Monday, March 7, 2011

Essential Books: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Someone once said that each time you read a new book you should add an old book too.  We have looked at the essential books and "Mere Christianity" is certainly one of them.

Lewis is brilliant.  These chapters were written for the radio and take his tone and personality to the page.  Definitely British, with some aging language, and he sometimes using humor that eludes me, but he is brilliant.  Few writers that have kept their relevance for modern/post modern readers like "Mere" and C.S. Lewis.

Chapter 10's snippet on "Hope" is an example.  Lewis deals with the anxiety and often disillusioned responses of the late 1940's at is essence.  His frustration with the Christian response and the culture's understanding of the Christian life reflect those of mine and many others.  "There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of "heaven" ridiculous by saying they do not want "to spend eternity playing harps."  The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown ups, they should not talk about them....People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs."  (P. 106)

Buy a copy for your essential shelf or put it on your Kindle.  It is worth reading and re-reading devotionally.

1 comment:

  1. I think one of the most interesting parts of Lewis' work is how he just seems to understand humans so thoroughly. Because everything he says is really true for how I feel I act, but he can explain it with such precision and make such compelling arguments from it.

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