The Effectiveness of Analogy

A response by Malcolm Guite

In explaining the way Christians see good, Lewis offers a vivid analogy: “… the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life within him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it” (p. 64). Such analogies appear throughout Mere Christianity. Why are they so effective in making complex ideas accessible? In what ways does this particular analogy reinforce and clarify the statement that precedes it?

This question goes right to the heart, not just of Lewis’s own method as a writer, but to the heart of the gospel itself!

Let me explain. Analogies make complex or abstract ideas concrete and accessible by embodying their truth in a particular image. But the particular image has to be fit to receive and adequately embody that particular truth. It’s a gift, an act of intuitive imagination, to find the right image for the right truth, and when we do find it, we often find it so rich that it has more to give than we first imagined, it embodies more than we first thought of. Take this very analogy from Mere Christianity. It immediately makes the point clear that it is God’s goodness pouring onto us that allows us sometimes to shine with his reflected light, not that we shine with goodness in order to attract him.

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