What are the motifs in A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken?

The Credibility of the Christian Faith is arecurring idea in the novel. The fourth chapter, entitled Encounter with Light, chronicles the process Van and Jean went through to end up coming to faith in Jesus as the Son of God, and in the God of the Bible. The books they read, as well as the letters from C.S. Lewis, provide a bibliography, of sorts, of commentary and academic examination of the historicity, relevance, and veracity of the Christian faith as presented in the canon of scripture. To the questions Van asks in particular, there are thoughtful and insightful responses for the reader to examine in the form of letters from C.S. Lewis. In them, he discusses the idea that humanity does not want Christianity to be true, because it would mean needing to hand over its will, which it values too highly as a source of pleasure and power.