C. Lewis - The Problem of Pain

The PROBLEM OF PAIN

C. S. Lewis

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com

First published in Great Britain by Geoffrey Bles 1940

Copyright © C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd 1940

Cover design and illustration by Kimberly Glyder

The right of C. S. Lewis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007461264

Ebook Edition © 2009 ISBN: 9780007332267

Version: 2015-11-20

To

The Inklings

The Son of God suffered unto the death,

not that men might not suffer, but that their

sufferings might be like His.

GEORGE MACDONALD,

Unspoken Sermons, First Series

Contents

Cover

Title Page The PROBLEM OF PAIN C. S. Lewis

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Preface Chapter 1 - INTRODUCTORY Chapter 2 - DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE Chapter 3 - DIVINE GOODNESS Chapter 4 - HUMAN WICKEDNESS Chapter 5 - THE FALL OF MAN Chapter 6 - HUMAN PAIN Chapter 7 - HUMAN PAIN, CONTINUED Chapter 8 - HELL Chapter 9 - ANIMAL PAIN Chapter 10 - HEAVEN APPENDIX Footnotes About the Author Books By C. S. Lewis About the Publisher William Collins An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com First published in Great Britain by Geoffrey Bles 1940 Copyright © C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd 1940 Cover design and illustration by Kimberly Glyder The right of C. S. Lewis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780007461264 Ebook Edition © 2009 ISBN: 9780007332267 Version: 2015-11-20

Dedication

Epigraph The Son of God suffered unto the death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like His. GEORGE MACDONALD, Unspoken Sermons, First Series

Preface PREFACE When Mr Ashley Sampson suggested to me the writing of this book, I asked leave to be allowed to write it anonymously, since, if I were to say what I really thought about pain, I should be forced to make statements of such apparent fortitude that they would become ridiculous if anyone knew who made them. Anonymity was rejected as inconsistent with the series; but Mr Sampson pointed out that I could write a preface explaining that I did not live up to my own principles! This exhilarating programme I am now carrying out. Let me confess at once, in the words of good Walter Hilton, that throughout this book ‘I feel myself so far from true feeling of that I speak, that I can naught else but cry mercy and desire after it as I may’. fn1 Yet for that very reason there is one criticism which cannot be brought against me. No one can say ‘He jests at scars who never felt a wound’, for I have never for one moment been in a state of mind to which even the imagination of serious pain was less than intolerable. If any man is safe from the danger of underestimating this adversary, I am that man. I must add, too, that the only purpose of the book is to solve the intellectual problem raised by suffering; for the far higher task of teaching fortitude and patience I was never fool enough to suppose myself qualified, nor have I anything to offer my readers except my conviction that when pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all. If any real theologian reads these pages he will very easily see that they are the work of a layman and an amateur. Except in the last two chapters, parts of which are admittedly speculative, I have believed myself to be restating ancient and orthodox doctrines. If any parts of the book are ‘original’, in the sense of being novel or unorthodox, they are so against my will and as a result of my ignorance. I write, of course, as a layman of the Church of England: but I have tried to assume nothing that is not professed by all baptised and communicating Christians. As this is not a work of erudition I have taken little pains to trace ideas or quotations to their sources when they were not easily recoverable. Any theologian will see easily enough what, and how little, I have read. C. S. LEWIS Magdalen College, Oxford, 1940

Chapter 1 - INTRODUCTORY

Chapter 2 - DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE

Chapter 3 - DIVINE GOODNESS

Chapter 4 - HUMAN WICKEDNESS

Chapter 5 - THE FALL OF MAN

Chapter 6 - HUMAN PAIN

Chapter 7 - HUMAN PAIN, CONTINUED

Chapter 8 - HELL

Chapter 9 - ANIMAL PAIN

Chapter 10 - HEAVEN

APPENDIX

Footnotes

About the Author

Books By C. S. Lewis

About the Publisher

When Mr Ashley Sampson suggested to me the writing of this book, I asked leave to be allowed to write it anonymously, since, if I were to say what I really thought about pain, I should be forced to make statements of such apparent fortitude that they would become ridiculous if anyone knew who made them. Anonymity was rejected as inconsistent with the series; but Mr Sampson pointed out that I could write a preface explaining that I did not live up to my own principles! This exhilarating programme I am now carrying out. Let me confess at once, in the words of good Walter Hilton, that throughout this book ‘I feel myself so far from true feeling of that I speak, that I can naught else but cry mercy and desire after it as I may’. fn1Yet for that very reason there is one criticism which cannot be brought against me. No one can say ‘He jests at scars who never felt a wound’, for I have never for one moment been in a state of mind to which even the imagination of serious pain was less than intolerable. If any man is safe from the danger of underestimating this adversary, I am that man. I must add, too, that the only purpose of the book is to solve the intellectual problem raised by suffering; for the far higher task of teaching fortitude and patience I was never fool enough to suppose myself qualified, nor have I anything to offer my readers except my conviction that when pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.