Abolishing Man in Other Worlds

This text investigates why C. S. Lewis brings humans into outer space in order to recover a Christian worldview during a time of war. Lewis's science fiction trilogy was published throughout the WWII era, and his readers were all too familiar with advances in technological warfare and the biological experimentation of the Nazi agenda. To recover a Christian worldview during such a tumultuous time, the first two installments of the trilogy bring humans into outer space in order to reconnect with the Cosmic Chain of Being. Malacandra and Perelandra depict all beings coexisting in the Great Dance that Maleldil creates. In the last installment, Lewis's N.I.C.E. reflects experimentation carried out in some concentration camps during WWII. Lewis's return to Earth in the last book of the trilogy calls for readers to acknowledge our broken Chain of Being and recover our faith in God rather than attempt to become gods ourselves. Explore Lewis's science fiction through J. R. R. Tolkien's Recovery lens for a connection between Lewis's Christian worldview, the potential for human self-abolition, and recovering the Cosmic Chain of Being for modern humans.