While the challenge of poverty is endemic to the human condition, the rise of modernity and the industrial revolution made the problem more acute, particularly for Christians who know both that the poor will always be with us and that we’ve been commanded to look out for the least of these. While we cannot rightly characterize C.S. Lewis primarily as an economic or political thinker, he did address social and political matters in his major and minor works. Perhaps more importantly, his treatment of “mere” Christianity with regard to matters of conviction and practice offers hope that Christians from different backgrounds can find common cause in thinking about, and acting on, these questions. In this address we’ll consider what wisdom we might glean from Lewis’s understanding of how the church should, and shouldn’t, engage the social question.
This lecture is hosted in concurrence with Acton’s Fourth Annual Academic Colloquium. The event will feature a keynote address from Dr. Watson along with three panels of short paper presentations from twelve scholars on the conference theme of “Mere Christian Social Thought.” Register for the full colloquium here.
