Tuesday, April 4, 2023

It is the 4th of April 2023 Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Let’s start today’s show with an unlikely topic- radio. That’s right- transistor radios and their significance during World War II. The NAZI Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda sought to get radios into the hands of as many Germans as possible. Not since the printing revolution 400 years prior had there been an innovation in the ability to get information quickly to the masses.

And radio would become important in the UK as well. With the outbreak of World War II, the BBC suspended all television broadcasts in 1939 with fears that the signal transmitted from the television tower could help German aircraft locate essential locations. That, and the metals and engineers used in the television industry, needed to be used for the war effort. But like the Germans, the British knew that radio information would be necessary- thus, the “wartime civilian receiver” was put together by a joint wartime enterprise of 44 different companies making cheap radios for the public.

But the British also had the problem of German propaganda being aired in English over their airwaves. Thus, the BBC would need to ensure there was no “dead air” over which German propaganda in English could bleed into British radios. And thus, a call for programs, lectures, songs, and anything that might boost the morale of the British people. Enter an unlikely public figure- an Oxford Don specializing in Medieval and Renaissance literature. This was Clive Staples or C.S. Lewis.

The British government had already asked him to write articles to defend the British war effort, but Lewis was uneasy with such a task. He had, however, agreed to speak with soldiers before their departure to talk with them about the eternal issues that outweighed the temporal struggle. When the BBC asked him if he would reproduce some of these talks for the air, he agreed. Starting on August 6th, 1941, from 7:45 to 8:00 pm on Wednesday evenings, his "Broadcast Talks” would be aired. They would continue to be aired until this, the 4th of April in 1944, with the last talk, “the New Man,” ending the series. Because of his travel schedule, this last talk was recorded previously and is one of the few recordings we have of Lewis’ voice.  

These talks would be published in BBC’s magazine, “the Listener,” then collected as Broadcast Talks in the UK and “the Case for Christianity” in the United States. After this last talk was aired, the whole collection would be put together and published as “Mere Christianity,” which I would suggest is the most significant theological book of the 20th century. And this is from an unlikely source.

As I mentioned, he was a literature professor. He was not theologically or philosophically trained, yet his work of Christian apologetics has become a seminal text with a history all its own. I recommend church historian George Marsden’s “Mere Christianity: a Biography” for the text's story. In it he notes how peculiar it is that this would become a staple amongst American Evangelicals as Lewis did not hold to standard evangelical doctrines from the plenary inspiration and infallibility of scripture, nor did he teach a solely penal substitutionary theory of the atonement. Yet, his thoroughly supernatural approach to Christianity, his appeal to both the head and the heart, and his desire to appeal to the common faith of as many Christians as possible has made him, along with Billy Graham, two of the likeliest evangelical saints of the 20th century.

And much of this on account of the war, the radio, and the BBC’s decision to highlight eternal matters during wartime. Lewis’ last broadcast occurred on this day, the 4th of April, 89 years ago in 1944.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary- for Tuesday of Holy Week from the Passion narrative in John 12:

20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 4th of April 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite “Clives” include Lewis, author Cussler, and that dreamy Clive Owen- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man whose favorite Staples is the arena in downtown LA- this Wednesday, hosting the most important game of the year so far- go Clips- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.