TSL Chapter 23 -- Historical Jesus: A Crank Vending a Panacea

Summary

Screwtape is back to fine form, with more Uncle-ly advise for Young Wormwood. Having been forced to accept the presence of a good, Christian woman in The Patient's life, Wormwood will have deal with encroaching spirituality and corrupt it.

This isn't a bad thing, Uncle Screwtape points out -- a spoiled saint is better sport in Hell than a common tyrant or debauchee.

Screwtape suggests politics. He's quick to point out that you don't really want people informing their politics with a Christian viewpoint, but rather that by bringing politics in, you can frame Christianity as being a means to political ends.

He discusses the 'historical Jesus' which is inevitability a corruption and reduction of the actual Jesus -- a new view of Jesus seen through some modern political lens. The distorted Jesus will inevitability  reduce Jesus's role to that of secular teacher and will otherwise destroy a devotional life founded on accepting Jesus as a living God.

My Own Historical Jesus

There's certainly no shortage of historical Jesuses which attempt examine Jesus outside of any supernatural context. I am no historian, and cannot comment much on these (I also am not nearly well-read enough to engage them on any level) but my ignorant layman's understanding suggests that there is ample evidence from non-related sources that Jesus existed, called disciples, and was crucified.

That doesn't suggest a lot of non-biblical material to go on, so my conclusion is that CSL is probably dead on in advising us to beware of anyone offering a 'historical' Jesus that varies in any significant way from the Biblical account.

Lewis also flirts with his more famous quote from Mere Christianity about anyone who presents Jesus as a 'great moral teacher' as completely missing the point. After his title drop of Mere Christianity earlier in the book, this one feels like a warm up for MC.

Church & State

I was a bit disappointed that he didn't get more into the pitfalls of politics. Screwtape 'warns' that politics can subvert Christianity by making it a means to an end instead of an end, itself, but beyond that he's more on about Historical Jesus than he is about how a Christian should engage in politics.

My sense is that engaging with politics is a hugely dangerous area -- perhaps more so here and now, in America, than it was in WWII-era England. Where is CSL when we really need him.

The services I attend are bible-focused and while I don't feel that politics and current events are in any way avoided, they are only invoked where they are directly relevant and that is rare (exceptions would be current events -- often disaster situations where aid is needed and local political issues around right-to-worship in public spaces).

Where I have heard political commentary, it's come from members of the congregation, and it's often expressed a sense of persecution, marginalization, and victimization at the hands of a liberal, secular society.

I admit I'm fascinated: these people do not come off as marginalized or oppressed. While I do not know the intimate details of their lives, they appear to have great material comforts and financial security. They are professionally successful and respected in their fields.  Many of them have advanced education. I don't know if they have medical insurance but they don't strike me as people without adequate health care. They seem to have the discretion to take care of personal business, to travel, and otherwise to live fulfilling, privileged lives.

So what's going on here?

I can't be sure, and my assessment is admittedly uninformed, but my instincts tell me that there's some un-healthy mixing of politics and religion going on and I think that people are doing just what CSL warns about, but not exactly the way he does. I think they're imagining God cares about things they see as important cultural signifiers (The 2nd Amendment), and mistaking their personal political focus for a divine agenda.

Perhaps Lewis will touch on this in a future chapter.