D.H. Lawrence on Freedom in Christianity Today

By today's standards, Lady Chatterley's Lover might get little more than a PG-13 rating, but D.H. Lawrence raised a firestorm of protest when this was first published early in the 20th century. His short life focused on sensuality, and he was known for statements like "sex and beauty are inseparable." Thus, it was surprising indeed to find him quoted in a Christianity Today article, even if the title was "How to Teach Sex."

In Studies in Classic American Literature, Lawrence sets out his thoughts on freedom. No, he declares, the Pilgrims did not come to America for freedom of religion. Instead, they were like all the others who began to settle our country running from, not to. While his overall premise widely misses the mark, he did recognize something about our human condition that is too often missing, even in some of our most evangelical churches.

Men are less free than they imagine; ah, far less free. The freest are perhaps least free….Men are free when they are obeying some deep, inward voice of religious belief. Obeying from within. Men are free when they belong to a living, organic, believing community, active in fulfilling some unfulfilled, perhaps unrealized purpose. Not when they are escaping to some wild west…Men are not free when they are doing just what they like. The moment you can do just what you like, there is nothing you care about doing....Liberty in America has meant so far the breaking away from all dominion. The true liberty will only begin when Americans discover...the deepest whole self of man." (emphasis in original)

Sadly, it appears likely that Lawrence himself never discovered this true liberty. Still, his words are a reminder of the freedom that we have in Christ, through his grace alone. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul says at the start of the fifth chapter of Galatians. "Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." No more running after some elusive breaking away from dominion on our own, no more "doing just what they like" with the false sense that this is what freedom is all about. Instead, we can know with James that we will be blessed in all that we do when we look intently into the gospel of grace and the "perfect law that gives freedom." (James 1:25)