Review: Beyond the Shadowlands by Wayne Martindale

I recently read Beyond the Shadowlands: C.S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell by Wayne Martindale. As the title indicates, it's a discussion and critique of Lewis' writing on the theme of eternity. I haven't read all of C.S. Lewis' books, but reading Beyond the Shadowlands reminded me that I have read a lot of them. I would say those who have read any of Lewis' work would appreciate this book - and I think those who haven't read Lewis would gain a great deal from it too. It can serve as a collation of ideas based on books one is familiar with or an introduction to some of his major themes. Martindale has written the book in two sections and I'll look at them both here under their respective headings.

Heaven

Martindale's first section looks at Lewis on the subject of Heaven. He starts by exposing common myths about Heaven and I enjoyed this part of the book the most. I won't go through all seven myths, but will look briefly at a few.

One of the myths Martindale exposes, using Lewis, is that Heaven will be boring. There is for some the idea that because Heaven means perfection it will be the same thing forever with no change or challenge. As Martindale points out, this idea of perfection as stagnation is combined with our concept of what eternal "rest" means. He notes that it's helpful to think about what it is that we obtain rest from in Heaven - rest from "labors that are unfruitful, from infertile ground, unyielding clients, intractable relationships" - in short rest from all that is unproductive. Heaven will not be boring because we will finally be free to truly be ourselves, and will be infinitely learning and exploring without the pains and griefs we encounter here.

Martindale also tackles the myth that being in Heaven is an ethereal ghost-like existence and draws on Lewis' illustrations, based on the Bible, that Heaven is where the saints, with bodies, reside. Lewis' imaginative view of Hell, as depicted in The Great Divorce is that it is where only shadows of original selves remain - ghosts of what the whole person could have been. Perfection is then about substance, and being constructive. Opposing this is the myth that in Heaven we won't really be who we are - that we will have given up our selves. Martindale writes:

"And what else are we afraid of? We are afraid of giving up the self. It is true, of course, that we must die to self. It is Jesus himself who calls us to unconditional surrender. He insists on making us perfect. In the final analysis, he won't settle for anything else. But dying to self does not mean the death of selfhood. We become more ourselves in Christ. In fact, when we insist on making ourselves the center, the result is pathology."

Using Lewis' The Problem of Pain, Martindale gives a good case for Heaven being a place where one has "a fuller, richer, more differentiated self so that we have more and better to give away". The exposing of the myths makes good use of Lewis' depictions of Heaven being a place of fullness, solidity, perfection and a complete personality - a place where the longing for joy finds it's real fulfillment. He also takes to task the "too heavenly minded, no earthly good" myth and quotes Lewis' from Mere Christianity:

"Hope... means... a continual looking forward to the eternal... It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next... It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so effective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth "thrown in": aim at earth and you will get neither."

After exposing the common myths about Heaven Martindale moves on to remythologize Heaven, drawing from Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Till we Have Faces. He notes that Lewis used the term myth in a specialised way:

"Lewis means a story that embodies values, that gives us at once an imaginative experience and relates truths of the most important kind."

Lewis believed that every desire we have has "at its root a desire for Heaven", and Martindale takes that as the template for his discussion. He draws on Perelandra and The Great Divorce to illustrate that Heaven is where our paradoxes concerning time, eternity, free will, and predestination, are resolved. Lewis showed that posing the paradoxes from within time failed to bring resolution as God is outside of time in a way we do not comprehend. It is also noted that Lewis never tried to describe "Deep Heaven" or "Deep Hell" as he would not be able to do justice to the full realities. He takes the reader to the outskirts in a way that grabs one's attention and illustrates eternal principles.

The section included on The Chronicles of Narnia is one that fits in as part of remythologizing Heaven, or it can be read as a stand alone section. I wondered at the utility of this part as it will be a plot spoiler to anyone unfamiliar with the Narnia series and was for me a series of outlines which I did not feel I needed. It may be useful to those wanting to brush up on the Narnia tales quickly without having to re-read the novels. Apart from that, the remythologizing Heaven section is quite rich in content and contains much more than I can detail here.

