All major world religions have widely held common attributes, but Christianity is unique among them. This subject was a concern for the writer of this paper both prior to his conversion to Christianity and immediately thereafter. The purpose of this paper is to show the position of C. S. Lewis on what the major religions hold in common and how Christianity stands apart.
It is the further purpose of this paper to show how the writer of this paper was affected by Lewis’s work on the subject. Given the length of this assignment, the scope of this paper will be limited to a brief discussion of the most common beliefs of the world’s major religions, with slightly more detail being given regarding the major monotheistic religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
COMMONALITY
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism share at least three common attributes, which are belief in a Divine Essence, belief in a universal moral law, and belief in the Divine Essence’s exclusive and authoritative custody of the universal moral law. Though all major religions share these basic beliefs, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, share one additional commonality, namely their God.
The Divine Essence
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis suggests that nearly all the world’s major religions hold a belief in the existence of a Divine Essence with some authority in the universe.[1] Forms of the beliefs held by the major world religions include, among others, pantheism, polytheism, atheism, and monotheism. Pantheism is the belief that the universe and the Divine Essence are the same. Polytheism is the belief that there is more than one Divine Essence. Atheism is the belief that a Divine Essence does not exist. Monotheism is the belief in a single Divine Essence. Each of these forms of theism have variations within them.
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are all distinctly monotheistic. Moreover, all three lay claim to the same God. Chronologically, Judaism is considered the oldest of the three, since it may be said to have pre-existed Christianity, which emerged out of Judaism in the first century AD. Islam is the most recent, which was founded in the 6th century AD. Judaism as a religious system was founded by Moses at the exodus of the Jews from bondage in Egypt, though Abraham was the progenitor of the race. Jesus of Nazareth founded Christianity.
It is easy to see how Judaism and Christianity can claim the same God, but it is a bit more difficult in the case of Islam. However, in Answering Islam, Norman Geisler argues convincingly that the concept of God, and in particular the use of the word Allah to both identify and describe the Divine Essence in Islam pre-existed its founding. [2]
While Christians, Jews, and Muslims may argue that their respective definitions of God are not identical or that they each worship a different God, this misses the point. Under consideration in this paper is not the question, ‘What is the Divine Essence?’, but rather the question, ‘Who is the Divine Essence?’. A credible argument would be difficult to make in support of the notion that Christians, Jews and Muslims all have in mind a different God, and by different is meant a difference in ontology, as opposed to simply variations in attributes, personality, or will.[3]
The Moral Law
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis deals with the question of the universality of morality. [4] He argues that all people everywhere hold the same basic moral values. All societies disdain cowardice and rudeness, for example. When someone breaks a moral rule such as taking the last portion during a meal or cutting ahead of others in a queue, that person does not deny having broken the rule, but rather makes excuses as to why in that particular case special consideration should be given and that the infraction should not be held to the person’s account. But, but in the very act of seeking acceptance of an excuse, the violator has acknowledged the moral rule.
Custody
The world’s religions hold that the Divine Essence is the arbiter of the universal moral law.[5] The Divine Essence holds it in custody and, thus, a transgression of the universal moral law is a transgression against the Divine Essence. Since all humans transgress the law at some point, there occurs the need for reconciliation with the Divine Essence.
UNIQUENESS
Christianity is unique from all the world’s religions in at least one distinct belief. Christians believe that the only way to sufficiently address the issue of having broken the universal law of the Divine Essence is to seek forgiveness on the basis of the works of the Divine Essence rather than those of the law breaker. [6] Other religions establish additional rules and conditions that, if met, will serve to restore the law breaker to some level of relationship with the Divine Essence.
A PERSONAL STRUGGLE
Prior to his conversion to Christianity as an adult in 1991, the writer of this article had often surmised that there was little difference in the core premises of the world’s religions. He was ignorant of the existence of significant and often mutually exclusive beliefs among various religions, and he believed that they all worshipped the same God in one fashion or another.
This belief led him to the conclusion that, including Christianity, they were all false since they were all likely trying to gain the upper hand with their own variations and could not and did not want to get their stories straight. It seemed to him that they were all manmade.
After his conversion to Christianity, the pendulum swung to the other extreme for this writer. After conversion, he then sought to reinterpret the data concerning other religions to reassure himself that he was on the right path and that others were wrong. For the first time, he saw the stark differences in other religions and he began to downplay and explain away the similarities.
As a new Christian he began to read C. S. Lewis, including The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity. These works presented a more cogent and balanced approach to the issue of similarities and differences in the world’s religions. The world’s religions held much in common because they all had some sense of the true Divine Essence. This sense was written upon their hearts by the Divine Essence Himself. However, in their fallen state, they refused to acknowledge the truth of the Divine Essence, preferring their own versions instead.
To the writer of this article, to see similarities in the world’s religions was no longer a threat to Christianity, but a support of it. To see the uniqueness of Christianity in comparison to the world’s religions was to recognize Christianity to be the only true expression of the Divine Essence.
CONCLUSION
C. S. Lewis demonstrates that the world’s major religions stand on solid common ground. Each believes in a Divine Essence, a universal moral law, and the Divine Essence’s exclusive custody of the universal moral law. Christianity stands apart, however, in its method of addressing the transgression of the universal moral law. C. S. Lewis’s work on the subject influenced the writer of this paper to adopt his views.
[1] C. S. Lewis, The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007), 39.
[2] Norman L. Geisler and Abdul Saleeb, Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross, Second Edition (Grand Rapids: BakerBooks, 2002), 16-18.
[3] Ibid.
[4] C. S. Lewis, The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007), 13-36.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
