Week 9: Chapter 8 — George MacDonald Appears

1.Lewis chooses George MacDonald as the narrator's Virgil-figure (in the tradition of Dante's Divine Comedy). What does Lewis's choice of MacDonald — a nineteenth-century writer known for his fantasy and his unorthodox but deeply felt Christianity — tell us about the kind of spiritual wisdom Lewis is honoring in this book?

2.The narrator has been troubled throughout by the encounters he's witnessed — the refusals seem so sad and so final. MacDonald's first task is to address this distress. He begins by explaining that the choice between Heaven and Hell is always and already being made, not suddenly revealed at death. How does this re-frame the moral urgency of ordinary life?

3.MacDonald explains that there are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'Thy will be done.' Lewis called this one of the most important lines in the whole book. What does it mean? How does it address the question of whether God sends people to Hell?