Cultural Christianity,

In Article X, C.S. Lewis takes us through an argument. What if we use this article as a framework for interpreting “cultural Christianity”?

In the article, Lewis recounts a conversation with his friend Corineus. Corineus argues that no one is truly a Christian anymore. According to Corineus, only the outward forms of Christianity remain. Lewis disagrees, but as a thought experiment, he takes Corineus’s argument seriously. A counterquestion Lewis raises is: if Christianity were nothing more than outward forms, why doesn’t anyone stop practicing it? After all, faith often brings no benefit—sometimes even a disadvantage—yet people continue to hold on to it. Corineus views the historical doctrines of Christianity as mythological. Lewis, however, argues that this particular myth is precisely the foundation of faith. The Christian myth has often been attacked over the centuries, but all its attackers have perished, and this myth still stands. What Corineus sees as primitive is actually the core, and what he sees as faith is merely the shadow.

Lewis argues that myths generally allow us to experience something that endures over time. In enjoying a great myth, we come closest to truly experiencing what can otherwise only be understood as an abstraction. For our thinking is very abstract, Lewis argues. But what we experience is very concrete: this pain, this humor. Yet when we start to reflect on pain and humor, “that pain” becomes nothing more than an “example.” This is our dilemma: to taste but not know, or to know but not taste, says Lewis. Myth is like the isthmus connecting the peninsula where you reside to the continent where you belong. Myth gives birth to reality, not truth. Truth (abstraction) is merely a qualification of this reality. And just as myth transcends truth, the Incarnation transcends myth. The heart of Christianity is the myth that is also a fact. As a Christian, you must accept both, says Lewis.

If we follow Lewis’s reasoning, the church communities of all ages are peninsulas connected to that one continent. Or to put it another way: mountain streams flowing down into the valley from the same source. When a new stream originates high in the mountains, there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s a stream that flows down into the reality in which we live.

Back to cultural Christianity, which is what this reflection was all about to begin with. Do we see new shadows here—a renewed interest in Christ? Are we surprised, in a positive way? Or do we find it difficult? Doesn’t this shadow also conceal an interest in the myth that is inextricably linked to it? A longing for meaning and hope? And you and I, each in our own little stream—what are we doing? Are we reaching out to these new believers, just as Philip did: “...do you understand what you’re reading?” But he said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” ..”