Considering Christianity? Try the Tao

…the attempt to practice the Tao is certainly the right line. Have you read the Analects of Confucius? He ends up by saying “This is the Tao. I do not know if any one has ever kept it.” That’s significant: one can really go direct from there to the Epistle to the Romans.
—C.S. Lewis, from a letter to Sheldon Vanauken

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23

I am currently reading A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken. It’s the autobiographical love story of the author’s relationship with his wife, but the most significant aspect of the story is that the couple converted to Christianity while in graduate school at Oxford in the 1950s. Their conversion was the result of an intellectual inquiry into Christianity in an effort to be “fair." Following is a quote that demonstrates Vanauken’s philiosphy: If minds like St. Augustine’s and Newman’s and Lewis’s could wrestle with Christianity and become fortresses of that faith, it had to be taken seriously. I writhed a bit at the thought of my easy know-nothing contempt of other years. Most of the people who reject Christianity know almost nothing of what they are rejecting: those who condemn what the do not understand are, surely, little men.

In the midst of his study and many questions, Vanauken decided to write a letter to C.S. Lewis, who was teaching at Oxford at the time and whose books Vanauken had read extensively. In the first letter to Lewis, Vanauken asks a number of questions including ones regarding Eastern religions. The quote above is from Lewis’s response. When I read it, I shouted, “Yes!” If it isn’t obvious to you (and it hasn’t been to several people I have read it to) the point Lewis is making is that if you are considering Christianity, a good place to start is by attempting to live by the moral code of an Eastern religion such as by the Tao. Even Confucius basically said that it can’t be done. Such an exercise will demonstrate your sinfulness as explained by Paul in his letter to the Romans. One you are aware of your sinfulness and your inability to live up to God’s standards, that only viable alternative for salvation is faith in Christ.

I have read several of Lewis’s books, but the content of the eighteen letters excerpted in A Severe Mercy makes me want to read more of his nonfiction. I was impressed with Lewis's character as demonstrated in his letters and his relationship with the Vanaukens. Not only was Lewis instrumental in leading them and others to Christ, but he also continued to pray for them daily for years, and his letters ministered greatly to Vanuaken after his wife’s death.

If you’re interested in reading A Severe Mercy, I must warn you that the first chapter is a little hard to take. The pagan exultation of romantic love and “The Shining Barrier” were bizarre to me. But once the story shifted to England I loved it. I have a couple of chapters left to read. If there’s anything else I feel compelled to share, you will see it here soon.