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Miracles

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 · rating details · 5,632 ratings · 232 reviews

An impeccable inquiry into the proposition that supernatural events can happen in this world. C. S. Lewis uses his remarkable logic to build a solid argument for the existence of divine intervention.

Paperback, 304 pages

Published February 4th 2002 (first published 1947)

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Oct 18, 2012 Manny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Manny by: K.D. Oliveros

Shelves: linguistics-and-philosophy, science-fiction, the-goodreads-experience

Most people here on Goodreads will have had the experience of meeting an intelligent, witty, well-informed person who holds views that you absolutely do not agree with, but who defends them with imagination and force. This can often lead to extraordinarily enjoyable discussions, even if, at the end, your beliefs (at least, the ones you are aware of) have not been changed at all. Well, reading Miracles was rather like that for me, which is why I'm prepared to give it three stars. Lewis presents a...more

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Oct 18, 2010 Kurt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 20-nonfiction-in-2010

This is a clear 5-star book. I was flat-out stunned by how wrong my prior expectations were for this book. I imagined this to be a less formal discussion on what miracles meant to Christians and maybe why God uses them, etc.

This is a philosophy book. It is the most intellectually challenging CS Lewis book I've read and it is totally worth it. This book uses logic and clear language to present a case for Divinity in general and the existence of the Supernatural. It then describes how miracles are...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Munema rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: christianity

I loved the first few chapters of this book. His whole philosophy on logic's place in naturalism was pretty darn brilliant. In fact, if he had just left it at the first four or so chapters, it would've been great. It wasn't until he got into Christian miracles that I started getting bored.

The problem is that he starting waxing lyrical. It became less about the truth and more about what sounded beautiful. Personally, I don't enjoy the concept of a suffering God, but it clearly mesmerised him. His...more

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Dec 11, 2008 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I only read the first half of this book and don't know that I'll finish it, not because it isn't good, but because I'm not too interested in a Christian apologetic based on miracles. The first half, however, is a very good examination of what Lewis sees as the only two possible worldviews, naturalism and supernaturalism. To question whether miracles exist, Lewis first tries to settle the question of whether all that exists and has ever existed is the universe (the position of the naturalist) or...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Lee Harmon rated it 4 of 5 stars

How I’ve missed C. S. Lewis! I picked this book up to read for a book club, and settled into it like conversing with an old friend.

The topic is miracles. Do they exist or not? Do they contradict with Nature or not? This is not a nuts and bolts proof book; it is a call to see miracles in a different light. There is, for instance, nothing miraculous about turning water into wine … nature itself can do this. God has created a vegetable organism that can turn water, soil and sunlight into a juice wh...more How I’ve missed C. S. Lewis! I picked this book up to read for a book club, and settled into it like conversing with an old friend.

The topic is miracles. Do they exist or not? Do they contradict with Nature or not? This is not a nuts and bolts proof book; it is a call to see miracles in a different light. There is, for instance, nothing miraculous about turning water into wine … nature itself can do this. God has created a vegetable organism that can turn water, soil and sunlight into a juice which will, under proper conditions, become wine. Wine is merely water modified. Should it surprise you that one day, God short circuited the process, using earthenware jars instead of vegetable fibers to hold the water?

As in this example, Lewis’s arguments sometimes amount only to warm fuzzies. Pantheism, he explains, is nothing special, for people are merely predisposed to believe this way … pantheism has hung around like an unwanted parasite from the beginning. In contrast, a the story of a dying and rising God is surely true because nature itself teaches this concept, as any farmer knows. Now, beneath the surface, these two arguments are similar, but Lewis manages to draw the desired results from each with a bit of conversation made elegant in one circumstance and ugly in another.

Lewis errs also in his science, imagining that “every event in Nature must be connected with previous events in the Cause and Effect relation.” We know better today (Lewis was writing in 1947), and thus the foundation crumbles for many of his arguments against Naturalism. (Lewis attempts to argue that there must be a God who is not a part of Nature, and reasons that this God must surely be our creator.)

But it’s the way Lewis writes that so grabs the imagination! I absolutely love reading his books. There is a spellbinding discussion of Morality and Human Reason herein (their divinity earns their capitalization). Yet I cannot honestly award the book five stars, because Lewis never accomplishes what he sets out to do. Lewis’s God is elegant and beautiful, but no less unlikely for Lewis’s efforts, and must remain a matter of faith. Yet for those who already believe in this particular God, this book cannot fail to lift their spirits.

