Learning to Pray with C.S. Lewis: Integrated Study Guide
Integrated Study Guide: Introduction & Session #1
This post is part of the multi-part Integrated Study Guide titled "Learning to Pray with C.S. Lewis." It includes an introduction to the study guide as a whole as well as the first study session. The complete guide will be used for a Master’s level course at Trinity Anglican Seminary. Successive posts will be much shorter.
Introduction: Prayer as Participation
The prayer preceding all prayers is 'May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.' — C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm
Prayer stands as one of the most profound mysteries of Christian experience—simultaneously intimate and bewildering, commanded yet resistant to technique. This integrated study guide invites you into a rich theological exploration of prayer through the wisdom and insight of C.S. Lewis, whose classical understanding and prayerbook spirituality challenge many contemporary assumptions.
Rather than offering merely practical techniques or devotional reflections, we will establish a comprehensive theological framework for understanding prayer as participation in divine life—what St. Paul describes as koinonia or "fellowship," what the Eastern tradition calls theosis, what St. Thomas Aquinas and the Western tradition call participatio, and what Lewis describes as being "drawn into that three-personal life" of the Trinity, among other things.
A Cosmological Framework for Prayer
Throughout these sessions, we will examine how Lewis's theological vision challenges contemporary individualistic frameworks that treat prayer primarily as self-expression. Lewis helps us recover the "cosmological outlook"—a vision of reality as an ordered whole to which we must conform ourselves, rather than merely raw materials to be shaped according to our own desires. While expressive individualism has recently attempted to justify the latter perspective, this contemporary pathology is hardly novel. As the Roman poet Juvenal caustically observed: "sic volo, sic jubeo" (thus I will it, thus I command it).
At its heart, prayer is not primarily about self-expression (it does not originate in us), but about redemption—the restoration of divine-human communion fractured in the Fall. Prayer is the communicative dimension of our reconciliation with God – a fundamental part of our redemption in Jesus Christ.
How to Use This Study Guide
For each session, this guide provides:
Primary Readings - Selected texts from Lewis's corpus that illuminate particular dimensions of prayer. While Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayerserves as our primary text, other works are included to provide a more comprehensive understanding of Lewis's theological framework.
Theological Context - An exploration of the broader theological landscape in which Lewis's insights are situated, connecting his thought to classical Christian tradition and contemporary challenges.
Key Concepts - Analysis of central ideas within the readings, offering deeper understanding of Lewis's theological framework and its implications for prayer.
Questions for Reflection - Thoughtful prompts designed to help you internalize and apply the theological insights from each session, connecting them to personal experience and contemporary challenges.
Practical Exercises - Concrete activities that translate theological reflection into lived practice, fostering not merely intellectual understanding but spiritual formation.
Because Lewis never wrote a comprehensive and systematic work on prayer, this guide is designed to help you achieve a more integrated and comprehensive understanding of his thinking on the subject. Please note that this guide is not intended to replace direct engagement with Lewis's works but rather to provide theological context and conceptual cohesion to highlight and clarify the remarkable depth of his thought on prayer. Throughout our intensive week, we will explore how Lewis's distinctive voice—at once intellectually rigorous and spiritually perceptive—offers wisdom and guidance as we seek to deepen our communication and communion with the Triune God.
Course Preparation Requirements
Before our intensive course begins, please complete all nine sessions in this study guide. This preparation is essential for our in-class discussions and will provide the necessary theological foundation for our time together.
Required for Each Class Session:
Question Responses: Please bring your written responses to all questions from each study session. A separate question sheet is provided for your convenience. Complete these thoughtfully, as they will inform our daily discussions.
Prayer Exercises: Select and complete THREE of the prayer exercises from any sessions of your choosing. Include your reflections on these exercises with your question responses for the relevant sessions. These reflections need not be extensive—a paragraph or two for each exercise is sufficient—but they should demonstrate thoughtful engagement with Lewis's principles in lived practice.
When you arrive for each day of our intensive course, please have a copy of your completed question responses (including your three exercise reflections) with you. The entire study guide assignment should have already been submitted in Canvas.
