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C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud
September 2004
Armand Nicholi, professor of Psychiatry, for the past 30 years has taught a course at Harvard in which he compares and contrasts the lives and the writings of C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud. PBS aired a facsimile of this course in a four hour special, which can be viewed by those with high-speed internet access, or can be purchased from the PBS internet store.
The two men compared provide a remarkable study in contrasts. Both men espoused atheism in their early years. Mr. Lewis used many of the arguments employed by Mr. Freud to defend his atheism as a young adult. But while Sigmund Freud held to his unbelief to the end, Mr. Lewis eventually embraced the basic tenets of the Christian faith and became what some believe to be one of the most important apologists of Christianity in the 20th century.
Professor Nicholi’s studies have led to the publication of an excellent book on the subject as well as the PBS special. The book is titled, The Question of God, and its contents are spelled out in the subtitle, C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex and the Meaning of Life.
The PBS program was divided up similarly. A typical segment includes well-acted dramatizations of C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud reflecting on their lives and thoughts on the afore mentioned subjects. Each segment was peppered with documentary type materials. (The book received high marks from Ken Burns, the producer of the respected documentaries on the Civil War, Mark Twain, Baseball, and Jazz.) After each dramatized segment the viewer is ushered into a round table discussion led by Professor Nicholi. The participants included what appeared to me to be an agnostic, two evangelicals, an atheist (Michael Shermer) and two generic believers in God.
These two resources give a realistic glimpse into what people are thinking on these important subjects, and why. It gives us an opportunity to consider how we might want to respond to people with similar ideas and objections to the ideas and values we hold to be so dear.
Steven Lloyd