Very much recommended.(less)

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Jul 10, 2012 Brittany Petruzzi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, theology

Miracles is dense; more so than any Lewis book we’ve read this term. The entire book is a somewhat stealth exercise in Lewis’ presuppositional apologetic. By that I mean not that Lewis argues with the non-Christian from some imaginary set of shared presuppositions, but that he deftly dismantles the non-Christian’s presuppositions, leaving him standing there, naked, ashamed, and in desperate need of the Gospel. And he does it all before the non-Christian knows what’s happened.

It’s kind of like on...more

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Oct 10, 2011 Rachel Rueckert rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: religious

I hate to say that this was not my favorite C.S. Lewis book so far. Without a class discussion, I’m not sure I could have waded through half of the arguments Lewis brings up. It was intended for those who are skeptical of miracles, and that subject was definitely one that I have wondered about.

I am a Latter-day Saint, and I believe in miracles. But I have always been under the impression that God would use natural laws to govern those miracles, and they are miraculous because we do not understa...more I hate to say that this was not my favorite C.S. Lewis book so far. Without a class discussion, I’m not sure I could have waded through half of the arguments Lewis brings up. It was intended for those who are skeptical of miracles, and that subject was definitely one that I have wondered about.

I am a Latter-day Saint, and I believe in miracles. But I have always been under the impression that God would use natural laws to govern those miracles, and they are miraculous because we do not understand them. In that sense, I never thought that God could break laws that he was bound to (but then again, he is God), but that leads me to one of Lewis’ main points:
He begins with the argument against the naturalist. He believes that in order to really be Christian we have to be supernaturalists, believing that there is more to nature, or our current reality—that there is a God in charge of it all.

Lewis argues that miracles do not discredit the law of nature because nature still works after the miracle occurs. We assume laws are all known, but there could be something higher that interferes. Just because there is interference though does not mean that the laws are not true. It just adds data, as Lewis said. The Virgin Mary was a good example he gives. The miracle was Mary getting pregnant, but after that nature took over. Her body acted just how it would have otherwise, and she gave birth in the way of nature. God and nature work together.

Along with that point, Lewis makes another stab at those who believe that modern day thinkers are somehow smarter than people from “the olden days.” Miracles are just as believable today as they were a thousand years ago, the difference is most people simply disregard them. Joseph might not have had a professorship at Oxford, but he knew that in order to have a kid you had to have intercourse beforehand. The miracle was no more believable then than it is today, so what is different?

Now there are certainly some differences of opinion between LDS doctrine and Lewis, but I thought his general argument for why miracles are more than magical, absurdities was beneficial. He argues that miracles are not just fathomable, but they are essential. I love how he can logically argue for the supernatural. It is not a supplement to faith, but it does make a nice companion.
(less)

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Aug 31, 2010 Joseph D. Walch rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nothing can compare to Lewis's inimitable style and reasoning. This book was quite useful in the way it explored the assumptions of the modern scientific method and the anomalies that we experience in our mortal journey. For example, the materialist would argue against any 'supernatural' or spiritual processes such as miracles, God, etc., but who would have a very hard time explaining the phenomenon of reason without throwing it out with the bathwater as well. I.e., if though is nothing more tha...more

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May 25, 2010 Tim rated it 5 of 5 stars

My inveterate hatred of magazines began during my sophomore year of college. I was at a friend's apartment, waiting for him to get out of the shower, when I noticed a TIME magazine on his coffee table. It had a big picture of Jesus on it, with the headline "What Do We Really Know About Jesus?"

At the time I was an atheist or, more accurately, an agnostic. But I'd spent quite a bit of time in class that year reading and discussing significant portions of the Old and New Testaments, as well as tran...more

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Feb 10, 2010 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Dec 26, 2009 Henry added it

Shelves: religion

"In the conditions produced by a century or so of Naturalism [liberation of knowledge, abolition of select elite teachers:], plain men are being forced to bear burdens which plain men were never expected to bear before. We must get the truth for ourselves or go without it. There may be two explanations for this. It might be that humanity, in rebelling against tradition of authority, has made a ghastly mistake; a mistake which will not be the less fatal because the corruptions of those in authori...more

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Aug 03, 2011 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the better books by C.S. Lewis, as far as I'm concerned. "Mere Christianity" was never that big of a deal to me, and the same for the "Screwtape Letters" (both were presented on the radio first, which, who knows, perhaps that pacing is what I disliked), but in "Miracles" I feel like Lewis is working our minds pretty hard, pushing us to think of the rational possibility of miracles rather than blowing them off or not thinking about them. Certain miracles are integral to what Christ...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Nathan added it

Lewis argues for the existence of miracles from a logical, philosophical, and (occasionally) historical standpoint. The book is pretty academic. I needed a nap after a few sections.

