The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses

In Chapter 5, Lewis argues that Christians first accept their faith on rational grounds and then come to appreciate it as poetically satisfying. However, Lewis often discusses his ideas in terms that evoke art and poetry—for instance, his comparison of humans to “marble waiting to be shaped” (173). Based on these essays, what function does the aesthetic serve in Christian life and thought?

Compare and contrast Lewis’s statements about Christians’ responsibilities for one another’s salvation in Chapter 1 with his beliefs about the importance of forgiveness in Chapter 8. What social and spiritual role does forgiveness play?

How does Lewis’s discussion of the “Inner Ring” in Chapter 6 compare to his consideration of society broadly in Chapter 7? To what extent does Lewis frame all secular communities as driven by similar instincts and pressures?