To say that modern people who have drifted away from Christianity are Pagans is to suggest that a post-Christian man is the same as a pre-Christian man. Pagans or Heathens were the backward people in the remote districts who had not yet been converted, who were still pre-Christian. Both words, in fact, meant a “rustic” or “yokel.” They date from the time when the larger towns of the Roman Empire were already Christianised, but the old Nature religions still lingered in the country. A “Pagan” meant a man who lived in a Pagus or small village. And is that at all the same thing? Let us remember what a Pagan or Heathen (I use the words interchangeably) really was.Ī “Heathen” meant a man who lived out on the heath, out in the wilds. But they only mean it is ceasing to be Christian. I know that people keep on telling us that this country is relapsing into Paganism. Are there any Pagans in England for me to write to? When I was asked to write a Christmas sermon for Pagans I accepted the job lightheartedly enough: but now that I sit down to tackle it I discover a difficulty. This sermon is a characteristic piece of writing by the Oxford don who has become the most entertaining missionary of our time. His books on Christianity-chief among them “The Screwtape Letters”-sell better, and read more easily, than most crime stories. Writing religion for sceptics has made C. Rather, it is always Christmas, always Immanuel, always God-with-us, no matter what the weather. Thanks be to God that because of King Jesus, we need never lament that it is always winter and never Christmas. I have a copy and thought all Lewisians would enjoy seeing the essay and reading a transcription (included below). It was only discovered several years ago. To date, this piece has not been included in any published collection of Lewis essays. It adds a wonder of which Paganism had not distinctly heard-that the Mighty One has come down to help us, to remove our guilt, to reconcile us” It confirms the old belief that in this universe we are up against Living Power: that there is a real Right and that we have failed to obey it: that existence is beautiful and terrifying. For (in a sense) all that Christianity adds to Paganism is the cure. And if you start in the first class you must go through the second to reach the third. (2) Those who are sick and know it (Pagans). (1) Those who are sick and don’t know it (the post-Christians). From the essay: “If the modern post-Christian view is wrong-and every day I find it harder to think it right-then there are three kinds of people in the world. Anyone who has read Lewis extensively will recognize many of the themes within this short essay, primarily that the journey to Christianity for a post-Christian may quite possibly include a short passage through paganism (paganism as it really is, not as we sometimes foolishly imagine it). In December of 1946, Strand Magazine published “A Christmas Sermon for Pagans” by C.
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