CS Lewis On The Immanent and Transcendent Frames of Reference

In my sermon on Sunday, December 11 I asked the congregation this question: How do you "see" the world around you? I was not asking so much about the matter of physical sight, but about the matter of world view; not the biology of eyesight, but the assumptions that affect perception and understanding.

I proposed an answer that is circulating from the philosopher Charles Taylor using language of "Immanent Frame" and "Transcendent Frame." You can watch the sermon and see if it was helpful.

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The same issue was wonderfully handled by CS Lewis though as well years ago, in his book God in the Dock in chapter 7, "Religion and Science," set as a conversation with a friend.  Here is a clip to give you a taste:

According to your theory (Lewis speaking here) people in the old days didn't know that Nature was governed by fixed laws. I'm pointing out that the story shows that St. Joseph knew that law just as well as you do."

"But he came to believe in the Virgin Birth afterwards, didn't he?"

"Quite. But he didn't do so because he was under any illusion as to where babies came from in the ordinary course of Nature. He believed in the Virgin Birth as something supernatural. He knew Nature works in fixed, regular ways: but he also believed that there existed something beyond Nature which could interfere with her workings—from outside, so to speak."

CLICK HERE to read the full 2 page essay.

It is taken from the full book on this site - CLICK HERE