51³Ô¹Ï

51³Ô¹Ï This Event

C. S. Lewis held that each person is supremely and irreplaceably valuable. But this was not a groundless platitude or piece of self-flattery. Rather, your value is grounded in the fact that you are uniquely created in the image of God. This means that there never has been, and never will be, another who can image God exactly as you do. Moreover, for Lewis this was no mere theory, but a belief with practical consequences: for over twenty years, he invested one to two hours a day in personal correspondence, thousands of hours he might otherwise have spent writing dozens of books. Such sustained devotion underscores the weight of his conviction. Yet it also highlights the difficulty we face in taking such a view to heart. For his bold vision can seem too good to be true, conferring on us a significance so vast, so elevated, that it induces a kind of metaphysical vertigo; even if one assents to it intellectually, it is difficult to accept it emotionally or volitionally. To meet this challenge, Lewis turned to the imagination. Through story, he invites us not only to understand, but to inhabit—and perhaps even to believe—the beautiful truth about ourselves. In this talk, I will explore the substance of Lewis’s view, show how his longstanding correspondence and imaginative storytelling reinforce this vision, and finally consider what it means for the way we see ourselves—and one another—today.

Robert K. Garcia is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University. His research lies primarily at the intersection of metaphysics and philosophy of religion, with particular focus on the nature and value of human persons. He has authored numerous articles and book chapters and co-edited several volumes, including Is Goodness Without God Good Enough? (with Nathan King), Watching The Chosen: History, Faith, and Interpretation (with Paul Gondreau, Patrick Gray, and Douglas S. Huffman), Compañero de la Filosofía Contemporánea de la Religión [Companion to Contemporary Philosophy of Religion] (with Carlo Rossi), and Antología de Filosofía Contemporánea de la Religión [Anthology of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion] (with Carlo Rossi). He is currently at work on two books: one with C. Stephen Evans on Søren Kierkegaard and C. S. Lewis, and another on Lewis’s views of the uniqueness and value of each person. You can learn more at .