Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve

“C.S. Lewis observed and decried the early stirrings of misconceptions about sexual difference and explained those errors in his essays, while giving enduring images of them and of right understanding in his fiction. In prose that is academic but readable, Joshua Herring brilliantly analyzes the essays and demonstrates the ways in which Lewis gives imaginative shape to his insights in the Narnia chronicles and the space trilogy. One of the great strengths of this highly original book is Herring’s exposition of the influence of two great Renaissance poets —Spenser and Milton — on Lewis’s work.”

“Profound, insightful, and full of verve, Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve does excellent work in a beautiful fashion as it reveals a little known aspect and yet critical aspect of C.S. Lewis’s vast work.  Expertly tying together scripture, moral philosophy, and Lewisian fiction, Josh Herring is to be praised and admired.”

“Part literary criticism, part cultural apologetics, part retrieval, Dr. Joshua Herring traces those Lewisian beams that shed light on gender and the questions of sexuality that plague modern man. Chapter two, worth the price of the whole volume, contemplates the vision of gender woven into Milton’s Paradise Lost and Spenser’s “Hymn to Life,” and advances that these are recycled fabrics in Lewis’s own Ransom Trilogy—a trilogy of gender and marriage—and Chronicles of Narnia. Those who wish to know Lewis better must read what Lewis read. Herring situates us to do so fruitfully.”

“Lewis read too many old books to be seduced by the resentful and reductionistic accounts of gender that have, since his day, come to occupy a prominent place in the Western imaginary. For him, gender was neither an arbitrary construct nor a merely biological reality to be begrudgingly accepted or mitigated through cultural and political reform. Like so many of the premodern writers he loved, Lewis saw the complementary differences between men and women as a gift to be received and celebrated. In this illuminating study, Herring draws us into the philosophical and imaginative depths of Lewis’s vision.”

“Was C.S. Lewis a gender theorist? In his new book, Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve, Joshua Herring makes the case that Lewis was not only a masterful critic, storyteller, and theologian but also the answer to our contemporary gender troubles. The book is a great distillation of everything you’d want to know about Lewis’s perspective on gender and sex but were afraid to ask!”

“Part of C. S. Lewis’ great literary achievement is his prescient insights. He detected the sources and trajectory of the unfolding ideas around him and accurately envisioned how they would manifest themselves in the future, a future in which we are now living. Joshua Herring provides a richly resourced and clear understanding of Lewis’ portrayal of the God-givenness of gender over against our current gender confusion. Yet Herring does more than address the topic of gender, he also counters the “masters of suspicion” toward the world with a perspective of joy and gratitude for the God-givenness of the whole created order. Herring is to be thanked for reminding us how muddled foundational premises can lead us so far from reality and goodness.”