The Feeling Intellect: Reading the Bible with C. S. Lewis

Christians of all backgrounds agree that the Bible is the unique sourcebook for our understanding and knowledge of God. Yet reading the Bible is often as neglected in believers homes as amongst the skeptics. Moreover there is much evidence that the Bible is as often misread in the modern church as we suppose it to have been widely misunderstood in the darkest days of Medieval superstition. It would be an enormous help to sit with a deeply learned scholar--one devoted to the historic Christian faith who yet taught with the common touch--to help us mature in our reading of Scripture. Such tutorials might rekindle our desire to read the Bible more skillfully with the humble discipline of daily practice. C. S. Lewis has inspired a generation of readers both skilled and beginner to deepen their understanding and enjoyment of Scripture. Perhaps Lewiss unique contribution to reading Scripture is his disciplined use of the imagination as the forgotten cognitive tool of our day. This kind of reading attends to the texts emotional tone alongside the conceptual content in order to engender not just more knowledge about Scripture nor mere entertainment for dulled sensibilities but to enable a knowledge of God: a reading for discipleship. This is the kind of reading I hope to support in these chapters. Newell invites us on a journey into the unknown in the presence of two trusted companions the Bible and C. S. Lewis through paths familiar and yet new encountering questions familiar in form yet new in context and making discoveries which challenge us as Christians to explore more deeply and more intimately the familiar pages of Scripture. Newell invites us to do what sometimes we fail to do namely to read Scripture--to really read it with both mind and heart. --Bill Domeris Rector College of the Transfiguration Grahamstown South Africa The book you have in your hands is the fruit of decades of immersion in reading the BOOK and allowing the BOOK to read its author my dear friend Roger Newell. If ever there were a feeling intellect it is Dr. Newells. His resonance with the thought and heart of C. S. Lewis amazes me. --Paul F. Ford Professor of Systematic Theology and Liturgy St. Johns Seminary Camarillo California It has been a privilege to read The Feeling Intellect. As a fan of Roger Newells previous book I had high hopes for this one and was not disappointed. Taking crucial scriptural passages and using the writings of Lewis as a resource in theological reflection is a wonderful idea and bears useful fruit. We are challenged to be truly open to the scriptural text and to hear Gods words to us all over again. Roger has a rare gift of combining the intellect the emotions the spirit and the imagination much as Lewis himself! --Jeanette Sears Tutor in Christian Doctrine and Church History Trinity College Bristol England Roger Newell spent over a decade in Great Britain (Aberdeen Scotland and Durham England) as a student and later as a pastor in the United Reformed Church. He now teaches in the Religious Studies Department at George Fox University in Newberg Oregon. He is the author of Passions Progress (1994).