{"id":20596,"date":"2025-04-03T20:07:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T00:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20596"},"modified":"2025-04-03T20:07:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T00:07:40","slug":"the-doctrine-of-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20596","title":{"rendered":"The doctrine of exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Charles William.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m re-reading<\/strong> Charles Williams\u2019 Descent Into Hell<\/a><\/em>. It\u2019s my favorite of his novels, and (I was pleased to learn) often considered his best by critics. If you haven\u2019t read it, it centers on two characters \u2013 a young woman who repeatedly meets her doppelganger walking up the street, and a middle-aged historian who becomes obsessed with a young woman and is offered a soulless simulacrum of her. One of them is drawn into the community of God\u2019s grace, while the other \u201cdescends into Hell\u201d through self-indulgence. I have an idea I can write an article about this book that might illuminate some current issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because I have my finger, you know, on the pulse of societal change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silly, I admit, but I think I may actually be in a unique position to comment, due not to my wisdom but to my failures and sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, it\u2019s also in this novel that Williams demonstrates most clearly his doctrine of exchange, the idea that the Christian teaching that we should bear one another\u2019s burdens is more than a metaphor. He believed that we can pray to literally take on our brothers\u2019 and sisters\u2019 fears, difficulties, and pains, suffering them for them \u2013 because it\u2019s lighter to bear when it\u2019s someone else\u2019s. And they in turn can bear ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williiams\u2019 friend C. S. Lewis reported that he attempted this exercise with his wife Joy, when the pain of her cancer was most difficult. He felt some pain, he said, and she told him her own was diminished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s all very subjective, of course. Not nearly as dramatic as what happens in the novel. I made the experiment myself at least once. As I recall, the sick friend I prayed for did report he was feeling better soon. But again, it\u2019s subjective. Not the sort of dramatic outcome we would like to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course we can always spiritualize it. Regard it in terms of the mystery of Christian community, the fellowship of the saints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that wasn\u2019t what Williams believed. He took it literally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever tried it? Know anyone who has?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m re-reading Charles Williams\u2019 Descent Into Hell. It\u2019s my favorite of his novels, and (I was pleased to learn) often considered his best by critics. If you haven\u2019t read it, it centers on two characters \u2013 a young woman who repeatedly meets her doppelganger walking up the street, and a middle-aged historian who becomes obsessed … Continue reading The doctrine of exchange<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,7,13,14],"tags":[476,5514],"class_list":["post-20596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors","category-fiction","category-reading","category-religion","tag-charles-williams","tag-descent-into-hell"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20596"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20598,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20596\/revisions\/20598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}