Bible in The Chronicles of Narnia, Debates with Bultmann, Lewis’s Trilemma (Dr. Leslie Baynes) |🎙ELP

C. S. Lewis inspired many people to read the Bible, but how did he himself view Scripture, and can we find its influence in his works? In this episode, we speak with New Testament scholar Leslie Baynes about her new book on C. S. Lewis and his engagement with the Bible. We discuss which authors influenced Lewis’s views, his debates with Rudolf Bultmann over myth and demythologization, and also debate one of Lewis’s most famous arguments—the “liar, lunatic, or God” trilemma. We also discuss how Lewis used biblical texts and imagery in his most famous masterpiece, The Chronicles of Narnia. The question running throughout the conversation is this: can we simultaneously appreciate Lewis as a Christian thinker while critically evaluating the way he used the Bible? Dr. Baynes takes a more skeptical position than I do. She argues that Lewis’s trilemma does not work, whereas I, on the other hand, find it convincing. In fact, her book and our conversation prompted me to write a separate article responding to her objections. You will hear more about it a little later. In any case, the podcast turned out to be a fascinating conversation, and her work sheds light on many important details of how one of the most influential Christian apologists of the twentieth century thought. 👤 PODCAST GUEST Leslie Baynes is an associate professor of New Testament and Second Temple Judaism at Missouri State University. She is the author of numerous articles and books on the New Testament and C. S. Lewis. Baynes has served as a scholar-in-residence at the Kilns (Lewis’s home outside Oxford), as an Inklings Project Fellow, and as a translator for the New American Bible Revised Edition (John and Revelation). • Dr. Baynes’s website: https://www.lesliebaynes.com/ • Between Interpretation and Imagination: C. S. Lewis and the Bible: https://www.eerdmans.com/978146746970... 🗄️ RESOURCES 🗄️ • Our website: https://www.reasonplusfaith.com • More of our podcasts:    • Exploring Lewis Podcast