Now another point. There is one bit of advice given
to us by the ancient heathen Greeks, and by the Jews
in the Old Testament, and by the great Christian
teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern
economic system has completely disobeyed. All
these people told us not to lend money at interest:
and lending money at interest—what we call
investment—is the basis of our whole system…I
should not have been honest if I had not told you
that three great civilizations had agreed…in
condemning the very thing on which we have based
our whole life.
– C S Lewis, Mere Christianity (NY: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1952), 80.
C S (Clive Staples) Lewis was born this date, 11/29/1898, at Belfast, Ireland. He eventually became a Christian (Church of England). He was a scholar, a writer, and a professor at both Oxford (1924-54) and Cambridge (1954-63). His writings have become “modern classics” Screwtape Letters (1942), Miracles (1947), Mere Christianity (1952). And even his allegorical The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956) are classics to multitudes of children. Lewis died 11/22/1963 but most Americans were so taken up by another death we did not notice the passing of one of the greatest modern writers.