesn't seem to matter if God is evil or good, because either implies his existence. The latter question, the moral alignment of God, is much more interesting. By characterizing the belief of God's goodness as "desperate wishes" he seems to connote that his own negative feelings on the matter. To provide evidence to his claim, he cites "prima facie evidence" to prove the falsity of God's goodness.

The exact prima facie evidence is never directly iterated within the context of this passage, one can imply that the death of his wife is the primary evidence that he refers to. Lewis provides a thoroughly convincing and logical rebuttal of Christian doctrine. He explains, "[People tell him to take comfort] Because she is in God's hands.' But if so, she was in God's hands all the time and I have seen what they did to her here.

Do they suddenly become gentler to us the moment we are out of the body? And if so, why? If God's goodness is inconsistent with hurting us, then either God is not good or there is no God." By logically establishing his criticism of his faith, Lewis is able to convince us of two things. First, that he is genuinely questioning his belief in God, which causes us to sympathize him develop a strong emphatic connection that lasts throughout the book.

Second, his logical defense is persuasive, thus providing a strong contrast with his rhetorical defense of Christianity later in the book. By combining these two affects, Lewis is able to turn his self doubt into the catalyst for a strong reaffirmation of his faith. In showing the strength of his Christian faith and the rhetoric behind his revelations, Lewis uses the theme of his wife's death as a rhetorical devise. Lewis provides a rationale for the death of his wife in the context of grief.

He argues, "[T]here's no denying that in some sense I 'feel better,' and with that comes at once a sort of shame, and a feeling that one is under a sort of obligation to cherish and foment and prolong one's unhappiness." Lewis within this passage concludes that prolonged grief after the death of his wife is a selfish act, because it is a pretense of "heroic love and tragedy." In putting forth this claim, Lewis carefully begins both his recovery and the explanation of his reaffirmation in Christianity.

He cloaks this revelation in pessimism, "Praise in due order; of Him as the giver, of her as the gift. I have lost the fruition I once had with H (his wife). And I am far, far away in the valley of my unlikeness, from the fruition which, if His mercies are infinite, I may some time have of God.. But by praising I can still, in some degree, enjoy her, and already, in some degree, enjoy Him.

Better than nothing." Lewis reconciles himself with his faith by explaining that despite the pain of his loss, he realizes that she is inherent within the eternal nature of God. By worshipping God, he is worshipping his wife's spirit, which provides him with a sense of reprieve. The reason that this logic is so appealing and convincing is that Lewis has engendered our sympathy through his bereavement.

By claiming that he finds peace through the worship of God, it lends greater validity and credence to his argument in God's wisdom and eternal nature. Lewis concludes his reflections with, "Sometimes, Lord, one is tempted to say that if you wanted us to behave like the lilies of the field you might have given us an organization more like theirs.