Works by C.S. Lewis Included in This Study
This study draws from a wide range of Lewis's corpus, demonstrating the consistency and development of his theological vision across genres and decades. If you would like to follow along, you'll want to purchase Letters to Malcolm, The Abolition of Man, and Mere Christianity since we will read most or at least a substantial portion from each of these books. For other works, we will read selections provided as PDF documents with each session.
Required Primary Texts:
Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (1964) - The central text used throughout Sessions 4-9
The Abolition of Man (1943) - Primary focus in Sessions 1-3
Mere Christianity (1952) - Selected portions referenced across multiple sessions
Supplementary Texts (Selections Provided):
That Hideous Strength (1945) - Selected chapters used in Session 3 to illustrate themes from The Abolition of Man
The Weight of Glory and Other Essays (1949) - "The Weight of Glory" used in Session 8, and "Transposition" used in Session 7
God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics (1970) - "Work and Prayer" (Session 5, not 6) and "On Forgiveness" (Session 8)
Miracles: A Preliminary Study (1947) - Chapters 1-5 on naturalism and prayer (Session 9)
The Problem of Pain (1940) - Chapter 2 on divine omnipotence (Session 6)
Surprised by Joy (1955) - Chapters 14 & 15 on Lewis's conversion (Session 7)
Additionally Referenced:
"The Efficacy of Prayer" essay (Session 5)
"The Grand Miracle" essay (Session 6)
"Meditation in a Toolshed" essay (mentioned in Session 7, not Session 4)
This comprehensive selection of Lewis's works allows us to trace the development of his thought on prayer across different genres and decades, revealing a remarkably consistent theological vision that addresses both perennial questions and contemporary challenges to authentic spiritual communion.Thanks for reading A Mere Christian On the Anglican Way! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and engage my work.
Prayer in the Works of C.S. Lewis: A Theological Overview
If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world. — C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
When we approach prayer through the lens of Lewis's writings—scattered across various works but achieving its most sustained expression in Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer—we encounter not merely devotional advice but a coherent theological framework for understanding divine-human communication.
Prayer as Threshold Between Worlds
Prayer, like worship, ushers us into the threshold of another world—the place where, as Lewis notes in Letter 13 of Malcolm, "the mystery of creation—timeless for God, and incessant in time for us—is actually taking place." This threshold, however, is not one we cross through our own efforts. The Christian revelation proclaims that Jesus Christ—the eternal Logos—is himself the living bridge between God and Man (1 Tim. 2:5).
When John's Gospel declares that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14), it reveals the astonishing truth that the ordering principle of the cosmos has personally entered into human experience. The Logos that ancient philosophers recognized as the rational structure of reality is, for Christians, not an abstract principle but God Himself – come in the flesh to reconcile and redeem what was lost in the fall.
Prayer as Trinitarian Participation
Lewis's insights about prayer must be understood within this Christological framework. In Letters to Malcolm, he explores how prayer at its highest becomes God speaking to God—the eternal Son addressing the Father through us by the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27). As he writes, "If the Holy Spirit speaks in the man, then in prayer God speaks to God."
This profound insight challenges both our natural instincts about prayer and our culture's emphasis on authentic self-expression, which distorts our understanding of prayer in ways that we may not have considered. We will talk about this in our intensive course. True prayer does not originate within us. God always speaks first, so prayer – in Lewis’s mind – involves participation in the eternal communion of the Trinity through the mediating work of Christ, who bridges the infinite gap between creator and creature.
The Cosmological Context of Prayer
Before exploring Lewis's theology of prayer directly, we need to understand the cosmological context in which prayer unfolds. His most important non-fiction work, The Abolition of Man, provides this context—showing that we exist within an ordered cosmos to which we must conform ourselves, rather than a neutral environment we can shape according to autonomous desires.
Lewis's concept of the Tao—the doctrine of objective value—anticipates and prepares us for a deeper understanding of the Logos. While the Tao represents the natural law recognized across cultures, the Logos reveals its personal source in the divine nature. When Lewis defends objective moral value against relativism, he is preparing the ground for recognizing how Christ, as the eternal Word, not only embodies perfect moral harmony but establishes the very possibility of meaningful communication between God and humanity.