Hell

As with his treatment of Heaven, Martindale begins the second section of Beyond the Shadowlands by exposing the common myths about Hell. I was tentative about reading the second section as Hell is not a topic I look forward to. However Martindale observes that Lewis' avoided the usual pictures of Hell that are so well known and looked very much at the self and what happens to personhood in the absence of God in eternity. Martindale refers to Hell as "the human default", and in exposing the myth that "a good God wouldn't send anyone to Hell" he writes:

"The question is not whether God will forgive. There is no evil, even crucifying the Lord of Life, which will not be forgiven, but the sin must be acknowledged, and the sinner must repent. Otherwise, says Lewis, God is merely asked to condone the sin, which he cannot do."

Lewis' Arminianism shows up strongly in his treatment of Hell, which is something Martindale comments on. He notes the tension between focusing on God's sovereignty and predestination or focusing on human choice. He goes on to point out that Lewis' presented the paradox side by side in Perelandra and did not exclude either in his works. However the section on Hell in Beyond the Shadowlands leans most heavily on choice and doesn't give much room to God's sovereignty as part of the apologetic.

The section exposing the common myths about Hell has its strength in the way in which Martindale draws on Lewis' descriptions of what happens to the personality and soul in the absence of perfection. Commenting on the myth that "all the interesting people will be in Hell" he writes:

"So it is with the imagined social life of the "liberated" in Hell, where righteousness quells no libido. Even a moment's thought unveils the greed and self-centredness behind lust, for example. Since Hell is the place where human potential is dried up - a place filled with remains of what were once humans but are now mere shells or ghosts, if you like - it is the last place to seek companionship. Sprinkled throughout Lewis' work, we find characters who typify the constriction into self and sin that is Hell."

After exposing the common myths Martindale moves on to remythologize Hell, adding The Screwtape Letters as an obvious source since it is literally a Devil's advocate position. He observes that Lewis chose an impersonal, bureaucratic, and controlling setting to illustrate Hell - a setting which covers "for the selfishness and greed of those capable of siezing power". He also discusses how pride is the base of such a system:

"In his masterful chapter on "Pride", Lewis suggests that all sins come from this one. Pride is at the bottom of other sins because "it is the complete anti-God state of mind" and is "in competition with everyone else's pride"."

Martindale does an excellent job of drawing from Lewis' different works to build up a picture of Hell in which that which is truly human is destroyed, and what remains is a shell intent on competing with and devouring others. It is the complete absence of a love-inspired focus. There is no respect for boundaries in Hell - the distinction of individual personhood is seen as something to be controlled and consumed.

The section on remythologizing Hell concludes with a discussion on The Last Battle from the Narnia series, and looks at hypocrisy and judging. Martindale looks at the Dwarfs, who refuse to believe in the true Aslan after the false one has been exposed. He writes:

"The Dwarfs case is a warning that hypocrites provide agnostics with a rationalization for not believing anything. Jesus forewarned us of the emergence and destructive force of such hypocrites. In our own day, the politically correct have counterfeited Jesus' command not to judge. He meant for us not to consign some-one to Hell in our hearts. Jesus also said that we can judge a tree by its fruit, meaning whether or not some-one is legitimate. Paul commans us to judge false teachers by the Word in order to avoid being taken in, as the Narnians were."

With these thoughts he neatly ties in the far-off destiny with the reality of how we are focused here in the present.

At the end of Beyond the Shadowlands there is a brief critique of Lewis' views on Purgatory, which did not constitute a large part of his writings. Martindale is fair-handed in his treatment of Lewis' position and in a sense remythologizes Lewis in a necessary way without compromising.

I enjoyed Beyond the Shadowlands. It is a great journey through some of C.S. Lewis' writing and also explores the subject of eternal destiny using other sources, as well as Wayne Martindale's own interesting observations. It was well worth the read from an imaginative and an intellectual viewpoint.

My review copy of Beyond the Shadowlands was provided by Mind and Media courtesy of Crossway Publishers.