Anselm & Aslan
C. S. Lewis & the Ontological Argument by Donald T. Williams
"We trust not because 'a God' exists, but because this God exists." —C. S. Lewis, "On Obstinacy in Belief"
"But who is Aslan? Do you know him?"
"Well, he knows me," said Edmund. —Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
C. S. Lewis wrote his brother Warnie on October 24, 1931, that "God might be defined as 'a Being who spends his time having his existence proved and disproved.'" This jocular definition reminds us that we could easily get the impression from listening to the interminable debates on the subject that the first question of theology is whether
God exists.
But if theology begins from God's having revealed himself to us, which Christians believe is the only way it can begin, then that can hardly be the case. God, having spoken the world into existence, and having spoken through it and in it since, would be in a position, were he so inclined, to one-up Descartes and proclaim, "Dico; ergo sum" ("I speak; therefore, I am"). Believers could say, "Dixit; ergo est" ("He spoke; therefore, he is"). The Christian theologian, therefore, does not begin by asking whether God exists but by enquiring into what can be known about the One who has already taken the initiative and revealed himself as existing.
The Place of the "Whether" Question
The "whether" question inevitably comes up anyway, though—for Christian philosophers especially, but for theologians too. It does so because we need to be clear about the grounds of our faith, for our own sake and for the sake of those who have not yet had the experience of being addressed by the revelation of God in Christ that we believe is objectively out there in nature, history, and Scripture.
As an apologist, Lewis had to deal with the "whether" question a lot, and he gave in Surprised by Joy a detailed account of the experiences and reasonings that moved him, over time, from unbelief to belief. One might get the impression that the existence of God—as opposed to Lewis's belief in that existence—depended on those experiences and reasonings, rather than their depending, like everything else, on the existence of God. That would be a false impression.
Lewis understands that the answers to whether God exists depend on his prior reality, rather than the other way around. He shows this in his poem "The Apologist's Evening Prayer," where his "cleverness shot forth" on God's behalf and his proofs of Christ's divinity are portrayed as tokens, coins whose "thin-worn image of Thy head" should not be confused with the Reality they represent.
He also shows it in the essay "On Obstinacy in Belief," in which he demonstrates that the believer's relationship with God has an existence logically prior to and independent of the reasons he consciously holds for believing in it. Those reasons are important and have a significant role to play, but God does not depend on them. The whether of God's existence, in other words, comes after and depends upon the what and the how.
A Misunderstood Argument
Donald T. Williams is Professor Emeritus of Toccoa Falls College. He stays permanently camped out on the borders between serious scholarship and pastoral ministry, between theology and literature, and between Narnia and Middle-Earth. He is the author of fourteen books, including Answers from Aslan: The Enduring Apologetics of C. S. Lewis (DeWard, 2023). He is a contributing editor of Touchstone.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on C. S. Lewis from the online archives
18.3—April 2005
on Being a Free Narnian & the Joy of Subordination by Donald T. Williams
33.2—March/April 2020
Lewis, Chesterton, et al. Against the Frauds, Experts & Revisionists by Vigen Guroian
more from the online archives
32.1—January/February 2019
Sex, Women's Ordination & the Rejection of Hierarchy & Equality by James A. Altena
31.1—January/February 2018
on Ragnarök, an Extreme Weather Event & the Paths to Conversion by Timothy J. Burbery
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
