Download or read book The Motif of Desire in C.S. Lewis's Salvific Narrative written by Jonathan David Canterbury and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis claimed that the pursuit of Joy was a major thread in his life and in The Pilgrim's Regress he defined this pursuit as a spiritual longing. Corbin Scott Carnell further defined this concept in "Dialect of Desire: C.S. Lewis's interpretation of Sehnsucht" in 1960. Scholars have since noted the importance of the theme in his life and works but little has been done to explore its role in his theology beyond its use in his apologetics. In recent years Lewis scholarship has begun to reflect a broader approach which allows for the fuller spectrum of his writings as complex theological works. This study will explore the motif of desire in his life and writings as it spans across his corpus and connects his understanding of salvation. The first three chapters examine Lewis's personal experiences with desire as it developed over the course of his childhood, school days, war time experience, and studies at Oxford before climaxing in the motif's role in his conversion. Chapters four through seven build off Lewis's experiences with desire to trace the motif as a unifying theme which develops throughout his understanding of salvation. Chapter four examines Lewis's view of revelation and reality and the desire's role therein. Chapter five underlines the role of desire in Lewis's view of sin. Chapter six highlights the importance of the motif in Lewis's understanding of the atonement. Chapter seven explores Lewis's reflections on the afterlife and the use of desire as a central thread which ultimately climaxes as a decisive factor in Lewis's view of heaven, hell, or purgatory. Ultimately, it will be argued that the struggles, philosophies, and experiences of Lewis's early life centered around a desire for something outside of this world and that this understanding of desire became a central and unifying motif in Lewis's theology as it pertains to salvation.