Lewisian Theology 101: Deeper But Not Deepest: A Review of Don Williams' "Deeper Magic"

Lewisian  Theology  101:  Deeper  But  Not  Deepest

A Review of

Donald T. Williams Deeper Magic:  The Theology Behind The Writings of C. S. Lewis

                             (Square Halo Books, 2016)  287 pp   $16.99   ISBN: 978941106051

Reviewer:  Forrest W. Schultz

     The author begins his book by stating that it does not “get to the bottom of Lewis” but it does “try to go deeper than other books on Lewis’s theology have gone.”  There has been a lot of discussion about the Christian world-view which Lewis expressed both in his social criticism and in his literary works.  But this is the first one to provide a systematic theological analysis of his writings and to use the names of the loci of systematic theology as the titles of its chapters.  And, since Donald Williams is thoroughly committed to the truth system of Scripture and has had academic training both in theology and in literature, his analysis of Lewis is accurate and clearly expressed, and therefore confirms what fans of Lewis have long known, namely that Lewis is correct in almost all of his beliefs but he does have some theological shortcomings, which Williams points out and discusses.

     In his final statement on the last page of his book, Williams sums this up and then laments the fact that most Christians are “horribly weak in areas where Lewis was mighty.”  He concludes by expressing the hope that we may gain the spiritual strength which Lewis had.  Trying to write a realistic book on how that can be made to happen would, unfortunately, probably be far more difficult than the kinds of books about Lewis which have been written.  Be that as it may, I highly recommend reading this book by Williams as I have his earlier ones!