If you want a glimpse of how evil captures and shapes the heart, read C. S. Lewis’ book “That Hideous Strength.” It is the last installment of what is usually referred to as “The Space Trilogy.”
The Ransom Trilogy
Doug Wilson calls the series “The Ransom Trilogy.” Since THS takes place on earth (unlike the first two books) and each of the three books (albeit less so the last) figure Elwin Ransom as a protagonist, I agree with Wilson.
I’ve always enjoyed the first two: “Out of the Silent Planet” and “Perelandra.” One caution: Lewis can often be difficult to read. This is partly because he includes materials and concepts which some nonacademic readers (like me) may not be familiar with.
THS is the most difficult of the trilogy. My first attempt at reading an abridged version was a dismal failure. I skimmed it and promptly went to the back of the book to read the ending. I returned to it after I’d matured somewhat. On the second attempt I enjoyed it enough that I bought an unabridged copy. As Doug Wilson has noted, it is amazingly prophetic.
The Demonic
On the negative side, THS gives us horrific examples of what happens to people and societies when they totally abandon God. Are we witnessing this now?
The organization “The National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments” has been taken over by the demonic. They get their orders from the severed head of a criminal (Alcasan) which they keep “alive” through “scientific” means. Of course the real Alcasan is dead. Something else is manipulating his vocal cords.
The NICE is not above extortion, bullying, terrorism, lying, social and personal manipulations, and murder. In fact these are its tools. It seeks to destroy society and re-shape it to conform to its “own” values. Its values are, in fact, shaped by the devil.
Evil people and dupes
My two most memorably evil characters are the Deputy Director John Wither and the “Police-woman” Fairy Hardcastle. But there are many other examples (Filostrato, Lord Feverstone etc).
One of the main characters is Mark Studdock. He is a prideful man who vies for recognition and likes to play the “progressive game” at his college. He is seduced into joining the prestigious NICE through his sense of self-importance and the promise of a stupendous salary.
Ultimately Studdock isn’t recruited for his skill as a sociologist. The NICE need his journalism in order to rehabilitate Alcasan in the eyes of society. They will turn a murderer into a victim, and finally into a visionary. Studdock is also directed to write news pieces in such a way as to sanitize NICE’s grossly evil social plans. Does this sound at all familiar?
If that isn’t enough, Studdock understands that what he’s doing isn’t right. Yet he’s trapped. He is a dupe recruited to influence ordinary readers. Worse, the NICE is actually more interested in recruiting his estranged wife Jane because of her prophetic dream visions.
As I look around me, I see Studdocks, Filostratos, Feverstones, Withers and Hardcastles all over the place. The NICE is here; in America and globally. It is everywhere. When a people reject God, there are no limits to its pursuit of evil (Rom 1:18-32).
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities; against powers; against the rulers of the darkness of this age; against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph 6:12
But God Always Wins
God is sovereign. Evil is restrained by His hand. There is only so much He permits, and then only to achieve His grand plan. Read the account of God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. This is the case in the world of “That Hideous Strength” and also in our Cosmos.
There are godly protagonists in THS as there are godly ones in this world. And while God’s people are outwardly weak, it is He who strengthens. God always wins. This truth should comfort us.
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Psalm 2:2-4
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the LORD. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth. Psalm 96:11-13
Some links:
Wilson on That Hideous Strength
Other lectures by Wilson on Lewis’ works
Deeper Heaven: A Readers Guide to C. S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy
Doug Wilson’s article The Gods of Civil Unrest and Jesus Mobs is also recommended reading
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