The Point: The Abolition of Man is Humanity in the Trenches
Breakpoint
Colson Center
4.8 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2021
⏱️ 1 minutes
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Summary
Is it Narnia? Of course it isn't. But it's good. C. S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man has been called his most difficult work. It's a short but dense argument about how modern education and culture are removing our capacity for virtue and destroying what makes us human.
"Abolition" is a must-read—especially in our cultural moment. And a new companion volume by Michael Ward called After Humanity can help you understand Lewis' message and its background.
For instance, did you know that Lewis almost died in the trenches of World War I when he got hit with shrapnel? Ward notes how this near-death experience forever shaped the way Lewis thought about morality. And it left him with a haunting question: "Is it noble to die for your country?"
Many in his day claimed moral judgments were just feelings. But Lewis knew that without morality, human beings act less than human. Now more than ever, it's a message we need to hear. Visit breakpoint.org and we'll tell you how you can get a copy of Michael Ward's outstanding new book, After Humanity.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Could this be C.S. Lewis's most timely work? For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with the point. |
| 0:04.4 | The abolition of man has been called C.S. Lewis's most difficult work. It's a short but dense |
| 0:08.9 | argument about how modern education and culture are removing our capacity for virtue and therefore |
| 0:14.0 | destroying what makes us human. It's a must read, especially in this cultural moment. |
| 0:18.5 | Well, thankfully, a top Lewis scholar, Dr. Michael Ward, has |
| 0:21.0 | released a companion volume to abolition of man. It's called After Humanity. It helps us |
| 0:26.0 | understand the book's crucial message. For instance, Ward notes how his near death in the |
| 0:30.0 | trenches of World War I when he was hit with shrapnel forever shaped how Lewis thought about |
| 0:34.1 | morality. It left him with a haunting question. Is it noble to die for your country? |
| 0:38.1 | Many in his day said moral judgments are nothing but feelings. Lewis argued that without morality, |
| 0:43.0 | human beings act less human. Come to breakpoint.org slash October, that's breakpoint.org |
| 0:47.7 | slash October to get a copy of Michael Ward's outstanding new book after humanity, as well as a copy |
| 0:52.8 | of the abolition of man. Again, that's breakpoint.org slash October. |
| 0:56.6 | For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. |
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