Notes on Hillsdale College Online Course part 3

C.S. Lewis on Christianity  

By Reverend Lonnie C. Crowe

I have recently finished an online study from Hillsdale College entitled “C.C. Lewis on Christianity.  The lecturer was Michael Ward, a fellow at Oxford in England as well as Hillsdale.  The course stretched both my mind and my soul and, therefore, my spirit.  I am delighted to share some of my notes from the course. Remember these are my notes.  They are what captured my thoughts.  They are not an outline of the course. 

 

 Notes on Hillsdale College Online Course 

C.S. Lewis on Christianity 

Lecturer Michael Ward 

"Enjoyment vs. contemplation"

"Surprised by Joy"--Lewis' spiritual journey to becoming a Christian--presents

an indispensable tool of thought:

Instead of a twofold division into Conscious and Unconscious, we need a threefold division:  the unconscious, the Enjoyed, and the Contemplated.

 The experience of being a Christian is to be enjoyed more than contemplated.

In the Christian life you are not usually looking at Him.  He is aways acting through you.  If you think of the Father as out there, in front of you, and the Son as someone standing at your side, then you have to think of the Holy Spirit as something inside you. God is love and that love works through men.  

But the spirit of love is a love going on between the Father and the Son.

The Holy Spirit is the life of the Christian's consciousness. knowing the Holy Spirit is more important than knowing about either the Holy Spirit or about ourselves.

Joy, when we experience it, we want to experience it again.  It is an unsatisfied desire, which is the greatest joy. 

In our walk with the Lord, we can often be surprised by joy in Him.