PIGEON-HOLING MR. C. S. LEWIS Sra,—Mr. C. S. Lewis has
for some time been a stout defender of the orthodox Christian faith, but in Canon Raven's review of his recent book there is a welcome note of caution ; for, though Mr. Lewis is on the side of the angels, there is some doubt as to where he starts as a thinker. That Mr. Lewis has great imaginative and literary gifts is undeniable. Nevertheless, as a thinker, his weakness lies in his proneness to dogmatic assertion, and his habit of introducing fanciful speculation into what claims to be a reasoned statement of belief. In The Problem of Pain, for example, there are references to a strange creation, primitive man, who is also a'primitive saint, and it is difficult to know whether Mr. Lewis intends us to accept this figure as an historical person, or as an imaginative creation of the author. Perhaps Mr. Lewis's true role is that of a poet dealing imaginatively with Christian ideas rather than that of a theologian expounding Christian doctrine.—Yours faithfully,
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