In Jesus Christ—the eternal Word of God—the law is finally written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26-27; Hebrews 8:8-12 & 10:16-17). The connection between the Tao and the Logos illuminates why prayer cannot be reduced to mere technique or self-expression. Just as moral formation requires submission to objective values that precede us, authentic prayer requires submission to the Word who precedes and transcends our individual words.
Why The Abolition of Man in a Course on Prayer?
There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious. — C.S. Lewis
The Abolition of Man is such a serious book that it might seem an unusual starting point for a study on prayer. Yet this slender volume—widely considered Lewis's most important non-fiction work—provides the essential cosmological foundation for understanding prayer as Lewis conceives it.
The Critical Importance of Lewis's Philosophical Masterpiece
This work has been:
Ranked #7 on National Review's top 100 non-fiction works of the 20th century
Ranked #2 on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's top 100 list
Described by Lewis's friend Owen Barfield as uniting "precision of thought, liveliness of expression and depth of meaning" with remarkable "felicity"
Listed by philosopher Peter Kreeft among six "books to read to save Western Civilization"
Described by Lewis himself as "the favorite among my books, but in general it has been almost totally ignored by the public."
The book is prophetic in foreseeing the consequences of the West's denial of objective moral standards and embrace of relativism. Lewis witnessed these developments unfolding in his own time through the rise of scientism, secularism, communism, fascism, and atheism—each representing a clear rejection of ancient wisdom and traditional moral restraints, even as technological power was advancing at unprecedented rates.
The Argument in Brief
Lewis argues that the "Abolition of Man" occurs when a civilization rejects the objective reality of right and wrong affirmed by all great peoples of the past—what he calls the "Tao" or traditional morality. This abolition unfolds in five stages:
Man's supposed emancipation from the natural law (the Tao)
The reduction of the Tao to a mere natural product or instinct
The power gained by certain people to subject others to their irrational impulses
Obedience to these irrational impulses or Chance
Nature's conquest of humankind
The outcome is that what we once called "men" are reduced to beasts, motivated by animal instinct and the basest appetites, yet ironically continuing to expect virtue from each other.
Connection to Prayer
In the biblical revelation, what Lewis identifies as the Tao finds its fullest expression and personal embodiment in Jesus Christ, the Logos who "was in the beginning with God" (John 1:2). Through the incarnation, the Word bridges the infinite qualitative distinction between divine and human speech, establishing the possibility of authentic communion between Creator and creature.
This Christological reality stands as the ultimate answer to the crisis Lewis diagnoses in The Abolition of Man—revealing that true humanity is found not in autonomous self-assertion but in responsive participation in the divine Word who precedes and perfects all human words. Without this foundation, prayer becomes merely another form of self-expression rather than participation in divine reality.
Study Session 1: The Abolition of Man - Realism, Relativism, and the Crisis of Formation
We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise... We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. — C.S. Lewis
Primary Readings:
C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, Chapter 1: "Men Without Chests"
Selections from Mere Christianity, Book 1: "Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe"
Theological Context: Objective Value and Divine Order
Lewis's The Abolition of Man addresses what he perceived as a foundational crisis in Western civilization—the rejection of what he calls "the doctrine of objective value." This rejection represents for Lewis not merely an intellectual error but a profound spiritual disorder with far-reaching consequences for human flourishing and divine-human relationship.
To understand Lewis's concerns and their implications for Christians, we must situate them within both classical philosophical tradition and biblical theology. The classical world, from Plato and Aristotle through the medieval synthesis of Aquinas, understood reality as a divinely ordered cosmos—not merely a collection of physical objects and processes but an integrated whole in which each element had its proper place and purpose. Within this ordered reality, human flourishing required aligning oneself with the objective structure of the world, including its moral dimensions.
This perspective aligns with Lewis's argument in Book 1 of Mere Christianity, where he writes:
These, then, are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it.
As Lewis writes in The Abolition of Man:
There is something which unites magic and applied science (technology) while separating them from the 'wisdom' of earlier ages. For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem of human life was how to conform the soul to objective reality, and the solution was wisdom, self-discipline, and virtue. For the modern, the cardinal problem is how to conform reality to the wishes of man, and the solution is a technique.
