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A review by johndamon
The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis
4.0
Lewis's phenomenal response to the Pilgrim's Progress.
It is the fairy tale embodiment of Lewis's most compelling argument for the Christian faith: the fact that we desire something that is both beyond and echoed within this world implies that we were made for something that is beyond and echoed within this world.
Unlike the Pilgrims Progress, which centers on the Christian's pursuit of Holiness in this life in order to make it into heaven, the Regress centers on the human quest for the fulfillment of desire, who ends up being the God who freely gives Himself through his Church. Christian labors towards heaven as his end, John however ends up back where he started but entirely transformed. Instead of the goal being to make it to our deaths without falling, Lewis portrays the goal as delighting in the Kingdom even here on Earth.
As Lewis freely admits, some of his allegory is quite obscure. But that is because the protagonist John's journey is not supposed to be that of the general Christian, but instead CS Lewis's own journey. Thus, Lewis does an excellent job of portraying and critiquing the philosophies and schools of thought which still dominate in our day.
My main reason for not giving it five stars is that I can't recommend it without qualification. Some of his allegorical elements are a bit racially insensitive and not particularly laudable. He portrays juvenile lusts as "brown girls" reminiscent of the Victorian stereotype of Polynesian culture.
But all in all, Pilgrim's Regress is a improvement upon the Pilgrims Progress in most every way.
It is the fairy tale embodiment of Lewis's most compelling argument for the Christian faith: the fact that we desire something that is both beyond and echoed within this world implies that we were made for something that is beyond and echoed within this world.
Unlike the Pilgrims Progress, which centers on the Christian's pursuit of Holiness in this life in order to make it into heaven, the Regress centers on the human quest for the fulfillment of desire, who ends up being the God who freely gives Himself through his Church. Christian labors towards heaven as his end, John however ends up back where he started but entirely transformed. Instead of the goal being to make it to our deaths without falling, Lewis portrays the goal as delighting in the Kingdom even here on Earth.
As Lewis freely admits, some of his allegory is quite obscure. But that is because the protagonist John's journey is not supposed to be that of the general Christian, but instead CS Lewis's own journey. Thus, Lewis does an excellent job of portraying and critiquing the philosophies and schools of thought which still dominate in our day.
My main reason for not giving it five stars is that I can't recommend it without qualification. Some of his allegorical elements are a bit racially insensitive and not particularly laudable. He portrays juvenile lusts as "brown girls" reminiscent of the Victorian stereotype of Polynesian culture.
But all in all, Pilgrim's Regress is a improvement upon the Pilgrims Progress in most every way.