I agreed. This didn’t sound like Lewis. At least, it didn’t sound like something Lewis would say about marriage and singleness in particular. So I did what any good researcher would do. I went back to the sources and here’s what I discovered...
It seems clear that there is a slightly differnt focus when we consider that the central problem being discussed, involves the 'freedom to live INDEPENDENTLY IN ONE"S HOME' versus living "JOINTLY" in the home of OTHER RELATIVES because she can NO LONGER MANAGE ON HER OWN IN HER OWN HOME...
Lewis makes the point that even if she were able to live 'independently' in her own home, she would still WANT to be in (dependent, or inter-dependent) relationships with her relatives!
This just makes it all teh more CLEARER that this letter has ABSOLUTELLY NOTHING TO DO with being single or married, but is about a widow and widower discussing HER COMPLAINT related to her LOSS OF FREEDOM as someone living and still able to MANAGE living independently in her own home.
You come a hairline away from stating this; but it's worth crossing that line because once you realize this is a dialogue between two people who were married and are now single, no longer living 'interdependently' in a home, but now in their 'new singleness' and advancing age, grappling with HER new reality that 'living independently' became unworkable, compelling her to move in with relatives--Lewis is offering consolation and encouragement to her plain discouragement and struggles with her 'loss of independence'... taking this as a statement about singleness and marriage shows the problem when we ignore 'context' in any written communication...
Re footnote 3: I think it’s said by a fictional version of CS Lewis in the play Shadowlands! This is based on 5 minutes of procrastisleuthing though - I’m not familiar with the play. Search the quote in google books and see if you agree with me.
Hi Dani. Very good article, thank you. A masterclass in how to correct a misunderstanding of a snippet from a letter by looking carefully at the literary and historical context.
The same approach can be applied to 1 Timothy 2:12. What was Paul concerned about, that gave rise to his instructions? Was it (A) the spread of false teaching in Ephesus, in which some misguided and misbehaving women were involved? Or was it (B) when the church in Ephesus met together for worship, faithful women (rather than faithful men) were teaching faithfully?
The rest of the letter seems to show (A) rather than (B).
It seems clear that there is a slightly differnt focus when we consider that the central problem being discussed, involves the 'freedom to live INDEPENDENTLY IN ONE"S HOME' versus living "JOINTLY" in the home of OTHER RELATIVES because she can NO LONGER MANAGE ON HER OWN IN HER OWN HOME...
Lewis makes the point that even if she were able to live 'independently' in her own home, she would still WANT to be in (dependent, or inter-dependent) relationships with her relatives!
This just makes it all teh more CLEARER that this letter has ABSOLUTELLY NOTHING TO DO with being single or married, but is about a widow and widower discussing HER COMPLAINT related to her LOSS OF FREEDOM as someone living and still able to MANAGE living independently in her own home.
You come a hairline away from stating this; but it's worth crossing that line because once you realize this is a dialogue between two people who were married and are now single, no longer living 'interdependently' in a home, but now in their 'new singleness' and advancing age, grappling with HER new reality that 'living independently' became unworkable, compelling her to move in with relatives--Lewis is offering consolation and encouragement to her plain discouragement and struggles with her 'loss of independence'... taking this as a statement about singleness and marriage shows the problem when we ignore 'context' in any written communication...
Re footnote 3: I think it’s said by a fictional version of CS Lewis in the play Shadowlands! This is based on 5 minutes of procrastisleuthing though - I’m not familiar with the play. Search the quote in google books and see if you agree with me.
Thanks Dani
Hi Dani. Very good article, thank you. A masterclass in how to correct a misunderstanding of a snippet from a letter by looking carefully at the literary and historical context.
The same approach can be applied to 1 Timothy 2:12. What was Paul concerned about, that gave rise to his instructions? Was it (A) the spread of false teaching in Ephesus, in which some misguided and misbehaving women were involved? Or was it (B) when the church in Ephesus met together for worship, faithful women (rather than faithful men) were teaching faithfully?
The rest of the letter seems to show (A) rather than (B).
SUCH a good piece. Thank you.