Mere Christianity (C. S. Lewis Signature Classic)

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Blake, John (17 December 2010). "Surprised by C.S. Lewis: Why his popularity endures". CNN . Retrieved 20 August 2022. Kushiner, James M. (June 2009). "Mere Economics: The Dollars & Sense of Publishing". Touchstone . Retrieved 20 August 2022. For example, there are a few anti-gay statements and a few about women belonging in their places. A clear example of that, is when he touches on the subject of men being the heads of households: Surely we would, us avuncular old shitbags in cardigans puffing on our pipes and living in the real world as we do. J. R. R. Tolkein once remarked to Lewis that Christ is the only historical occurrence of a “grain god.” Lewis builds on that kernel to contend that Christianity is the fulfillment not only of Judaism but also of all pagan religions.

I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at the first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke. Every one there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light. But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes. But this is near the stage where the road passes over the rim of our world. No one’s eyes can see very far beyond that: lots of people’s eyes can see further than mine. It is no wonder that Christians should revere a miracle-working carpenter: I think one must be the son of a god to build an attic before the rest of the house.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. 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. Therefore, like a Pauline epistle, Mere Christianity is built on the core claim that God became man in Jesus Christ then died and rose from the dead to allow for humans to participate in the divine life of the blessed Trinity. In this context, moral behavior is seen as the way to better participate in that divine life. Lewis slowly, but surely explains the hows and whys he found himself converted. He starts with a long (and slightly difficult to follow) discussion regarding the reasoning behind there being a God (opposed to many or none). This was written in 1952 and CS comes across as a wise old buffer in a cardigan speaking to an earnest younger man. Both their wives are rustling up something to eat in the kitchen and talking about whatever mysterious things women find so interesting. Meanwhile the men thrash out the deep questions. Here’s a pearl I think we all ought to cherish:

One of the strongest habits of thought both in Lewis’s day and in our own is to think that newer understandings of the most basic aspects of life and reality are better than older understandings. Lewis, as a student of history, recognized that many of the “latest ideas” of one’s own day will look quaint to future generations. When Lewis himself was on his journey to becoming a Christian, he came to realize that there was good reason to put one’s trust in ideas that had lasted a long time, rather than in the latest fads that would come and go. a b Tandy, Gary L. (2011–2012). "The Stylistic Achievement of Mere Christianity". Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal. 5/6: 127–152. eISSN 2694-4324. ISSN 1940-5537. JSTOR 48580493. George Marsden describes how Lewis gradually went from being an atheist to a committed Anglican—famously converting to Christianity in 1931 after conversing into the night with his friends J. R. R. Tolkien and Hugh Dyson—and how Lewis delivered his wartime talks to a traumatized British nation in the midst of an all-out war for survival. Marsden recounts how versions of those talks were collected together in 1952 under the title Mere Christianity, and how the book went on to become one of the most widely read presentations of essential Christianity ever published, particularly among American evangelicals. He examines its role in the conversion experiences of such figures as Charles Colson, who read the book while facing arrest for his role in the Watergate scandal. Marsden explores its relationship with Lewis’s Narnia books and other writings, and explains why Lewis’s plainspoken case for Christianity continues to have its critics and ardent admirers to this day. The circumstances of that first talk, on Wednesday, 6 August 1941, were not overly auspicious. The American historian George Marsden, in his biography of Mere Christianity, explains that the time slot — 7:45 to 8:00pm precisely — might sound like primetime, but actually Lewis found himself sandwiched between a news broadcast from Nazi-occupied Norway (in Norwegian) and a program of songs from a Welsh cultural festival. The talk was vetted in advance and had to be exactly 15 minutes long; any dead air on a show could be cut into by Lord Haw-Haw, the German propagandist, who was broadcasting on the same wavelength (a friend of mine explained it this way: “Think of it as The Chaser, if The Chaser were Nazis”).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. Reports of the demise of his influence have continued to prove greatly exaggerated. And that influence has been remarkably diffuse. Though he was primarily a literary scholar, many have noted Lewis’s appeal to scientists. The Test of Faith resources from The Faraday Institute, which explore science and faith, include interviews with leading scientists like Francis Collins and Simon Conway Morris, a remarkable proportion of whom detail their encounters with this one book as a turning point. The mathematician John Lennox — himself an Oxford don and Christian apologist, in Lewis’s footsteps — reflects on why: href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0293-1/{9F082EFE-E9B0-4747-B9BE-4F05D533C932}Img200.jpg A significant contribution to Lewis scholarship. No one has surveyed the reception history of Mere Christianity as well as Marsden has done here, and given the enduring popularity and influence of the book, this is a task well worth doing."—Alan Jacobs, author of The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis

Noll, Mark A. (2002). "C.S. Lewis's 'Mere Christianity' (the Book and the Ideal) at the Start of the Twenty-first Century". VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center. 19: 31–44. eISSN 2767-3685. ISSN 0271-3012. JSTOR 45296964. Lewis, for me, was a genius at helping me to see through the weakness of materialism and naturalism. Someone once described him, quite correctly, as a thoroughgoing supernaturalist. What was wonderful was that although he was not a scientist, he understood the issues that thinking people had raised. And therefore he knew the philosophy of science much better than a lot of scientists that I had read, so was very, very helpful, not only to humanities people, but also to people from the scientific side, like myself. a b McGrath, Alister (11 July 2013). "My Top 5 Books by C. S. Lewis". Christianity Today . Retrieved 20 August 2022. Mere Christianity is such a classic work, and having been read by millions over the past sixty years plus years, it is difficult to say anything new about it. As the years have rolled on though, a different society, with different needs and expectations has arisen that sees the world a little different than the British society, in the midst of all the moral and spiritual challenges that happened in the World War II years.Sacramone, Anthony (25 February 2008). "An Interview with Timothy Keller". First Things . Retrieved 20 August 2022. Iris describes sitting in a courtyard in Granada, Spain, in the midst of what she calls “a really long, convoluted journey of coming to faith”, devouring a borrowed copy of Mere Christianity and frantically jotting down her thoughts on Post-It notes she still has: href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0293-1/9F0/82E/FE/{9F082EFE-E9B0-4747-B9BE-4F05D533C932}Img150.jpg In the classic Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, the most important writer of the 20th century, explores the common ground upon which all of those of Christian faith stand together. Bringing together Lewis' legendary broadcast talks during World War Two from his three previous books The Case for Christianity, Christian Behavior, and Beyond Personality, Mere Christianity provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to hear this powerful apologetic for the Christian faith. popularity 8680 links As an aside, I personally did not become a Christian because of the 'scientific facts,' although I did assure myself that I wasn't committing intellectual suicide by doing so. I used to be very fond of evolution. If you want this same validation, you can either talk to a Christian who knows the facts (as I did), or read something like what Lewis has presented. Simple.