Elder Maxwell to speak at C.S. Lewis symposium

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    By GEOFF DUPAIX

    Elder Neal A. Maxwell, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will speak on C.S. Lewis Saturday.

    BYU’s Religious and Continuing Education departments will celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the birth of author C.S. Lewis with a symposium beginning tonight at 7:30.

    Elder Maxwell will begin Saturday’s session at 8:30 a.m. The conference will continue until 5:30 p.m. at the Harmon Continuing Education Building and is free to the public.

    Guest speakers will include Elder Maxwell and Christopher W. Mitchell, director of the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill.

    Robert L. Millet, dean of religious education at BYU, will introduce the symposium tonight. He said the purpose of the conference is to celebrate a man who made a significant contribution to Christianity. He said Lewis helped people understand Christianity on a simple level.

    “He took difficult theological concepts and reduced them to metaphors and images that are memorable,” Millet said. “Of all the things that he does that is moving in his writings, is his treatment of Christ and of the power to change us. Not just superficially but from the inside out. In my mind, that is where he has made his deepest contribution.”

    Millet said Lewis is popular among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because his writings teach about man becoming more Christlike and more like God. He said when LDS members come across those concepts, it grabs their attention.

    However, Millet said Lewis’ writings shouldn’t be taken as doctrine, but more as a man who has been influenced by God. But Lewis’ writings have influenced Millet.

    “On the one hand it’s broadened my perspective and helps me appreciate God working throughout the earth though good men and women. Two, I’ve been able to draw upon some of Lewis’ teachings and writings to help explicate my own writings,” Millet said.

    Mitchell said Lewis did not have a deep, personal influence on his life. But what did impress him was how Lewis became a staunch defender for Christianity despite the differing opinions of his colleagues.

    “He helped me in terms of my faith … To see the impact he continues to make on people impacts me. He’s gutsy. He went against the grain of modern thought. He challenged the thinking of his colleagues,” he said.

    “For him to do it in the environment he did and then to be so vocal about Christianity in that environment is impressive,” Mitchell said.

    Mitchell, who is not LDS, said he will show how Lewis, a former atheist, went from his disbelief in God to believing in God and finally believing in Jesus Christ and becoming a staunch defender of Christianity. He said one reason Lewis is so popular is that he appeals to a wide variety of people and he is able to communicate to them in plain language.

    Mary Jane Woodger, who will also speak at the conference, said what impressed her about Lewis is how his writings are not based upon LDS teachings but help illustrate points of LDS Church doctrine.

    “I think sometimes as Latter-day Saints we use some of his quotes in a way he never would have supposed we would use. But they are such great allegorical symbols that they fit in so beautifully,” she said.

    Woodger, an assistant professor of Church history and doctrine said she hopes those who attend the conference leave with a better understanding of how to use his illustrations like the leaders of the church do; as a way to illustrate principles of the gospel.

    For more information on the conference, call 378-4853 or 378-2735.

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