I’ve never read a bad Lewis book, though this one will surely have a narrow audience. It fits best for an apologist facing Naturalism or scientific skepticism.

If you only catch one chapter, it should be Chapter 8: Miracles and the Laws of Nature. Lewis writes, “If the laws of Nature are necessary truths, no miracle ca...more

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Jun 02, 2009 J. Alfred rated it 3 of 5 stars

Hmm. The book is mainly a good, rigorously logical argument about the feasability of miracles. I'm not sure I would have been convinced, were I a sceptic, but I liked it nonetheless, and maybe sceptics smarter than I am would have seen his argument more completely and been more convinced. Whatever. In any case, Lewis goes about his argument in a typically roundabout, but thorough way. He also deals with the relationship between man's spirit (that immortal bit that he views (I think) as both int...more

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Nov 07, 2010 Doug rated it 5 of 5 stars

Already one of my favorites of C.S Lewis' books. The arguments for the existence of the supernatural (and hence, God) are much more thoroughly expounded in this volume than in the classic "Mere Christianity." As with his other books that I've read, there is much in this one that is simply beyond me. I try to follow the reasoning and get lost somewhere along the way. Or sometimes I just have no idea what he's talking about. But in the parts I can understand and grasp, I discover many priceless tr...more

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Feb 08, 2013 M. J. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-non-fiction

I have read this book at least twice before--once in college as required reading for a philosophy class, then more recently when I obtained this copy as part of a boxed set. Yet as I read this time I was astounded at the brilliance of much that was in the middle, which I had not recalled reading previously. That is, I remembered the beginning clearly, and much that was near the end, but large parts of it seemed completely new and fresh to me.

Both times before I came to it shortly after having re...more I have read this book at least twice before--once in college as required reading for a philosophy class, then more recently when I obtained this copy as part of a boxed set. Yet as I read this time I was astounded at the brilliance of much that was in the middle, which I had not recalled reading previously. That is, I remembered the beginning clearly, and much that was near the end, but large parts of it seemed completely new and fresh to me.

Both times before I came to it shortly after having read Mere Christianity, and that had been my intention this time, but that I could not on short notice find my copy of that book when I was looking; that might explain my recollection of the beginning, which always seemed to take much of the simple argument for the existence of God (the moral argument, which on reflection on this book must be a variant of the ontological argument but very different from that of Descartes) and move it to another level. The basic conflict between naturalism and supernaturalism sets the theme throughout, making it clear that before we can discuss the likelihood of individual miracles we must first determine what miracles are and whether we believe them to be possible at all. A naturalist, believing that there is nothing other than this material world of cause and effect, would conclude that miracles are impossible and that therefore no amount of evidence for the occurrence of one is sufficient to prove it; but the naturalist, he shows, is in a self-contradictory position, because on its own merits naturalism disproves its own basis in logic. From there he addresses objections to miracle, and the nature of miracles we might expect, turning to the New Testament to consider them on purely philosophical grounds, as to whether there is an a priori objection to the types of miracles reported.

I often think that such-and-such ought to read a particular book; for this one, I think no one's education can be complete without having read it, and if my experience is any guide, having read it more than once to understand it. Lewis' style remains easy, but the depth of thought in this is challenging despite the accessibility of the ideas in terms of communication skill. Yet to have reached a conclusion about the existence of God without having come to terms with this book seems almost premature; and to defend a belief in God without knowledge of this book might be to do so ill-prepared.(less)

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Jan 04, 2010 Jeremy rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those who are curious

First off, I wish I could give reviews half stars. So in this instance just assume that I'm rounding up from 3.5 stars when I give it four.

Great book to read (regardless of your faith) if you're interested in chewing on some heavy questions. I found myself considering the natural world, the meaning of time (and humanity's relation to it), as well as the meaning of miracles. Among other things.

