got to thinking of the significance of the INKLINGS for Christians. I think what C. S. Lewis does for Christians, and what the others do to a lesser extent - I’m speaking in the present tense though they are dead - is to show Christians the worldly apsects & impact of their faith. Contrary to triumphalistic Americans, most Christians are not used to getting their way in the world. The examples, models & exhortations from scripture assume explicitly and implicitly that the church of Christ, the Kingdom of God are not arrived at or lived easily by worldly socio-political standards. The assumption is that the Gospel works subversively, as in Christ’s parables, and thus, worldly expectations are mitigated by surprises and reversals.

he INKLINGS - primarily Lewis, Tolkien, Williams - competed for awhile in the worldly academic realm of literature & ideas and are still capturing the imagination of many, not because they present coherent plans for world power & influence but simply because many non-christians interact with their imaginative work. Since their works are still being read (though not Williams) & referred to in literature & in the media, it provides some confidence that Christians alive today can do the same thing even if they do not turn any particular part of the world upside down. Granger stands for those triumphalistic Believers who assume Christianity will gain dominion thru the arts, thru spiritual disciplines and thru political will or social action. They should reread Hebrews 11, the Parables, the apostolic beaten-upness of the epistles and the book of Revelation: “How Long, O Lord?” It is this sense of winning but losing or of losing but winning - depending on your point of view - that Tolkien and Lewis and others have provided the Christian world.

he INKLINGS as a whole give Christians confidence that they may compete imaginatively in literary or pop culture but simultaneously should not expect to win the day - at least not in the will to power earthly sense. Rather, we should say with Lewis that we feel like dinosaurs going extinct before the cacophony of world gibberish. Many Christians get excited about the possibility of winning the culture wars because “we” can all compete like Lewis, etc. Unfortunately, they fail to take into account the Reign of sentimental-political Muck that has overcome academia & pop culture & entertainment. Christians would do well to remember Tolkien’s grey havens and the Lewis’ watchword, “Shadowlands.” We are “standing in the shadows” baby not in the limelight. The Light is eschatalogically triumphant, not presently victorious, Granger, et.al. notwithstanding. My father & mother did something great by beginning the Mennonite church in Honduras (from 2 people to 20,000 in 50 years) but their almost invisible work does not make headlines or win nobel peace prizes. And it won’t.

ow, my view is not totally pessimistic. Christ’s Parables do point to eventual victory but much death & defeat come first. He will win the war after losing - apparently - every battle. That is the Gospel of Transforming Reversal of Fortunes & that is the drama of Redemption or the Divine Comedy. It should always be surprising & unpredictable. Many INKLINGS-worshipping Christians would rather create a spiritual tsunami of persuasive predictability. It ain’t gonna happen. We shouldn’t expect things to go right but when they do we are temporally cheered. The INKLINGS as a whole have cheered me on to enjoy the little wonderful things of life that point imaginately to what will be & is becoming though beaten down by “the heart attack machine.” Unfortunately, many Christians are trying to make their Christianity part of the Spectacle of the Rolling Machine but I feel more like Charlie Chaplin on the assembly line in Modern Times.

an