Editing That Hideous Strength (section)

==Themes and philosophy==
A significant element of the book (Lewis rated it as "second in importance") is to illustrate the destructive folly of seeking power and prestige by belonging to a ruling clique or inner circle.<ref name="CSLS" />  

Somewhat like the early [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]], the main antagonists of ''That Hideous Strength'' despise the human body and all organic life as frail, corrupted, and unworthy of pure mind. Like modern [[Transhumanism|transhumanists]], they believe that humanity can be perfected by migrating out of flesh and blood.{{cn|date=September 2020}} Lewis portrays the consequences of these ideas as a [[Dystopia|dystopian]] nightmare: by rejecting God and His creation, the N.I.C.E inevitably falls under the dominion of [[Demon|demons]] (whom they imagine to have discovered under the guise of "Macrobes").{{cn|date=September 2020}} Lewis had hinted at such themes before in ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]'', in which the senior demon Screwtape tells his nephew that their goal is "to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, a belief in [demons] (though not under that name) will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in [God]. [...] If once we can produce our perfect work—the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping, what he vaguely calls 'Forces' while denying the existence of 'spirits'—then the end of the war will be in sight."<ref> Lewis, C. S. (1961). ''The Screwtape Letters & Screwtape Proposes a Toast''. New York: Macmillan, p. 33.</ref> Lewis's attack is not on science as such, or scientific planning, but rather the kind of [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] planned society idealised by [[Nazism]] and [[Marxism–Leninism|Bolshevism]]: "the disciplined cruelty of some ideological oligarchy".<ref name="CSLS">{{cite web|last1=Schaefer III|first1=Henry F.|title=C. S. Lewis: Science and Scientism|url=http://www.lewissociety.org/scientism.php|website=C. S. Lewis Society of California|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306003451/http://www.lewissociety.org/scientism.php|archive-date=6 March 2016|access-date=17 August 2023}}</ref>

In contrast, Lewis portrays reality as supporting Christian tenets such as the inherent [[original sin|sinfulness]] of humanity, the impossibility of humans perfecting themselves apart from God, the essential goodness of the physical body (though currently corrupted by sin), the omnipotence of God against the limited powers of evil, and the existence of angels and demons. Within this Christian framework, Lewis incorporates elements of the Arthurian legend as well as Roman mythological figures. In this way, Lewis integrates Christian, Roman, and British mythological symbolism, true to his identity as a British Christian student of antiquity.{{cn|date=September 2020}}