I generally love Lewis because of his warmth, intellect, and his ability to charm and engage even when h...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Phil rated it 1 of 5 stars

C.S. Lewis tries mightily to make a case for Miracles, but this is not the typical Christian case of trying to prove miraculous events as either somehow scientifically valid or as the works of a God who capriciously interferes with the laws of nature. C.S. Lewis attacks the idea of miracles from a philosophic and theological vantage point and says that, in the end, science is irrelevant.

He does this in a psuedo-logical way, by introducing propositional statements and declaring them valid, and th...more C.S. Lewis tries mightily to make a case for Miracles, but this is not the typical Christian case of trying to prove miraculous events as either somehow scientifically valid or as the works of a God who capriciously interferes with the laws of nature. C.S. Lewis attacks the idea of miracles from a philosophic and theological vantage point and says that, in the end, science is irrelevant.

He does this in a psuedo-logical way, by introducing propositional statements and declaring them valid, and then building a system of inferences from them and finally arriving at a sound conclusion. The difficulty lies, however, in Lewis' failure to consistently and adequately define his terms, prove his premises, and arrive at actually sound conclusions. He often commits logical fallacies and doesn't adequately support his arguments. More often than not, he jumps to conclusions and asks that the reader jump with him because his next point will make the conclusion he is trying to make somewhat irrelevant because of the intrinsic and greater value of his next point. What results is a long, wordy (comprised of a great many rabbit trails), heavily metaphorical house of cards which will collapse at any point under a clear, logical attack.

In the end, the premise, argument, and conclusion of this book is already clear because Lewis is a Christian, Miracles are a Christian doctrine therefore, Miracles are real and true and believable (because God is God) and this is the only truly rational way of understanding Miracles (according to Lewis).

Ordinarily I would give a book of this calibre a much higher rating (whether or not I agreed with the arguments therein) if the book were laid out in a consistent, clear, and logical fashion. I may not accept a premise, but as long as that premise and what follows are soundly put forth, I will appreciate the argument the book makes. Lewis does not do so, and that is the failing of the book. If you endeavor to read this book, be prepared to read it several times with an iron will, because you will need to re-read passages to find the thread of what Lewis is talking about, and you will need to be determined to read all the way through to the end, because it does get rather thick and wooly in places.(less)

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Aug 18, 2012 Courtney rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've counted C.S. Lewis as one of my favorite writers for a long while, yet I'm just now getting around to reading some of his more esoteric (at least I think so) work. Miracles loses one star for being intelligent beyond my capacity at some points of rhetoric and philosophy, but the material that was understandable to me was immense. Lewis systematically undertakes the not-so-simple task of not *proving* that miracles exist, but showing the overwhelming probability of the *possibility* of mirac...more I've counted C.S. Lewis as one of my favorite writers for a long while, yet I'm just now getting around to reading some of his more esoteric (at least I think so) work. Miracles loses one star for being intelligent beyond my capacity at some points of rhetoric and philosophy, but the material that was understandable to me was immense. Lewis systematically undertakes the not-so-simple task of not *proving* that miracles exist, but showing the overwhelming probability of the *possibility* of miracles. He concentrates a lot on our preconceived notions about Nature, and how our rational and moral thinking actually point to the Supernatural. An argument that the Supernatural should be as obvious as the sun in the sky is countered with the analogy of a man looking out of a window into a garden. It's so obvious that he's looking through the window that most of the time, he won't even notice the window because he's focusing on the garden. Similarly, our every day use of rational and moral thought rarely gives us cause to think about the gift of Reason and where it comes from, because we are using it to think about everything else.

"Nothing can seem extraordinary until you have found what is ordinary...if you have not yet noticed that the sun always rises in the east, you will see nothing extraordinary in his rising one morning in the west." Lewis shows that miracles are not some added rarity, like fire-breathing dragons, but instead one-time events where the regular laws of nature are supernaturally interfered or tampered with. He gives an example that if a dollar is divided, 2 people would each get fifty cents (law of nature). The natural law itself is not tampered with if someone else steals a quarter. Lewis also gives two different kinds of biblical miracles: miracles of the Old creation, such as turning water into wine or the Virgin birth, and miracles of the New Creation, such as walking on water and raising Lazarus from the dead. The former are God short-cutting the normal process of nature (instead of using vines over time, Jesus uses jars of water)... "they do close and small what God does at other times so large that men do not attend to it." The latter, since our current nature does not contain a water that supports walking, are "a foretaste of a Nature that is still in the future." He further shows that the Incarnation and Resurrection are miracles that inform everything about Nature and this world's reality. Comparing God to an author, he writes, "An unusual event is perfectly permissible if it is what you are really writing *about*:it is an artistic crime if you simply drag it in by the heels to get yourself out of a hole...If miracles have occurred, then they have occurred because they are the very thing this universal story is about."