The Theological Stake
The theological implications of this shift are profound. When we abandon the doctrine of objective value, we implicitly reject the created order established by God, including the moral law inscribed in the universe and in human hearts. As St. Paul indicates in Romans 1:20, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." The rejection of objective value thus constitutes not merely a philosophical error but a turning away from divine revelation in creation.
Lewis's defense of objective value in education applies equally to the church and our understanding of Christian formation—including prayer. His defense emerges from a recognition that proper formation requires not merely intellectual training but moral and spiritual development. Education, properly understood, shapes not only what we know but what we love—aligning our affections with the objective goodness, truth, and beauty that reflect the divine nature. When educational systems—and God forbid the Church—abandon this formative purpose, they produce what Lewis memorably calls "men without chests"—individuals whose intellects remain disconnected from properly ordered affections.
Key Concepts
The Fact/Value Distinction
In Chapter 1, Lewis critiques what philosophers call the "fact/value distinction"—the separation of objective facts from subjective values. This distinction, which can be seen in David Hume's assertion that "beauty is no quality in things themselves," suggests that statements about value (calling something "sublime" or "good") merely express the speaker's feelings rather than identifying objective qualities in things.
Lewis reveals how this distinction, presented as educational common sense, has profound consequences for moral formation. When students are taught that all value judgments are merely subjective, they are effectively cut off from the tradition of what Lewis calls "just sentiments"—appropriate emotional responses to objective reality.
Illustration: Consider how we respond to a magnificent sunset. The modern fact/value distinction would have us say, "I feel a sense of awe" rather than "This sunset is beautiful." The first statement is about our internal state; the second makes a claim about reality itself. Lewis argues that the second statement can be just as true as any factual claim—there is something in the sunset that warrants the response of awe.
As Lewis writes in The Abolition of Man, when we fail to respond appropriately to what is objectively beautiful or sublime, the deficiency lies not in the object but in us:
Because our approvals and disapprovals are thus recognitions of objective value or responses to an objective order, therefore emotional states can be in harmony with reason (when we feel liking for what ought to be approved) or out of harmony with reason (when we perceive that liking is due but cannot feel it). No emotion is, in itself, a judgement; in that sense all emotions and sentiments are alogical. But they can be reasonable or unreasonable as they conform to Reason or fail to conform. The heart never takes the place of the head: but it can, and should, obey it.
This perspective fundamentally challenges the modern notion that our emotional responses are merely subjective states with no reference to objective reality. For Lewis, the capacity to respond appropriately to beauty, goodness, and sublimity is essential to being fully human, and the cultivation of such responses is central to proper education and formation.
Lewis's critique operates on multiple levels:
He argues first that the fact/value distinction is logically incoherent: "If This is sublime is to be reduced at all to a statement about the speaker's feelings, the proper translation would be I have humble feelings."
More fundamentally, he demonstrates that the distinction fails to recognize how intimately our intellectual and moral capacities are intertwined. As Lewis observes: "The head rules the belly through the chest—the seat as Alanus tells us, of Magnanimity, of emotions organized by trained habit into stable sentiments."
In Mere Christianity, Lewis makes a similar point about the objectivity of moral values:
If no set of moral ideas were truer or better than any other, there would be no sense in preferring civilized morality to savage morality, or Christian morality to Nazi morality. In fact, of course, we all do believe that some moralities are better than others.
The Classical Synthesis
Against modern relativism, Lewis advocates what we might call the "classical synthesis"—the integrated understanding of reality present in classical and medieval thought. In this synthesis, the universe is understood as an ordered cosmos rather than merely a collection of objects. As Lewis writes:
Until quite modern times all teachers and even all men believed the universe to be such that certain emotional reactions on our part could be either congruous or incongruous to it—believed, in fact, that objects did not merely receive, but could merit, our approval or disapproval, our reverence or our contempt... St Augustine defines virtue as ordo amoris, the ordinate condition of the affections in which every object is accorded that kind or degree of love which is appropriate to it. Aristotle says that the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought.
This classical synthesis aligns with the Christian understanding of creation as the ordered expression of divine wisdom. As Colossians 1:16-17 declares of Christ: "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Within this cosmic order, human beings find their proper place not as autonomous agents but as responsive participants.
