In this post, we are going to look at the chapters Social Morality and Morality and Psychoanalysis of Mere Christianity. Social Morality is an important chapter because it is here that Lewis gives readers a look into how Christians ought to act in society. He addresses a topic that many in the Christian community approach with uncertainty. The question is “How, as Christians, do we live, act, and function in society?”

Lewis characterizes a Christian society as one where people have a diligent work ethic, one where people practice obedience, and one filled with joy. It is not an ideal society; it is a society that we should demonstrate on a daily basis.

First, we are to function and produce in such a way that it benefits our neighbors without luxurious gain, and in turn that neighbor should extend the same courtesy to us and others. Christians should work toward a society where there is no waste of resources and frugalness is a defining quality.

It [New Testament] tells us that there are to be no passengers or parasites: if man does not work, he ought not to eat. Every one is to work with his own hands, and what is more, every one’s work is to produce something good: there will be no manufacture of silly luxuries and then of sillier advertisements to persuade us to buy them” (80).

Lewis is saying that Christians should not be lazy and should care for those around them in their community. He is not addressing specific situations such as physical ailments, old age, and handicaps; he is saying that this is the picture of general daily living as portrayed in New Testament teaching.

Obedience is also a characteristic of community members. Throughout the New Testament, and all of the Bible, obedience of citizens to government officials, children to parents, and wives to husbands, husbands to the Lord. Obedience is not oppression. I cannot pledge allegance to a government in which I am persecuted for religious beliefs; obedience does not call us to blindly obey in the face of persecution. I am called to be obedient to my parents for they understand what is best for me (Deut. 6), and wives are to be obedient to husbands as these husbands rely wholly on the Lord for guidance and wisdom in loving and leading the family. Remember, this is within the Christian picture of society, not the society we have come to know the world today.

Lastly, a distinguishing mark is one of joy and singing, “regarding worry or anxiety as wrong” (81). Lewis does not mean that it is care-free; everyone has duties and responsibilities. Everyone is called to particular tasks and regard his neighbor more than himself, but these things are done with a deep joy, knowing that while we labor here, heaven will resemble much of how things ought to be here but in a deeper and richer sense.

In chapter four, Lewis addresses the issue of Psychoanalysis. Keep in mind that this topic was incredibly controversial around the time of this book, but this approach is widely accepted in Psychology today. But when we talk about morality, especially from a Christian perspective, Psychoanalysis is worth mentioning. Psychoanalysis redefined how people thought of the brain, actions, and ultimately morality. Paired with evolution, one could reduce the mind to chemical reactions, driven by a desire for survival. We could, and many have, used psychoanalysis to speak of morality in terms of desires, that central thing driving us day after day.

However, the Christian understanding is much different. There is a central part of who we are, created and innate within us, and as Lewis stated in earlier chapters, is tainted with darkness. It’s desire is to serve the self. For the Christian, that is the part that must be set aside if we are to live life in the fullest, most eternal sense of the word. “The right direction leads not only to peace but knowledge. When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse, he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right” (88).

What Lewis presented in these two chapters are quite distinct, for one deals with how Christians function within a society while the other addresses the core desires of humanity, and yet they are connected because Christ is the center. Christ is not just concerned with an individual person or even a group of people; Christ’s concerns reach all of earth, including the society in which we live.