The Apologist’s Evening Prayer

by C. S. Lewis


From all my lame defeats and oh! much more

From all the victories that I seemed to score;

From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf

At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;

From all my proofs of Thy divinity,

Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead

of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.

From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,

O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.

Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye,

Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.

C. S. Lewis

1898 - 1963


  • At age 32 he returned to Anglican Communion due to the influence of Tolkien and other friends
  • He has been called "The Apostle to the Skeptics"
  • Lewis would have preferred to have been known for his poetry but is best known for his prose and fiction

Debate with Elizabeth Anscombe

After Lewis lost this debate, his approach to apologetics shifted.

Lewis's New Approach

Rather than  appealing to reason he began to appeal to their imaginations, as Tolkien had at Lewis's conversion.

Story as Persuasion

As an apologist, Lewis realized that debate, with abstract propositions designed to demonstrate and persuade, is less adequate than story, with its characters and plots and atmospheres.

Poem Structure

Rhyme

From all my lame defeats and oh! much more A

From all the victories that I seemed to score; A

From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf B

At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh; B

From all my proofs of Thy divinity, C

Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me. C

There is none!

Rhythm

From all | my lame | defeats | and oh! | much more
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more

Poem Analysis

The Apologist's Danger

From all my proofs of Thy divinity,

Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.


Mark 8:12


Reason as Wealth

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead

     O

f Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.


Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.

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