The Tao and Moral Education
Lewis introduces the Chinese term "Tao" to designate "the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, to the kind of thing the universe is and the kind of things we are." This Tao, which Lewis illustrates with examples from diverse traditions, represents the moral wisdom recognized across cultures and throughout history—what Christians might identify with natural law or general revelation.
In Mere Christianity, Lewis makes a similar point about the universality of the moral law:
The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other. But the standard that measures two things is something different from either.
Educational formation within the Tao involves training students to develop appropriate emotional responses to reality—what Augustine called ordo amoris (the ordinate condition of the affections). As Lewis writes:
The little human animal will not at first have the right responses. It must be trained to feel pleasure, liking, disgust, and hatred at those things which really are pleasant, likeable, disgusting and hateful.
This training is not indoctrination but rather the cultivation of properly ordered affections that align with objective reality.
Men Without Chests
The culmination of Chapter 1 introduces Lewis's striking image of "men without chests"—individuals whose intellects and appetites remain unmediated by properly formed affections. In Lewis's tripartite anthropology, the chest represents the "middle element" that links the head (intellect) and belly (appetite). When education neglects the formation of this middle element, it produces individuals incapable of virtue despite intellectual sophistication.
Contemporary Application: Consider how much of modern education focuses on critical thinking and technical skills (head) or on affirming desires and feelings (belly), while neglecting the formation of character and virtue (chest). We produce graduates who can analyze texts or follow their passions, but who struggle to recognize and respond to objective moral claims.
The tragic irony, as Lewis notes, is that modern society continues to expect virtuous behavior while undermining the very conditions that make virtue possible:
We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.
Rejecting objective moral value, today we have virtue signaling, moral outrage, and cultural discord—but without any transcendent standard against which to measure or justify such outrage. This paradox reveals the fundamental incoherence of modern moral discourse, which simultaneously rejects objective value and demands moral behavior.
Questions for Reflection
Lewis critiques the fact/value distinction as both logically incoherent and practically harmful. In what areas of contemporary education or culture do you see this distinction operating? What consequences follow from separating "facts" from "values"?
Consider Lewis's claim that "the task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts." How does this metaphor illuminate the proper purpose of education? In what ways might contemporary educational approaches fail to "irrigate deserts"?
In Mere Christianity, Lewis writes: "Human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it." How does this observation support his argument in The Abolition of Man about the reality of the Tao? What examples from your own experience might illustrate this universal moral sense?
Lewis uses the Chinese term "Tao" rather than explicitly Christian language to describe objective moral value. What advantages might this approach offer for engaging non-Christian readers? What limitations might it have from a Christian perspective?
Reflect on Lewis's tripartite anthropology of head (intellect), chest (sentiment), and belly (appetite). How does this model compare with other Christian anthropologies you've encountered? What implications does it have for understanding spiritual formation?
How might Lewis's critique of "men without chests" illuminate contemporary moral discourse? Can you identify examples of the paradox Lewis describes—expecting virtue while undermining the conditions that make virtue possible?
In Mere Christianity, Lewis argues that when we judge between different moral systems, we must be using some standard outside any of them. How does this insight relate to his concept of the Tao in The Abolition of Man? What are the implications of this for moral relativism?
Practical Exercise: Examining Educational Formation (2-3 days)
Over the next few days, analyze an educational artifact from contemporary culture—a textbook, curriculum guide, educational television program, or online learning resource. As you examine this artifact, consider the following questions:
What implicit or explicit messages does this resource convey about value judgments? Are values presented as subjective preferences or as responses to objective realities?
What kinds of sentiments or affections does this resource aim to cultivate? Are there emotions it encourages students to feel, or others it discourages?
How does the resource address the relationship between intellect and emotion? Does it acknowledge the importance of both, or privilege one over the other?
If you were to revise this resource in light of Lewis's insights about "men without chests," what changes would you make?
After completing your analysis, write a brief reflection (1-2 paragraphs) on how this exercise has illuminated your understanding of educational formation. Consider how Christian education might differ from approaches that accept the fact/value distinction.