"mere Christianity" - C.s. Lewis

[HisChildForever]

Thoughts? I've just started it. I'd also like to read "The Screwtape Letters" and "The Great Divorce."

[Not The Philosopher]

I think it's a pretty good intro to the fundamentals of Christianity in an easily digestible form. Probably not the book I'd give to a hardened skeptic, though. I've heard it said that, in spite of Lewis' claim to impartiality, the book is ultimately biased in the direction of Protestantism (Tolkien, in particular, wasn't crazy about it). But it's been so long since I've read it that I can't remember how true that is.

 

The Screwtape Letters is probably my favourite work by Lewis.

[HisChildForever]

I think it's a pretty good intro to the fundamentals of Christianity in an easily digestible form. Probably not the book I'd give to a hardened skeptic, though. I've heard it said that, in spite of Lewis' claim to impartiality, the book is ultimately biased in the direction of Protestantism (Tolkien, in particular, wasn't crazy about it). But it's been so long since I've read it that I can't remember how true that is.

 

The Screwtape Letters is probably my favourite work by Lewis.

 

Hm. From what I've read (so far) it seems to be a read for Christians, not a read to convince someone of Christianity.

[MissyP89]

Love love love.

 

Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters were two of the first books I picked up as I was working my way back to a relationship with God. I had so many doubts and questions, and Lewis presented the faith in a way that was reasonable and easy for me to understand. He uses a lot of analogies, and those are my favorite method of thinking things through, so it was a great help for me. His work holds a special place in my heart.

[4588686]

I think it's overrated.  I thought that The Screwtape Letters was pretty good.  

[Chestertonian]

Hm. From what I've read (so far) it seems to be a read for Christians, not a read to convince someone of Christianity.

 

 

I'm not sure why you'd think that. The first half of the book is devoted to convincing the reader that faith in God is reasonable. It's responsible for more conversions to Christianity than just about any other apologetics book I can think of.

 

You might check out The Great Divorce too.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Chestertonian

[Spem in alium]

I liked both Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. Surprised by Joy is nice too. 

 

ETA: And Miracles!

Edited May 19, 2013 by Spem in alium

[CatholicsAreKewl]

As a little social experiment, I decided to join an evangelical Christian group on my campus. I put down "Melkite" as my religion, thinking they would consider me "convert worthy" (who knows what a Melkite is, anyways?). It worked. One of the kind members met with me once a week to discuss his beliefs. He instructed me to read sections of Mere Christianity to prepare for our discussions. Though I liked the book, I don't think it did a good job of convincing outsiders about Christianity.

 

On a completely unrelated note: Early on, the guy looked up "Melkite" on Wikipedia and found out it was a rite in the Catholic Church. He continued to proselytize knowing this, which I found very amusing. 

Edited May 19, 2013 by CatholicsAreKewl

[Nihil Obstat]

The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity were part of what led me to take the faith seriously, when I was around fifteen.

[Not The Philosopher]

I'm not sure why you'd think that. The first half of the book is devoted to convincing the reader that faith in God is reasonable. It's responsible for more conversions to Christianity than just about any other apologetics book I can think of.

 

You might check out The Great Divorce too.

 

I think it's a good book for people who are kinda-sorta on board with some sort of spirituality/moral realism, or who are on the fence, or who just don't understand the Faith since it does a good job of straightening out hazy understandings of God, morality and religion. But I can't see, say, a materialist atheist or one of the pomo crowd responding to it, since they've already burned bridges with a lot of the presuppositions that Lewis takes for granted. Miracles and The Abolition of Man do a good job of rounding it out, though.

[Chestertonian]

I think it's a good book for people who are kinda-sorta on board with some sort of spirituality/moral realism, or who are on the fence, or who just don't understand the Faith since it does a good job of straightening out hazy understandings of God, morality and religion. But I can't see, say, a materialist atheist or one of the pomo crowd responding to it, since they've already burned bridges with a lot of the presuppositions that Lewis takes for granted. Miracles and The Abolition of Man do a good job of rounding it out, though.

 

Yeah, I suppose the reader would need to have an open mind to find his arguments influential. I've heard of materialist atheist converts to Christianity who credit Lewis for "leading them to the Truth" (Francis Collins, the head of the Human Genome Project, comes to mind). 

[HisChildForever]

I'm not sure why you'd think that. The first half of the book is devoted to convincing the reader that faith in God is reasonable. It's responsible for more conversions to Christianity than just about any other apologetics book I can think of.

 

You might check out The Great Divorce too.

 

I had just finished reading the preface before I made this thread, that's what I was going on. 

[BG45]

I liked Screwtape Letters more, but MC was great.

 

Great Divorce is actually my favorite of the three you've listed though.  When I read a Protestant review of it, it was about how Lewis was taking an obscure Christian doctrine blah blah blah.  Then as a Catholic it was like "or you know, Purgatory".

[Basilisa Marie]

Mere Christianity converted one of my friends to Catholicism from LDS. :) She's a religious sister now.