For those of you who are Christian and conservative and believe nothing good rides the airwaves of PBS I have a surprise for you. An important new series airs this month on PBS that examines “The Question of God” using as source materials the thoughts of two of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud. The tag line for the series is “How each of us understands the meaning of life comes down to how we answer one ultimate question: Does God really exist?” Before you say, “Yeah, sure.” I want to suggest that you give this production the benefit of the doubt.
The series and accompanying book was developed out of popular class that Dr. Armand Nicholi has taught for more than 30 years at Harvard on the question of God. There is a high quality trailer for the series that I strongly recommend that you view. It is available either in Quicktime or RealPlayer format. The presentation seems fair and even handed and Dr. Nicholi explains why he uses Freud and Lewis as his competing sources.
The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud’s great impact on our culture has led historians to speak of the 20th century as the century of Freud. C.S. Lewis, a celebrated Oxford don whose literary and religious works, including the widely popular children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia, is perhaps the 20th century’s most popular proponent of faith based on reason. Together, Lewis and Freud, the believer and unbeliever, represent conflicting sides of ourselves. Both are eloquent and incisive spokespeople for the worldview the other attacks.
In addition, the sitemap for The Question of God appears to imply that the actual video segments will be available (probably after airing) from the website. So even if you do not view the series on PBS you may be able to view it online. Until then, the actual transcripts of each section are already linked and available.
Highly, highly recommended.