Here’s how to grow your teen’s skills in theology and philosophy with the Space Trilogy.
Theology and Philosophy with the Space Trilogy
Dr. Micah Tillman teaches philosophy at the college level. (He also co-authored 7 Sisters’ History and Philosophy of the Western World– a fun way to earn a high school World History credit.) He shared with me why it was important for him to read the Space Trilogy while he was a teen.
The Space Trilogy shows the philosophical and theological possibilities of fiction. They’re not just good stories; they’re actually enlightening. They changed how I see a lot of issues. As a philosopher, each of the three Space Trilogy books did something important and different for me.
The first book (Out of the Silent Planet) is an excellent preparation for Christians to deal with challenges from astronomy and arguments from “comparative religions.” It showed me that Christian theology would have no problem dealing with the discovery of life on other planets, as well as showing how monotheism (the belief that there is only one God) could be true even though most religions believe in many gods. (Click here for an excerpt.)
The second book (Perelandra) showed me a completely new way of looking at the relationship between humans and animals, which not only changed the way I thought about people and their pets, but also prepared me for arguments in my philosophy courses about animals having minds just like humans.
The third book (That Hideous Strength) helped inoculate me against spending my entire life trying to be one of the “in” or “cool” people who are “in charge.” And it helped me to understand the importance of the human body and the physical world in Christian theology (as opposed to the Platonist idea that only the mind matters) — as well as preparing me to understand the importance of the doctrines of the Resurrection and the New Creation (as opposed to the idea that the whole point of Christianity is to “get out of here” and “make it to heaven”).
In other words, I think the Space Trilogy significantly improved both my philosophy and theology.
7Sisters Study Guides for the Space Trilogy illuminate the concepts that C.S. Lewis embedded in each of the books. These guides are excellent Literature choices for homeschool high schoolers earning their World History credit with History and Philosophy of the Western World.
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