Mere Christianity (C. S. Lewis Signature Classic)

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What caused the switch? By studying the faith (as an effort to become better at atheism) he found religion. A strange, roundabout way to go by things but nonetheless thoroughly interesting.

Meilaender, Gilbert. The Taste for the Other: The Social and Ethical Thought of C. S. Lewis. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1978. Covers Lewis’s social and ethical works, showing the interrelationship between his fiction and nonfiction. Peters, Thomas C. (1997). Simply C. S. Lewis: A Beginner's Guide to the Life and Works of C. S. Lewis. ISBN 0-89107-948-3. A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading”. So yeah, I wasn’t very careful, and let this happen. Thank God! Kilby, Clyde S. The Christian World of C. S. Lewis. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1964. Kilby was one of the pioneers of Lewis scholarship. Includes a chapter on each of Lewis’s major fictional and apologetic works, including Mere Christianity. The title comes from Lewis’s claim to abstract from the various denominations a kind of “pure” Christianity. Like a Puritan, Lewis believes that this “undiluted” Christianity would be as potent as merum, undiluted wine. However, like a Catholic, he relies heavily on tradition and dogmatism.I spoke with three young Australians who attested to the book’s undiminished capacity to speak in the twenty-first century. I won’t say I didn’t struggle with some aspects. And Lewis does not in any way excuse the fact that he is saying things that are hard to face. I like that brutal honesty. Brutal honesty is as much a part of the Christian faith as the comfort is in knowing that while the walk in following Christ is a tough road, we do it not alone, but through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives in us and empowers us to follow him. Hinten, Marvin D. (2007). "The World of Narnia: Medieval: Magic and Morality". In Edwards, Bruce L. (ed.). C. S. Lewis: Life, Works, and Legacy. Vol.2: Fantasist, Mythmaker, and Poet. Praeger Perspectives. pp.71–92. ISBN 978-0-275-99116-6. href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0293-1/9F0/82E/FE/{9F082EFE-E9B0-4747-B9BE-4F05D533C932}Img400.jpg I remember being at a pub filled with soldiers on one Wednesday evening. At a quarter to eight, the bartender turned the radio up for Lewis. “You listen to this bloke”, he shouted: “He’s really worth listening to.” And those soldiers did listen attentively for the entire fifteen minutes.

In this book, he chronicles his journey from devout atheist to committed Christian, recounting each step with his original assumption, then recording his intellectual journey through each idea to it's end result. With each conclusion he includes understandable and often masterful examples. For instance: After starting the journey from his original question of where the ideas of "right" and "wrong" actually come from (He began this during the upheaval of WWII amid the question afforded the Allied Forces as opposed to the Nazis, which adds a unique understanding of his purpose) Lewis comes to accept that there must be an overall "good" force and "bad" force fighting for supremacy. He then equates the human struggle with "living behind enemy lines" or in the enemy camp - after aiding and abeding that enemy if one realizes he/she is on the wrong side what does one have to do? They must surrender to the other side. Not just walk across the line to be accepted but literally lay down his weapons, beg asylum and put oneself at the mercy of the opposing force. A better example of accepting God, I have not found. Of course, this simplified paraphrase does not come close to the overall thought process that Lewis employs. This same thought process carries through with every single point encountered defining Christian teachings. Lewis’s friend and biographer, George Sayer, describes an instance that suggests the broadcasts definitely passed the “pub test”: Sullivan, Philip R. (Spring 1995). "The Natural Ought". Behavior and Philosophy. 23 (1): 1–12. eISSN 1943-3328. ISSN 1053-8348. JSTOR 23006495. I am perhaps a bit biased. I have always liked Lewis, ever since I read The Chronicles of Narnia in high school. My liking deepened for him when I saw the movie Shadowlands. Something about his life called to me. I have since done research on him and his journey from atheism to fervent Christian belief. I cannot deny how inspiring I find his life.I finished listening to this book early this morning, a little before seven. I could not sleep, and as I lay in the darkness in need of some comfort and company, I thought that I should go ahead and finish it. I am glad I did. Other cultures would stop saying ignorant things like "America (or wherever) is a Christian nation." The facts in Lewis' work speak against this. They would stop saying that they have a holy war against these so-called Christians (who are in fact not Christians at all.) Duriez, Colin (2013) [1990]. The A–Z of C. S. Lewis: An Encyclopedia of His Life, Thought and Writings (4thed.). Lion Books. ISBN 978-0-7459-5586-5.

The Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals". Christianity Today. 23 October 2006 . Retrieved 17 August 2022. From there he narrows slightly, circling closer and closer until he reaches Christian doctrine (i.e. the holy trinity). However, he never pinpoints on the differences between Catholics or Lutherans (etc). He does not preach only one denomination rather he expounds on core truths and beliefs of Christianity as a whole. Likewise, Lewis was careful to avoid efforts to improve Christianity with modern theological fads. These, he says, turn out to be versions of “Christianity and water” that dilute the essence of an essentially strong, life-changing drink. Unlike the liberal ecumenism that was so prominent in his day, which offered a largely demythologized Christianity, Lewis insisted on a robust appropriation of the central supernaturalist claims that have been the gospel message throughout the ages. 2. Lewis connected with perennial human nature. Lindsley, Arthur (2005). C. S. Lewis's Case for Christ: Insights from Reason, Imagination, and Faith. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-3285-9.The Eagle and Child pub, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. In the mid-20th century it served as the meeting place of the Inklings literary group, which included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. (more) In the years immediately following Lewis’s death in 1963, many predicted that his influence would soon dim. “No one will be reading C.S. Lewis twenty years from now”, a publisher told Peter Kreeft when he proposed a book on Lewis in the late 1960s. A few decades later, around the turn of the twenty-first century, the shift towards postmodernism was heralded (and dreaded) as a sure death knell to Lewis’s particular brand of affable, common-sense rationality. Yet by 2007 Christopher Hitchens was noting Lewis’ re-emergence as “the most popular Christian apologist” and “the main chosen propaganda vehicle for Christianity in our time.” Lewis clearly wants to believe, and wants to bolster and justify those beliefs, but he never overcomes a reasonable burden of proof. He puts together the best indications he can find, but they don't add up to much. As Lewis says here in Mere Christianity: "For mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine. God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to p A superb study of C. S. Lewis's greatest work. Marsden succeeds both in illuminating the success of Mere Christianity and enriching our own reading of this seminal work."—Alister McGrath, author of C. S. Lewis—A Life

Mere Christianity is a book on the fundamentals of Christian belief. Its audience is not just Christians, but also non-believers, folks who would like to investigate the faith of Christianity, what it entails, and what it doesn’t. Although the Bible is the foundation of our beliefs, I think this book does an exceptional job of condensing, or explaining, if you will what Christians espouse. I was talking to my father the other day when I said that "I think the funny thing to me about most academics at University, is that they so completely misunderstand Christianity. They think it's about becoming 'good enough' to get into Heaven." To which my Dad turned around and agreed saying, "That is because most churches don't understand Christianity well enough and keep preaching works-based repentance." Lewis is a product of his time. He claims refusing to fight in war is a sin, calls homosexuality a perversion, and jokes about why anyone would ever want a woman as a decision maker. Ultimately, Lewis contends that the goal of Christianity is for the person, with Christ’s help, to expand “beyond personality,” to reach toward the level of existence enjoyed by God. This is achieved by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide the person’s actions and by using Christ as model and mediator. Christian Themes Mere Christianity, against all the odds, continues to do what C.S. Lewis aimed at eighty years ago: to communicate the basics of the faith, in ways that satisfy the intellect and capture the imagination. Perhaps its appeal endures simply because the faith of which Lewis has proven to be such a winsome explicator has itself, in spite of everything, lost none of its appeal. As Lewis himself writes, with the simplicity, humility, and occasional grandeur that characterises the book as a whole:The next third of the book explores the ethics resulting from Christian belief. He cites the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. After touching on these, he goes into the three theological virtues: hope, faith, and charity. Lewis also explains morality as being composed of three layers: relationships between man and man, the motivations and attitudes of the man himself, and contrasting worldviews. Most people have no idea about what Christianity is. That is the reason that CS Lewis' book exists. In 1939 Lewis published an essay on “ The Personal Heresy” in literary criticism. He argued that it was wrong to view a poem as about the poet’s state of mind. “The poet is not a man,” he wrote, “who asks me to look at him; he is a man who says ‘look at that’ and points; the more I follow the pointing of his finger the less I can possibly see of him” (14).