The Power of Myth

McGrath, Alister E. C.S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet. Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 2013.

Lewis certainly understood the value of myth. Telling a story that allows the readers to experience reality in a different way offers them a new perspective on reality. Myths are not meant to just explain reality. Rather, myths work by helping the readers to discover meaning existentially. There is a cliche that says "experience is the best teacher." Sometimes people have to learn things the hard way through experience, but they will certainly remember that lesson better by living it than they would if someone simply told them not to make that mistake.

Instead of using his works as a simple fictional retelling of the Christian narrative, Lewis uses his skills as a writer to inspire a deeper analysis of reality. Alister McGrath claims that Lewis’s works should be thought of as a “theological case study” that allows the reader to view his or her own reality in a different way (278). Instead of just providing explanations of reality, McGrath argues that Lewis’s books allow the imagination of the reader “to supplement what reason already suggests” (279). By experiencing the stories they read, the readers in turn learn more about themselves and about the reality in which they are currently living.