There is so much in this thin volume that bears repeating, but one of the most profound things was the idea of our *thinking* about the supernatural being limited at a certain point: "It is Reason herself which teaches us not to rely on Reason in such matters...when it becomes clear that you cannot find out by reasoning whether the cat is in the linen-cupboard, it is Reason herself who whispers, 'Go and look. This is not my job; it is a matter for the senses.' So here. The materials for correcting our abstract conception of God cannot be supplied by Reason: she will be the first to tell you to go and try experience--'Taste and see'." Similarly, he uses the analogy of Humpty Dumpty to explain that we're in a place where our scientific approach to nature is limited to the present reality. "If a man says 'Humpty Dumpty is falling', you know at once that this is not a complete story....All of our observations are observations of Humpty Dumpty in mid-air. They do not reach either the wall above or the ground below--much less the King with His horses and men hastening toward the spot." We cannot imagine a sixth sense or a new primary color--but just because we cannot doesn't mean that the Creator cannot re-create Nature and humanity.(less)

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Dec 11, 2012 Michael Tildsley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

C. S. Lewis has an interesting way of intellectualizing faith and belief out of observation and rationality. I particularly liked his notion that when you look through a window outside, you often forget about the window because you are focusing on something else. Lewis correlates this with the notion that some spiritual things are so fundamental that the intelligent man overlooks them because they are too obvious.

Reading Lewis for me is the equivalent of asking my brain to run sprints. His work...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Giedra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Another challenging book for me. I fancy myself an analytical thinker....but even on my best day, I can't come close to thinking on Lewis's level. The book surprised me, because I didn't realize it would be a proof for the existence of miracles. My “review” below is really a summary of the book with points I found most interesting. I have found that for dense books like this one, the exercise of writing the summary helps me solidify what I took from the book. For those of you who don’t want to r...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Jeremy marked it as gave-up

To say that I gave up on this books is a bit misleading, but I only have one bookshelf for books I actively choose to stop reading. The book is very well written, as is to be expected with Lewis. It simply isn't what I was expecting. The book is a philosophical defense of the legitimacy of the existence of miracles. Having been exposed to a variety of miracles firsthand, secondhand, and thirdhand, I don't have an appetite for such a defense. In addition, I am not prone to engage in philosophical...more

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May 22, 2013 Celine Low rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pretty convincing case for supernaturalism, for the probability of miracles happening. But not so convincing after the first few chapters ... I guess because there's a point after which he sorta jumps into the assumption that one has accepted the Christian God ... And then he starts explaining things without really giving much substantiation ... perhaps because there can be no substantiation? Because rationality can only lead u to a conclusion regarding what is most probable, but not what is cer...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had enjoyed The Screwtape Letters and thought I'd try another religious C.S. Lewis book. I listened to this one in the car, which I don't think is the best way to do this book. I think I was unable to follow several thought-trails in the book because I was busy merging or something. There were lots of lines and thoughts in the book that were interesting to think about. Lewis makes many interesting arguments for the existence of miracles (or for how "miracle" should be defined) that I liked. I...more

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Jul 08, 2010 Petrea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: petrea-s-book-shelf

Still trying to read most of C. S. Lewis' writings--slowly. This one was very slow--in the first place I already believe in Miracles, in the second it was very small print, in the third it was very carefully thought out and reasoned, and way smarter than I am. I did like the fact that he said something I have felt for a long time: "We all have Naturalism in our bones and even conversion does not at once work out the infection from our systems-. Its assumptions rush back upon the mind the moment...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Todd Miles rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: apologetics

