Daniel Williams: Lewis on Myth in "Surprised by Joy"

Surprised by Joy is C.S. Lewis' autobiography, in which he details the course of his early life, tracing his departure from Christianity and his return to it, as well as describing the function of Joy in that progression. But also contained within this autobiography is, unsurprisingly, more insight into Lewis' understanding of myth. He mentions very late in the book that an atheistic friend of his made a remark that the events in the Christian gospels seemed as though they really did happen. Lewis, reflecting on this, made a few conclusions about the role of myth.

He wrote that he noticed that the Christian story did not appear to be mythical in nature at all, that it was written like a history, yet it contained precisely the very subjects that all myths discussed, such as God becoming man, and dying and rising again. Lewis came to regard Pagan mythology as a sort of precursor to the truth he found in Christianity. It was not so much as a matter of Christianity simply being true and all other religions being false; Lewis believed there was far more complexity. And that complexity was, for Lewis, summed up by the idea that Christianity was a sort of fulfillment, or fully mature, religion, that all other Pagan religions, through their mythologies, acted as the "childhood" (as Lewis called it) of religion itself.

Although much of Lewis' work focuses on the notion that myth expresses truths in ways that other media cannot, this understanding of myth seemed far more important to Lewis. Myth, as he understood it, was not simply religious storytelling, but a way of preparing for the real truth, or, as he calls it, the "myth [that] became fact." Indeed, Lewis believes that the similarity of the Christian story to Pagan myths does not undermine its truth, as some argue today (it is often argued that Christianity is simply borrowed from other religions and therefore offers nothing new). Instead, he believes that it provided a context for, as it were, its believability. The fact that it bears semblance to other myths prepared mankind to accept it as truth, according to Lewis. Myth, therefore, has extremely important value to Lewis, because, as he argues, through it he came to truth, that he was prepared for understanding it. I think it is essential when learning about C.S. Lewis not to overlook this significant perspective of myth.