C.S Lewis's Legacy: Apologetic and Rhetoric

Theodore Dreiser and Eugene O'Neill are great writers that could turned drama into the world of splendor. They are bold and honest in their writing, as Lewis once mentioned. Theodore and Eugene surely are good writers however, Lewis who praises those writers are perhaps even greater. He is in the other level, far more than he could ever imagine. Indisputably, most people will agree that C.S Lewis was one of the most influential Christian writer ever lived. His writing style was elegant, fresh and very poignant. He was genius for he can remembered all the books that he read. Of course, he read a lot as a writer. He inherited this  habit from his mother, who was a voracious reader of a good novel. And also his father, who was fond with poetry. Providence speaks, the blood of literature-lover was clearly been seen from his earliest upbringing. Today, if a Christian has an extensive ability and deep passion toward literature particularly, a writer, they will be label as C.S Lewis of the day. Lewis has became the highest standard of literary man and a substitutionary vocabulary for the excellency in literature. Lot can be said about him. He is a great poet, novel-children writer, lecturer, a gentleman and so forth.  

However, in a latter to Lord Salisbury Lewis wrote, "I am apologist and a Rhetor". These two Identities was the clearest identity that Lewis attested and congenial to himself. His own statement is remarkable because I think, there is a negative connotation of rhetoric. Rhetoric is identified with manipulation. How can we say that we are apologists and yet also a Rhetorician? Common perception are the following, Rhetorician tend to devaluate others, give a false twist to prove his point. Hide some essential information to trick people. In history, many great dictators use rhetoric to drain people, to make people act according to their evil agenda. Far way back in Athena, Socrates also complaining about the use of rhetoric for the personal benefit, to rob money from the ignorant and innocent. In other words, rhetoric often established a favorable ethos to appeal to the audience in order to fool them for personal gain. With a similar tone, Plato believe that as long as Rhetoric for the use of discomforting our belief and entice us to further inquiry was acceptable but most of the time it was used to flatter or manipulate people. Thus, Lewis actually can help us to clear this wrong perception about rhetoric. 

Richard McKeon basically is an art of structuring the principles of knowing, doing and making. The convergence between apologetics and rhetoric found in this "art". Apologetics primarily not  a method, not a science but an art. An art to promote also these framework of knowing, doing and making. .Both Apologetics and Rhetoric are not actually mutually exclusive but complement each other. Doubtless, Lewis as an architecton of language, give a reasonable defense of Christian faith with a sound rhetoric. Rhetoric is used not to manipulate but to persuade others, to see the truth from the lens of truth itself. One of the vivid example on how he uses non-fiction to prove his apologetic point. Fantasy is his favorite rhetoric! The Chronicles of Narnia, his magnum-opus work was an apologetic work, beyond doubt although, non-religious people might have not noticed about it. Lion in the Narnia is Christ. He died voluntarily, and expressed the greatest love. The strongest argument often not come from the backdoor of reason but from the backdoor of imagination and hence, the imaginative work of Lewis is a strong apologetic tools to present the case of truth and sometimes, move beyond or transcend our mere rational argument, compact deductive or inductive method. His logical argument are often used the language of analogy, which once again help to steer one imagination and strengthen his point. 

Lewis learn the rhetorical skills from his teacher Kirk. Kirk was agnostic but has influenced Lewis on dialectic and he respect his teacher so much despite of his teacher's agnosticism (In his latter Lewis also says that perhaps his teacher was a logical positivist). Definitely, the high regards of the use of rhetoric was shown in Lewis comment when he says how modern man has lost the art and tradition of rhetoric. Without rhetoric, the literature will be dry and very thick in its trust. In fact, as Lewis claim, one of the chain that can connect us with the ancestors of the past was rhetoric. Rhetoric is not bad at all. Herein, the attitude of him is something we should learn from, to appreciate treasure of the past. Before we destroy the wall, we need to know why the wall is stood there in the first place. Ironically, today many people ignore rhetoric. anathematized it as the tools of devil. This actually come from a false logic. Something like this, more or less: Hitler is evil. Hitler use Rhetoric. Therefore, Rhetoric is evil. If that so, why don't apply the same logic to Lewis as the counter-balance? Lewis is good. Lewis use rhetoric. Therefore, rhetoric is good.

Apparently, the style of Lewis was medieval. Medieval style is full of allegory and story to promote Christian values and focused mainly in religious text. Apparently, he has written a specific work on Medieval entitled, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. The great insight from the book, which was very powerful that in order to study the things of the past, we need to merge to their world, to experience the world from their own perspectives. To appreciate the beauty of old literature was to transport ourselves to the terrain they were stood in. Analyze something from within not without. This theme also repeated again in his notable work, Mere Christianity which was actually a live recorded BBC conversational Radio talk in origin. Moreover, from Lewis's pronounced use of Rhetoric Elizabeth Travers Parkers in her essay mentioned that here are 7 parts of Lewis key rhetoric and modus operandus we can learn: (1) Frame the problem. (2) Define terms; (3) Address philosophical problem. (4) Address logical objections. (5) Hypothesize and explanation for the phenomena. (6) demonstrate the greater rationality of the new hypothesis as a peroration. (7) Make the new alternative to disbelief imaginatively appealing. In conclusion, Lewis see both apologetics and rhetoric go hand in hand together. As Christian or the defender of faith, it is wise to embrace both as parts of the whole body. We can safely says like Lewis that we are apologist and yet at the same time rhetorician. Nothing wrong, Nothing vice. Truth need to be communicated with a fresh, bold and persuasive way to the next generations, always, all the time.