The Weight of Glory

by Lewis, C.S.

• ISBN13: 9780060653200
• ISBN10: 0060653205
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780061950285
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780684823843
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-01
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

About This Book

The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses by C.S. Lewis

Who Uses It?

This book is primarily used by students and educators interested in Christian theology, church community, and spiritual growth. It is also a valuable resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of heaven and the Christian faith. The book's timeless themes and insightful discussions make it relevant for both academic and personal study.

History and Editions

First published in 2001, "The Weight of Glory" is a collection of nine sermons delivered by C.S. Lewis during World War II. These sermons offer guidance and inspiration in a time of great doubt, providing a compassionate vision of Christianity. The book has been widely read and studied for its profound insights into the nature of glory, forgiveness, and our ultimate destiny.

Author and Other Works

C.S. Lewis was one of the most important Christian writers of the 20th century. He is known for his engaging and lucid writing style, which makes complex theological concepts accessible to a broad audience. Some of his notable works include "Mere Christianity," "The Abolition of Man," and "The Problem of Pain." Lewis's writings continue to inspire and educate readers worldwide.

Key Features

• Exploration of Glory: The book delves into what it means to glorify God and how this concept relates to our spiritual journey.
• Respect and Forgiveness: Lewis discusses the importance of respecting each other and the need for constant learning and forgiveness.
• Collaboration: He emphasizes the need for collaboration among opposing sides, highlighting the importance of unity in times of conflict.
• No Ordinary People: Lewis reminds us that there are no ordinary people and that we live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, urging us to treat each other with dignity and respect.

Detailed Information

ISBNs and Formats

Hardcover: ISBN-13: 9780060653200

eTextbook: ISBN-13: 9780061950285 (The ebook for "The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses" is available right here on eCampus.com!)

eTextbook: ISBN-13: 9780061950292 (The ebook for "The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses" is available right here on eCampus.com!)

Loose-leaf: Not available

Rental Options: Available through eCampus.com with various rental durations

Publication Details

Publisher: HarperOne

Publication Date: 2001

Number of Pages: 192

Language: English

Item Weight: 6 ounces

Dimensions: 8.00 x 5.31 inches

Other Editions and Formats

Other editions and formats may be available; please check with eCampus.com for the most up-to-date information.

Related ISBNs:

9780060653200 (Hardcover)

9780061950285 (eTextbook)

9780061950292 (eTextbook)

Other related ISBNs may be available; please check with eCampus.com for the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(22)
Walter Hooper
Preface to the original edition by the author	23	(2)
The Weight of Glory	25	(22)
Learning in War-Time	47	(17)
Why I.Am Not a Pacifist	64	(27)
Transposition	91	(25)
Is Theology Poetry?	116	(25)
The Inner Ring	141	(17)
Membership	158	(19)
On Forgiveness	177	(7)
A Slip of the Tongue	184

Excerpts

Weight of Glory

Chapter One

The Weight of Glory

If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

We must not be troubled by unbelievers when they say that this promise of reward makes the Christian life a mercenary affair. There are different kinds of rewards. There is the reward which has no natural connection with the things you do to earn it and is quite foreign to the desires that ought to accompany those things. Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man mercenary if he marries a woman for the sake of her money. But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it. A general who fights well in order to get a peerage is mercenary; a general who fights for victory is not, victory being the proper reward of battle as marriage is the proper reward of love. The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation. There is also a third case, which is more complicated. An enjoyment of Greek poetry is certainly a proper, and not a mercenary, reward for learning Greek; but only those who have reached the stage of enjoying Greek poetry can tell from their own experience that this is so. The schoolboy beginning Greek grammar cannot look forward to his adult enjoyment of Sophocles as a lover looks forward to marriage or a general to victory. He has to begin by working for marks, or to escape punishment, or to please his parents, or, at best, in the hope of a future good which he cannot at present imagine or desire. His position, therefore, bears a certain resemblance to that of the mercenary; the reward he is going to get will, in actual fact, be a natural or proper reward, but he will not know that till he has got it. Of course, he gets it gradually; enjoyment creeps in upon the mere drudgery, and nobody could point to a day or an hour when the one ceased and the other began. But it is just insofar as he approaches the reward that he becomes able to desire it for its own sake; indeed, the power of so desiring it is itself a preliminary reward.

The Christian, in relation to heaven, is in much the same position as this schoolboy. Those who have attained everlasting life in the vision of God doubtless know very well that it is no mere bribe, but the very consummation of their earthly discipleship; but we who have not yet attained it cannot know this in the same way, and cannot even begin to know it at all except by continuing to obey and finding the first reward of our obedience in our increasing power to desire the ultimate reward. Just in proportion as the desire grows, our fear lest it should be a mercenary desire will die away and finally be recognised as an absurdity. But probably this will not, for most of us, happen in a day; poetry replaces grammar, gospel replaces law, longing transforms obedience, as gradually as the tide lifts a grounded ship.

But there is one other important similarity between the schoolboy and ourselves. If he is an imaginative boy, he will, quite probably, be revelling in the English poets and romancers suitable to his age some time before he begins to suspect that Greek grammar is going to lead him to more and more enjoyments of this same sort. He may even be neglecting his Greek to read Shelley and Swinburne in secret. In other words, the desire which Greek is really going to gratify already exists in him and is attached to objects which seem to him quite unconnected with Xenophon and the verbs in [Greek]. Now, if we are made for heaven, the desire for our proper place will be already in us, but not yet attached to the true object, and will even appear as the rival of that object. And this, I think, is just what we find. No doubt there is one point in which my analogy of the schoolboy breaks down.

Weight of Glory. Copyright © by C. Lewis . Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses by C. S. Lewis
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