Mere Christianity

by C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity
book data
14,063 ratings, 4.23 average rating, 1,361 reviews (more data...)
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published
February 25th 2001 (first published 1943) by HarperSanFrancisco

binding
Paperback, 227 pages

isbn
0060652926    (isbn13: 9780060652920)

description
A forceful and accessible discussion of Christian belief that has become one of the most popular introductions to Christianity and one of the most pop...more




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Darknightdestiny
Read in January, 2003
recommends it for: Anyone looking for an honest representation of Christianity
I read this for the first time a long while ago, and then again in December of 2007. Each time I read it I find something new. It's fairly amazing to be able to point to a page and say, "That was me a year ago, a month ago, a day ago!"

This is not a new set of instructions on how to be a Christian—it's a very straightforward explanation of the roots of the Christian faith, a naked package of easy to understand information which builds logically from the very beginning. It ...more
Like this review?   yes   (12 people liked it)
  13 comments

Paul
01/25/08
Paul rated it: 1 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0684823780)

I had to stop reading this, it was making me ill. It may be that every single sentence in this book is either wrong or offensive or inane or all three. Here's a passage from page 45 - CS is talking about what he calls Dualism (i.e. Manichaeism) whereby the existence of evil is explained by there being two equal forces in the Universe which are in perpetual contention, the Good one and the Bad one. CS says:

"If Dualism is true then the Bad Power must be a being who likes badness f...more
Like this review?   yes   (9 people liked it)
  20 comments

Danny Vanderbyl
Read in October, 2007
recommends it for: Militant Jihadists, their Enemies, Friends
Read it, even for the last chapter alone!

Most people have no idea about what Christianity is. That is the reason that CS Lewis' book exists.

If you are looking for a book that will convince you to take the leap of faith and become a Christian (like so many 1-star reviewers who said they were unconvinced) then don't waste your time. No book will convince you. However, if you are looking for the facts about real Christianity (not as a religion, but as a relationship) then y...more
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Mark
03/04/08
Mark rated it: 2 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0684823780)

Note: I am reviewing the "Anniversary Edition pub. 1981"

C.S Lewis comes from a long line of Christian apologists that have relied upon emotion and hope to justify a metaphyscial existence of God. In other words the argument is: I feel that God exists, and so because I have this feeling that God exists, God must exist in reality. Another form of this sort of thinking is based in Anselm's ontological argument, later used by Descarte. My rating of two stars stems from my di...more
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Jason
04/12/08
Jason rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0684823780)

Read in November, 1992
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.

Lewis' is more of a classic apologetic. He speaks of universal ...more
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Amber
03/13/08
Amber rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0684823780)

Lewis is brilliant! Here's a quote from the book that's never left my head:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is ...more
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  3 comments

Marty
02/06/08
Marty rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0684823780)

bookshelves: front-room-bookshelf
Read in May, 2007
What an astounding, impressive, fulfilling read. I am not normally a non-fiction reader unless it is a good historical piece or biography ... those I will lap up. But a book on religion? As a pretty dedicated church goer myself, I must candidly say that unless the book is actual scripture itself, it might as well be one of those desperately snobbish self-help books full of zippy motivation quotes and the same principles you find in all other books of the same genre, just worded slightly differen...more
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Chris Brenna
05/21/07
Chris Brenna rated it: 1 of 5 stars

Read in January, 1993
recommends it for: nobody
Taking a quick glance over the reviews offered for this book, I see a lot of people expressing the idea that it convinced them that a Christian could be intelligent and still be a Christian, or that C.S. Lewis offers "logical" arguments for the Christian faith. I won't deny that C.S. Lewis was a brilliant man. But at the risk of being really unpopular (because criticizing Lewis is on par with criticizing Abraham Lincoln or Mother Teresa), I have to say that it would have been better ...more
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  8 comments

George Bradford
bookshelves: god-shaped-hole
As solid an explanation of Christianity as I have ever encountered. Beautiful writing. Clarity of thought. Solid reasoning. The text of this book originated from a series of BBC radio lectures C.S. Lewis delivered to England while Nazi bombs rained from the sky. Set in that context, the imperative is clear. Christianity is not doled out as a panacea for every sheep in the flock. It is presented, rather, as an choice of free will, guided by grace and dedicated to justice.
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Stephanie
bookshelves: christian
Read in September, 2007
People either love this book or hate it. Without passing judgment I don't see how people can actually hate it. Seriously. C.S. Lewis simply breaks down the fundamental truths of Christianity. Personally I love how he goes beyond all the denominations, beyond who's more right, beyond who's more wrong and finds that common thread they all seem to follow. From there it's a real eye opener.

