The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis
Week 7: "Membership"
Read Essay 7: "Membership" in The Weight of Glory. Key Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Romans 12:4-8.
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Lewis draws a sharp and clarifying distinction between "membership" in the New Testament sense and what modern people usually mean by collective or group identity. The result is a vision of the church as something wilder and more particular — and more demanding — than we typically imagine.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Lewis argues that modern "collectivism" — the tendency to dissolve the individual into the group — is actually the enemy of true Christian membership. What is the difference between a collective and a body, in Lewis's terms?
2.Lewis makes the counterintuitive argument that Christianity is not about destroying individuality but about intensifying it — that the more fully you are incorporated into Christ's body, the more distinctively yourself you become. Do you agree? Have you experienced this in your own life?
3.Lewis draws a sharp distinction between the equality we affirm in the political and legal sphere (where it is both true and important) and a false egalitarianism that tries to flatten all difference in every sphere. What happens, he argues, when we bring democratic instincts into worship and into the household?
a.Lewis is specifically provocative about how egalitarianism affects the home. How do you engage with what he says here, given the debates of our own time?
b.Where do you see the flattening of legitimate difference — in your church, your family, or your culture — producing bad fruit?
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