In Lewis’s clear and sensible style, he lays out a compelling case for the reasonableness and possibility of miracles. Arguing that a miracle is not a divine interruption or violation of the natural order, Lewis explains that miracles are in perfect harmony with God’s governance of the world and do not constitute a violation at all. Though he does not see a miracle behind every bush, Lewis takes on the philosophical untenableness of the naturalist position that dismisses the mere possibility of...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Josh rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another amazing apologetic work by C. S. Lewis, not just about miracles, but covering many questions about life and the universe itself. There were so many "aha" moments in this book that really struck me as epiphany or were intensely intriguing. For example, I had wondered before how Jesus was the "first to rise from the dead" (paraphrase) when God had raised Lazarus and others from the dead before that. What I didn't realize (or it never "clicked") was that all the others were simply restored...more
Another amazing apologetic work by C. S. Lewis, not just about miracles, but covering many questions about life and the universe itself. There were so many "aha" moments in this book that really struck me as epiphany or were intensely intriguing. For example, I had wondered before how Jesus was the "first to rise from the dead" (paraphrase) when God had raised Lazarus and others from the dead before that. What I didn't realize (or it never "clicked") was that all the others were simply restored to normal bodies and normal life, whereas Jesus was resurrected into a glorified body such as that which we are promised to one day receive. The difference is immense. Jesus' resurrection is therefore a totally different event and in fact the first of its kind in all of history.

I especially love how he looks at answers to prayer. He says that we must not look at answered prayer as us having caused a change in the universe by what WE did, but rather that God, looking at all of history from outside our own reality, takes our prayers into account and that the events that occur do so as a result of his weaving this tapestry incorporating all of our prayers or lack thereof. I am paraphrasing (probably poorly), but the key is that we see the same end result but understand the process differently. The necessity of prayer persists but the focus is taken off of ourselves and placed on God.

I am not sure I agree, however (if I understand him correctly), that miracles only happen rarely or are the dramatic historical events (such as those major ones in Scripture). Certainly I myself have seen, or know those who claim to have experienced, miracles in our own lives. Though in some cases (perhaps many) one could argue natural causes for such, it doesn't change the fact that those events were answers to prayer, and I would rather give God the benefit of the doubt (and the glory) for having caused the event. Are those events that we all experience not miracles in the sense that Lewis defines them? In the appendix he seems to discuss "providence" (and answered prayer) as I describe in the paragraph above, and seems to make allowance for the answered prayers in this way. God hears and answers all of our prayers, and the fact of our praying is woven into the tapestry of life so that our prayers do, in fact, have an effect. I don't know if we need to make the distinction between these answered prayers and the "miracles" that God has done in history seemingly of his own volition (ie. no one prayed for it to happen). Are they not both equally miraculous?

In any case, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. (less)

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Apr 21, 2013 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Miracle" has become a dirty word in modern society. People generally view miracles as being, by their very definition, things that cannot possibly occur; therefore, anyone who argues for their existence is demonstrably an idiot. In this book, though, Lewis argues that miracles are only impossible so long as people consider Nature to encompass the entirety of all existence. He then capably demonstrates that Nature actually doesn't, thereby opening up an extensive range of fascinating possibility...more

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Jun 22, 2009 Tonya Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first four chapters of this book are the most difficult to understand. In them, C.S. Lewis tackles the question, "Is there a God and is he the Creator?" He uses logic to prove that there must be something beyond nature that gives us our ability to reason. He goes on to analyze the miracles performed during Christ's life and gives some very interesting insights into the nature of those miracles and what they teach us about the impact Christ has on our day-to-day existence. As was the case wit...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Natalie Moore rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: c-s-lewis, non-fiction, philosophy, religion

I usually quite enjoy a good Lewis read, but I can't remember enjoying one of his works less. (And as someone doing graduate research on magic and the supernatural I should have found it fascinating!)I felt it was a rather abstract and roundabout way to argue that miracles can logically occur. I enjoyed most how he demonstrated that belief in miracles was absolutely essential in the Christian religion (ie. the immaculate conception, the resurrection), but I feel he would have argued this much mo...more

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About C.S. Lewis

CLIVE STAPLES LEWIS (1898–1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more th...more

More about C.S. Lewis...

Books by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)

The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia #1-7)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3)

The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)

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Quotes from Miracles

“Miracles do not, in fact, break the laws of nature.” — 124 people liked it

“In Science we have been reading only the notes to a poem; in Christianity we find the poem itself.” — 6 people liked it

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avg rating	preview: Miracles Goodreads rating: 4.02 (5632 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30636.Miracles?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1168079584l/30636.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30636.Miracles?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Miracles by C.S. Lewis[/url]

Miracles

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