Mere Christianity

by C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity
published
February 25th 2001 (first published 1943) by HarperSanFrancisco
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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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Zinta
09/07/08

Fitting, I think, to be reading what may arguably be one of C. S. Lewis's most important books, on a retreat during which one of my personal goals was to find a spiritual, if not religious, inner peace. Reading the work of C. S. Lewis is to meet a friend who reflects us and understands us--and helps us to understand.

Who of us has not asked these questions? Who of us has not prayed these prayers, even those of us who are atheists (which group has at times included me, and has also included C...more
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Luke
07/14/08

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.

So anyway, I decid...more
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Callista
I can definitely understand why people call C. S. Lewis one of the best Christian thinkers of all time. For a while, I had been toying with reading this book and now that I did, I am yet even more certain of my faith. This book is frankly a gift from God for me, because without it, I'd probably not have been able to get through the events of the past few days. Even though it was a short book—less than three hundred pages—it has more truth and wisdom than any other book about Christianity tha...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 starts o...more
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Dan
Dan rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
08/02/08

Read in October, 2006
Lewis is much better at explaining the essence of what Christians believe rather than why, in his view, Christianity the true faith. (Of course, one might even argue against Lewis's claims of what kind of belief counts as "Christian," but that's a basket of crabs I'll leave aside.)

Unfortunately, Lewis resorts to some poor argumentation for prove the truth of Christianity. In no particular order, here are his major points:

1. The reason we know the gospels are historic, with l...more
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Danny
10/21/07

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 you can't ...more
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Mark
03/08/08

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 dislike of...more
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Aisha
09/14/08

bookshelves: christianity, episcopal-anglicanism
Read in September, 2008
recommends it for: all Christians and any interested in Christianity
This was an extremely good book. I was very amazed by some of the points the author made, especially when he spoke of God and time and the time line. That was sheer brilliance. It blew my mind in its brilliance. It wasn't too hard to understand either nor was it too simple.

A lot of books, especially by priests, tend to be too emotional when they talk about Christianity. They don't go into the details, they just tell you accept Christ but never say why or explain the finer points. Just accept...more
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Marty
02/06/08

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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Micah
12/01/07

Read in November, 2007
Mere Christianity is C.S. Lewis's attempt to explain the defining principles that all Christians share in common. It's also his attempt to justify, promote, and apologize for his religion. Although his approach is, in some ways, admirable (he genuinely seems to try to twist Christianity into some sort of soft, inclusive religion), I can't help but find so much wrong with this book. First, it's difficult to sell a concept/philosophy/religion as being compassionate and inclusive when the result of...more
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Steven
Steven rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
04/06/08

Read in March, 2008
My initial impression after reading the first few chapters of this book were that Lewis provided extremely compelling and logical arguments for the existence of a God, with brilliant analogies to illustrate his points. It was great food for thought, especially for skeptics or agnostics like me, introducing a number of arguments that I had never considered before.

His writing ability continued to impress me into the second book, where he described the basic tenets of Christianity, those which ...more
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Jason
04/12/08

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 laws, th...more
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Abby
Abby rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
09/29/08

bookshelves: favorites
Read in May, 2008
recommended to Abby by: Laurie, Roland
recommends it for: Agnostics, ex-Catholics, religious people and those who purposefully reject religion
I actually finished reading this book a long time ago, but I was doing a close reading with another person and we didn't get to finish discussing the book until today. This book was an incredibly insightful introduction/summary of the essentials of Christianity. Having grown up Catholic and consequently rejecting religion for its hypocrisy; focus on exclusionary policies to the detriment of anyone not male and white; and ignorant conservative/fundamentalist indoctrination, this book was a welc...more
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Mark
09/18/08

An interesting book that first gives some philosophical arguments about believing in a higher good, which themselves are weak, and wouldn’t convert any well-educated philosopher, but still are interesting enough. The second part talks more how Christians are supposed to behave, and the third talks more about the Trinity and our interaction with God. I liked this book because it did make me think about what kind of Christian I am. For the first time I actually don’t mind saying there are t...more
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Alec
Alec rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
07/18/07

Read in January, 2006
Lewis may represent a more "pop" philosophy/theology viewpoint, but even so, what I particularly like about Mere Christianity is his attention to detail. He presents a very firm philosophical, intellectual case for why Christians believe, carefully defining terms, building his argument from the very ground up, and addressing several common objections to his points. I disagree with Lewis's habitual presentation of Christianity as the only logical form of belief because I think ...more
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Chris
Chris rated it: 1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars1 of 5 stars
05/24/07

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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Andrew
Andrew rated it: