Journey Toward the Light - Scene 3

Recap: Van and Davy Vanauken moved to Oxford to finish their graduate work. Their first friends were a group of 5 Christians, who, to the amazement of Van and Davy, were intelligent and witty and friendly.

With this encounter the Vanaukens began to revise their previous assumption that Christians were dull, boring, rigid and generally unintelligent. As their friendship grew Van and Davy began to feel the urge to read up on Christianity, "certainly not that we would ever become Christians ourselves ," but so that they could "participate in the lively discussions" they enjoyed so much with their new friends.

So Van and Davy went to the library and returned with armfuls of books, many by C. S. Lewis, and even some Bibles of various translations. And so they began to read....

Scene 3:

Van: "We read half a hundred books that first autumn and winter in Oxford. We became interested, absorbed, in the study of Christianity right from the start-- still it was only a study.

"It was fortunate that I chose to read the C . S. Lewis science-fiction trilogy first, for, apart from being beautiful and enthralling, it made me conscious of an alliance with him: what he hated (That Hideous Strength) I hated and feared. Much more important, perhaps, the trilogy showed me that the Christian God might, after all, be quite big enough for the whole galaxy....

"Apart from Lewis, we read G. K. Chesterton, who with wit, presented a brilliant reasoned case for the faith. Graham Greene showed--terribly--what sin was, and what faith was. Dorothy Sayers made Christianity dramatic and exciting, and attacked complacency and dullness like a scorpion.

"We had read T. S. Eliot for years, for now we began to see what he was really saying in Ash Wednesday and the Four Quartets--and it scared us. His description of being a Christian lingered in our minds: 'A condition of complete simplicity/(Costing not less than everything).''

"And we read the New Testament, of course, and numerous commentaries. But there is no doubt that C. S. Lewis was, first to last, overwhelmingly the most important reading for us both. Only someone who has faced the question--is Christianity false?--can help someone else resolve the counter-question--is it true? We read everything he ever wrote.

"He wrote about Christianity in a style as clear as spring water without a hint of sanctimoniousness or vagueness or double-talk, never suggesting that anything be accepted on other than reasonable grounds. He gave us simple, straightforward, telling argument laced with wit.

"As we read, we talked to our Christian friends, raising our questions and doubts. They answered us very patiently and thoughtfully.

"An important insight struck us--Davy and me-- one day when we realized that our friends, though Anglican, Baptist, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran, were united by far more--mere Christianity, as Lewis would put it--than divided them. 'And they are all so -- so happy in their Christianity,' said Davy.

And I said, 'Could it be--that happiness--is what's called "Christian joy," do you think?

Next...Scene 4.....