3 ms·

C.S. Lewis was never Roman Catholic. He was a Protestant Ulsterman from Belfast in what is now Northern Ireland. Catholics and Protestants were (and still are)

C.S. Lewis was never Roman Catholic. He was a Protestant Ulsterman from Belfast in what is now Northern Ireland. Catholics and Protestants were (and still are) at loggerheads there. He became agnostic for some years and then joined the Church of England (Anglicans/Episcopalians.) J.R.R. Tolkien was devoutly RC and a friend of Lewis', but Lewis probably could never bring himself to be RC due to his family background. Lewis did, however, also take a lot of inspiration from pre-Reformation literature.

ux266478 4mo ago
A minor correction: Catholic doesn't necessarily mean Roman Catholic. The rest is all truth, but allow me to explain because I'm stretching language and taking an unspoken unconventional stance. I never lump Anglicans in with the rest of the reformation movement. As much as I've seen, they're no more distant with the Catholic church than the Eastern Catholic church I grew up in, they're just distant on a very different axis (that I don't happen to find any more or less significant). On the other hand, I see about as much familiarity in Calvinism or Lutherans or Evangelicals as I do in Mormons. The grouping just feels non-descriptive to me, so I don't really use it. I would consider the evangelical low churches, and baptist churches, to be protestant though. I know of course what you mean, and I know that's not the Church's official stance. I thought I'd just clarify on why I called him Catholic.
- nephihaha 4mo ago
  I would hesitate to call him Anglo-Catholic either. In some ways he was High Church but in other ways Low Church. In his writings, you don't see much of a plea for "bells and smells" Christianity. Anglicanism is a broad church for sure. While some factions are close to the Roman church, others are very low Protestant. There are certainly Calvinists in Anglicanism, and Methodism sprung out of the Protestant end (and the Salvation Army from it, I think). Many groups such as Baptists, Methodists and Quakers came out of Anglicanism rather than directly from Roman Catholicism (as Presbyterianism did). Anglicanism has tried to be all things to all people. It is even more varied today. You could put this down to its early history, trying to combine the Lollard and Puritan heritage with those who wanted more Catholic worship. The Book of Common Prayer tried to synthesise these elements with varying success.

ux266478 4mo ago

A minor correction: Catholic doesn't necessarily mean Roman Catholic. The rest is all truth, but allow me to explain because I'm stretching language and taking an unspoken unconventional stance. I never lump Anglicans in with the rest of the reformation movement. As much as I've seen, they're no more distant with the Catholic church than the Eastern Catholic church I grew up in, they're just distant on a very different axis (that I don't happen to find any more or less significant). On the other hand, I see about as much familiarity in Calvinism or Lutherans or Evangelicals as I do in Mormons. The grouping just feels non-descriptive to me, so I don't really use it. I would consider the evangelical low churches, and baptist churches, to be protestant though. I know of course what you mean, and I know that's not the Church's official stance. I thought I'd just clarify on why I called him Catholic.

nephihaha 4mo ago
I would hesitate to call him Anglo-Catholic either. In some ways he was High Church but in other ways Low Church. In his writings, you don't see much of a plea for "bells and smells" Christianity. Anglicanism is a broad church for sure. While some factions are close to the Roman church, others are very low Protestant. There are certainly Calvinists in Anglicanism, and Methodism sprung out of the Protestant end (and the Salvation Army from it, I think). Many groups such as Baptists, Methodists and Quakers came out of Anglicanism rather than directly from Roman Catholicism (as Presbyterianism did). Anglicanism has tried to be all things to all people. It is even more varied today. You could put this down to its early history, trying to combine the Lollard and Puritan heritage with those who wanted more Catholic worship. The Book of Common Prayer tried to synthesise these elements with varying success.