C.S. Lewis’ growth toward gender equality

Having taught Mere Christianity in small group over the last year, I was not pleased with the comments C.S. Lewis makes in this book that he published early in his writing career. It was of great interest to me, then, to see this topic addressed at the CBE conference by Dr. Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen.

Lewis’ argument in MC is that women are so intense and protective over their families, that they are ill-equipped to remain even-handed in their dealings with the outside world. Men, however, are much more just toward the world because they do not have these domestic concerns and biases to distract them. Men must be the ones to make decisions and cast any tie breaking votes when dealing with people outside the family.

Lewis continues the argument in The Four Loves. He sees Jungian and pagan myths as precursors to Christianity, which of course are rife with gender stereotypes. Relations between the sexes are asymmetrical and he proceeds into a polemic against female ordination, i.e., women cannot represent Christians sacramentally.

One must remember that Oxford University where Lewis taught was not only monastic, but androcentric and misogynistic for centuries. It wasn’t until 1882 that professors could finally marry, and even as late as the 1950s marriage was considered a failing at one’s professorial profession.

In Surprised by Joy, Lewis said he feared and hated emotion. He lost his mother early, and took care of an adopted “mother” (Janey Moore) with whom he bought a house along with his brother. She was a generous person and taught Lewis normal household activities and tasks.

Lewis, then, was a wounded man early in life and didn’t experience love for a woman until the last handful of years in his life when Joy Davidman, an American poet who was his intellectual equal, surprised him and came into his life. She was also, according to accounts, quite feisty.

In Lewis’ final few written works, his take on women changed. In A Grief Observed he said that it was arrogance to say that the graces and virtues which men have, like courage, bravery, etc., were masculine. Such strengths lead us out beyond gender. He said that there is a sword between the sexes until a marriage resolves them. In summarizing his marriage with Joy, he said, “Joy was my trusted confident and friend; I’m inclined to call her ‘brother.’” He was truly surprised by Joy in multiple ways.

Read Till We Have Faces, The Discarded Image, and A Grief Observed, which are his last works. You’ll see a different Lewis.