Lewis e o Socratic Club de Oxford

O Oxford Socratic Club foi um clube dedicado a disponibilizar um fórum de discussões de dificuldades intelectuais conectadas com a fé cristã. O nome “socrático” vem da ideia do filósofo Socrates de “seguir o argumento onde ele levar”. Lewis era um frequentador assíduo e o primeiro presidente desse grupo (ficou nesse cargo de 1942 até 1955). O grupo se reuniu de 1942 até 1972.

Entre os convidados estão Christopher Dawson, Michael Polanyi, Dorothy Sayers, Gabriel Marcel e o então ateu Antony Flew.

Dawson

Polanyi

Sayers

Prestem atenção à alguns dos encontros e temas do grupo, coletados por Walter Hooper, em Walter Hooper, "Oxford's Bonny Fighter," in Remembering C.S. Lewis, Ignatius Press, 1979.

1942

Can Science Render Religion Unnecessary? H. A. Hodges

1943

Science and Faith, Frank Sherwood Taylor;

Is the New Testament Reliable Evidence? Richard Kehoe

1944

On Being Reviewed by Christians, C. E. M. Joad;

Materialism and Agnosticism, J. K. White, Gordon Preston;

The Grounds of Modern Agnosticism, H. H. Price;

Has Psychology Debunked Sin? L. W. Grensted, Barbara Falk

1945

Marxist and Christian Views of the Nature of Man, Archibald Robertson, Emile Cammaerts

1946

Can Science Provide a Basis for Ethics? C. H. Waddington, Austin Farrer;

The Limits of Positivism, Friedrich Waismann

1947

Did the Resurrection Happen? R. E. Davies, T. M. Parker

1948

The Self-Refuting Nature of Naturalism, Elizabeth Anscombe, C. S. Lewis;

Rudolf Steiner and the Scientific Outlook, Alfred Heidenreich, Frank Sherwood Taylor;

Atheism, J. B. S. Haldane, Ian M. Crombie

Trinity Term, 1949

25 April Can Science Create Values? J. Bronowski, Basil Mitchell

2 May Some Remarks on Analysis, Personality, and Religion, G. J. C. Midgley

9 May Christianity, the Church, and the Churches, Oliver Tomkins, T. M. Parker

16 May Psychoanalysis and Religion, Anita Kohsen, R. S. Lee

30 May Value Judgments, R. M. Hare

6 June The Morality of Dangerous Devices, I. M. Crombie, N. J. P. Brown

Michaelmas Term, 1949

10 Oct Are Tautologies Really Necessary? P. J. Fitzgerald, C. S. Lewis

17 Oct Agreement and Disagreement in Ethics, A. C. Ewing, R. M. Hare

24 Oct Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, John Wisdom, Leycester King

31 Oct Some Displaced Questions, E. L. Mascall, A. G. N. Flew

7 Nov Hindu Speculation and Jung, Basil de Mel, Vernon Katz

21 Nov Can Science Be Creative? C. H. Waddington, Frank Sherwood-Taylor

28 Nov Physics and philosophy, Lord Cherwell, J. C. Stuart

Hilary Term, 1950

23 Jan The Nature of Faith, J. P. Hickinbotham, E. L. Mascall

6 Feb Certainty, L. A. Grint, C. D. Rollins

13 Feb Grounds for Disbelief in God, Archibald Robertson, C. S. Lewis

20 Feb Freudian Psychology and Christian Faith, B. A. Farrell, R. S. Lee

27 Feb The Relation of Psychical Research to the Scientific Method, N. M. Tyrell, L. W. Grensted

6 Mar Marxism, Douglas Hyde, V. A. Demant

Trinity Term, 1950

1 May Can We Trust the Gospels? D. E. Nineham, G. E. F. Chilver

8 May Biology and Theism, A. Rendle Short, A. C. Hardy

15 May Theology and Verification, A. G. N. Flew, Bernard Williams

22 May The Spirit of Religious Intolerance, Gervase Mathew, H. C. Carpenter

29 May Criteria in Ethical Judgment, G. E. Hughes, S. E. Tomlin

5 June Personalism, J. B. Coates

Michaelmas Term, 1950

16 Oct God and History, Michael Foster, C. S. Lewis

30 Oct Explanation: Scientific and Philosophical, David Mitchell, S. F. Mason

7 Nov Is Theology a Science? G. C. Stead, Austin Farrer

13 Nov Reason and Rationalism in Religion, R. S. Lee, A. P. d’Entreves

Hilary Term, 1951

22 Jan The Problem of Freedom, J. Ward-Smith

29 Jan On Clearing Up Philosophical Muddles, Bernard Williams

12 Feb Psychopathology and Sin, Seymore Spencer, Victor White

30 Apr The Philosophical Basis of Marxism, Marcus Wheeler, S. F. Mason

Michaelmas Term, 1951

22 Oct Appreciation of Linguistic Analysis, I. T. Ramsey

5 Nov Do the Mystics Know? Thomas Corbishley

Hilary Term, 1952

28 Jan Imago Dei and the Unconscious, Oswald Summer, R. W. Kosterlitz

4 Feb The Buddhist Approach to Philosophy, Auguste Purfurst, Basil Mitchell

25 Feb The Gospels—History or Myth? Christopher Evans, P. H. Nowell-Smith

3 Mar Rational Existentialism, E. L. Mascall, Iris Murdoch

10 Mar Cosmology and Theism, G. J. Whitrow, E. L. Mascall

Trinity Term, 1952

28 Apr The Notion of Development in Psychology and Its Bearing Upon Religion, R. S. Lee

5 May Creation Never Was, Michael Scriven

12 May Christianity and Humanism in Western Culture, Christopher Dawson, I.T. Ramsey

19 May What Is Theology? H. D. Lewis, J. J. Hartland-Swann

26 May Subjective and Objective Language, J. Z. Young, Gilbert Ryle

2 June The Stability of Beliefs, Michael Polanyi, C. T. W. Curle

9 June Guilt and Freedom, John Wisdom, J. L. Austin

Michaelmas Term, 1952

17 Oct Contemporary Philosophy and Christian Faith, Basil Mitchell

24 Oct The Logic of Personality, Bernard Mayo, R. M. Hare

3 Nov A Living Universe, D. E. Harding, C. S. Lewis

10 Nov A New Humanist Alternative to Christ and Mary, H. J. Blackham, Iris Murdoch

17 Nov The Ethic of Belief, Brand Blanshard, H. H. Price

24 Nov Topic Unknown, J. N. Findlay

1 Dec Soloviev and His Idea of Good and Evil, Nicholas Zernov, E. W. Lambert

1953

The Gospels: Myth or History? R. Creham, A. R. C. Leaney

1954

The Anatomy of Atheism, E. W. Lambert, John Lucas

Sensacional!

Lewis foi um grande exemplo de intelectual e apologista cristão, reuniu a elite intelectual de seu tempo para debater assuntos complicados para a fé cristã em ambiente universitário. Lewis não para de me surpreender; ainda temos muito a aprender com Jack.