However, I do have to say the book is so rich with philosophy I found myself reading sentences...more
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  3 comments

Skylar Burris
As a now more mature Christian, this book does not impress me as deeply as it once did, because I don't see its arguments as being objectively persuasive to the non-Christian. (Some of them, which seemed to me compelling at the time, now seem too simplistic, admitting of only a few possible arguments.) Yet when I read it as a teenager, I had just read the Gospels for the first time in my life, and I had been deeply struck by Christ's words and sense of authority. I WANTED to be a Christian at th...more
Like this review?   yes   (2 people liked it)
  1 comment

Andrew
08/16/07
Andrew rated it: 5 of 5 stars

This book shed the first signs of light toward my walk with Christ. This book is actually a compilation of a radio series Lewis gave during World War II when the Nazis were bombing London. His messages were meant to inspire and give hope during a time of horror and bloodshed.

His arguments are borrowed heavily from the Augustinian school of thought, but he makes those arguments relevant to the modern thinker. In my opinion, C.S. Lewis is the most important religious scholar of the 20t...more
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Lavinia
Read in April, 2005
un om care s-a schimbat de la a avea bios [viata biologica] la a avea zoe [viata spirituala] inseamna ca trece printr-o schimbare la fel de mare ca si statuia care a fost schimbata din piatra cioplita in om real.
tocmai aceasta este esenta crestinismului. lumea aceasta este atelierul unui mare sculptor. noi sintem statuile si se zvoneste prin atelier ca intr-o zi unele din noi vor capata viata.
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Luann
03/05/09
Luann rated it: 5 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0684823780)

Read in March, 2009
Why have I never read this book before? You will recognize lots of familiar quotes from this book. I especially like the way Lewis can draw such good analogies--the images really stick in your mind. Examples: "Imagine yourself a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house...You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace." Or this one: "Christians have often disputed as to whether what leads the Christian home is good acti...more
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Diane
02/20/08
Diane rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2004
Next to the Bible, this is the most quoted book by theologians. I read and reread and refer to this book whenever I can. My first time through, I kept notes of thoughts, questions, comments, quotes, etc. and had 25 pages when I was done. There are passages I have committed to memory, because Lewis' thoughts on certain topics are so profound and inspired. What an amazing person!
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  1 comment

Luke
06/12/08
Luke rated it: 1 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0684823780)

Read in July, 2008
Man!

I really didn't like this book.

I've been going through an atheistic reading phase (Richard Dawkins mainly) and I made the mistake last month of trying to delve into the good book for the Unification Church that goes by the title The Divine Principle. (The Unification Church followers are called Moonies and it's largely regarded as a cult.) Oh boy was that reading wacky but somehow eminently uninteresting. That takes almost enough talent to make me a believer.
...more
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Keely
05/01/08
Keely rated it: 2 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0060652888)

Read in May, 2008
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.

There is no fundamental basis for Lewis' arguments. I was hoping to find something more thought-provoking and convincing, but it just felt like the same old ideas Aquinas and Descartes bandied around. These are no longer sufficient in a world of thermodynamics and evolution.

The skill and intellect of Lewis are witho...more
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  22 comments

Yulia
04/25/08
Yulia rated it: 1 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0020869401)

Read in January, 1998
I had to read this for a high school religion class on those who questioned their faith (the least creepy of the religion options my school offered, I assumed). Ah, but how foolish not to have taken a class run by the lovely school chaplain. Instead, I get someone who deems it appropriate to call one of his students the most moral in the class, note in my mid-semester report that I dragged on discussions after he'd have preferred to move on (what I considered being thorough and making fine dis...more
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Nicole
02/26/08
Nicole rated it: 1 of 5 stars

As a nonbeliever, I began reading Mere Christianity with the expectation that C.S. Lewis would give me a good argument to wrestle with mentally for a while. I had heard so much about this book, especially from people who got much closer to Christianity because of it, that I assumed it was not only well written but also persuasive and well thought out.[return][return]About a third of the way through, I was wondering when the persuasion and thoughtfulness would kick in. I had heard of the lunatic,...more
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Ben
08/18/07
Ben rated it: 3 of 5 stars (review of isbn 0684823780)

Read in August, 2007
An interesting book, particularly for those with at least a passing interest in the basics of Christianity across all (or at least, so Lewis claims) denominations. As a book of philosophy, however, it leaves much to be desired. He often starts from easily arguable premises and moves through a series of questionable steps of logic in order to prove the truth of Christianity. And some of the bigger - and perhaps, for some, more pressing - questions he leaves untouched, acknowledging that, at least...more
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We discussed many books at this last meeting (which was a lot of fun), so I'm including many here. If we don't have a clear winner, I'll narrow it to the top 3 the 1st week in March and we can re-vote.

 
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Mere Christianity (Paperback)
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quotes from this book

"Christianity agrees with Dualism that this universe is at war. But it does not think this is a war between independent powers. It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel." More quotes...


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