A Theological Analysis of C. S. Lewis's Argument from Desire

Abstract

This dissertation presents a theological analysis of C. S. Lewis’s Argument from Desire (AFD), examining how the experience he describes as desire, longing, Joy, or Sehnsucht reveals humanity’s natural inclination toward transcendence and its fulfillment in God. While not an attempt to reconstruct Lewis’s own theology, this study demonstrates how the AFD aligns with important Christian doctrines and can thus serve as a valuable apologetic specifically for Christianity. The dissertation examines the AFD in three parts: the source, object, and result of satisfaction. First, it argues that the source of the desire is the imago Dei, understood as humanity’s intended ontological and affectionate relationship towards God, now disrupted by sin and experienced as existential dissatisfaction. Second, it argues that the true object of this longing is both personal and eschatological. It is for the God in whose image humanity was created, but also contains an eschatological layer as a desire for heaven, where the relationship between God and humans is experienced perfectly. Third, it concludes that the result of embracing the true object is happiness, God’s intended existential state for humanity. By interpreting the AFD through this theological framework, the dissertation demonstrates the AFD’s value as a specifically Christian apologetic. The concluding chapter shows that the theological analysis both strengthens responses to objections raised against the AFD and demonstrates the AFD’s value as an apologetic for a contemporary, secular context consumed by existential questions.