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The World's Last Night: And Other Essays
In seven witty, lucid, tough-minded essays, Lewis considers questions that challenge the faith of modern Christians. He discusses such topics as the efficacy of prayer, the various uses of the phrase €œI believe,€ the religious implications of life on other planets, the meaning of words like €œculture€ and €œreligion,€ and the idea of the Second Coming.
132 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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About the author
C.S. Lewis
1,032 books47.9k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Clive Staples Lewis 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. 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 than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.
Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]
Clive Staples Lewis 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. 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 than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.
Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]
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July 6, 2024
This is an amazing short book of essays by C.S. Lewis. My three favorite essays are "The Efficacy of Prayer," "Good Work and Good Works," and "The World's Last Night." "The Efficacy of Prayer" is a powerful read about what prayer is, the limits of logical empiricism, and the joy and doubt one experiences in conversation with Christ. I have read it many times and always find it incredibly encouraging.
The essay "Good Work and Good Works" gives good insights about what it means to do good honest work in a superficial culture filled with much instant gratification, commodity, and exploitation-good work transcends those things.
The essay "The World's Last Night" is about the second coming of Christ, the marriage of heaven and earth, and that no mortal can possibly know the day or hour of when Christ will return. Lewis' approach to the first century belief about Christ's second coming found in the Creeds is quite sane in contrast to much of the erroneous rapture theology that gets propagated through cheesy films and novels.
The essay "Good Work and Good Works" gives good insights about what it means to do good honest work in a superficial culture filled with much instant gratification, commodity, and exploitation-good work transcends those things.
The essay "The World's Last Night" is about the second coming of Christ, the marriage of heaven and earth, and that no mortal can possibly know the day or hour of when Christ will return. Lewis' approach to the first century belief about Christ's second coming found in the Creeds is quite sane in contrast to much of the erroneous rapture theology that gets propagated through cheesy films and novels.
December 27, 2017
The Efficacy of Prayer
This was actually the essay that most caught my interest and made me pick up the book. Prayer has been an issue for me for quite a while now, particularly its effectiveness on things/people prayed for. Lewis, as he has done many times for me in the past, succeeded in focusing on the simplicity of the subject, and discarding problematic theology surrounding it as if it wasn’t worth his time. I think I most appreciated his clarification of prayer as a request, and nothing more. Having been raised in an Evangelical environment, I was abundantly familiar with the stipulation that Christianity is a relationship with a personal, intimate God, as opposed to a collection of rites and rituals, laws and standards. But to read Lewis’ points on prayer being a method of communication to a relational God, fashioned purely on tenants of trust and personal connection, was in a strange way refreshing. While I still have plenty of issues with prayer and my arguments are far from solved, this essay reminded me that Lewis is still an authority within Christendom whom I trust.
On Obstinacy in Belief
The title for me was a bit misleading, which is likely (at least in some part) due to my reading it sixty years after it was published. The battle between science and faith seems just as strong then as it is now, from what Lewis has written, but I feel that the phrase ‘faith in the face of evidence’ carries a different weight today. Evidence has today such a close relationship with scientific thinking, that upon examination it seems silly that the modern American English dialect doesn’t have a different word when used in the context of trusting a friend or family member. Despite this feeling of disconnect, this essay was an enjoyable read, but most of its points were already ones I had arrived at along my life. Faith and Reason, to me, cannot be opposed to each other because they aren’t playing the same game. They occupy different parts of the human condition. If anything, they can enrich each other and learn from each other.
Lilies that Fester
I’m incredibly curious if I’ve read this essay before. I’ve always remembered its title, and have a vague memory of reading it, most curious to see what the title relates to in the text. But none of the statements or ideas seemed familiar to me. I must admit that reading this was a bit like my experience reading Kierkegaard in the past: I started off thinking ‘this won’t relate to me,’ but as I got deeper into it, could only think ‘my God, I’m terribly guilty of this.’ I freely admit that I take an absurd pride in being ‘cultured,’ and that my ego is certainly a contributing factor to my reading the books for ‘The Great Conversation.’ But I was encouraged to also connect with Lewis on his points of taking delight in art and literature, purely because of their inherent greatness. Perhaps it was more an issue at the time and environment of the writing, but I don’t feel like his ‘Charientocracy’ is any sort of looming danger in 21st century America. I certainly see the the problem of an ‘elite’ within the art world, and more broadly in academia, but those demographics are simply not the same demographics as the ruling class of today. Still, the essay was an enjoyable and educational read.
Screwtape Proposes a Toast
I read ‘The Screwtape Letters’ in jr. high, and this essay was included in my copy. I’ve read this essay a few times in my life, and as any Evangelical will tell you, ‘Screwtape’ is one of the necessary reads for the often deified CS Lewis (though if Evangelicals read and applied more of what he says in the grander body of his works, that sect of the church would look rather different). Needless to say, I was not terribly excited to work my way through this essay. To me, the two ’Screwtape’ works, along with the Narnia series, and ‘Mere Christianity,’ are basic, rudimentary reads for Christian theology. They are well done and have good lessons, but these works carry a heavy weight for me, having been raised in American Evangelicalism. And it still frustrates me how highly praised they are for their perceived high theology. Objectively, though, the read was easy and littered with good points, but I think I’ll be carrying these weights with me for the rest of my life.
Good Work and Good Works
This essay was a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I appreciated Lewis’ brief summary of how the working world developed and how that relates to taking pride in work. I smiled at his disparaging words regarding the art world. And I loved his statement ‘…employment is not an end in itself.’ (this earned the highest honor I give a statement in reading: drawing a box around the statement) I even go so far as to say I will be thinking for a while on how some of his statements relate to socialism (which I know he would not like). But on the other hand, I can’t help but notice that Lewis is uncharacteristically silent in terms of presenting solutions to the problems he discusses. It’s a short essay, and aside from a few brief statements commenting on better attitudes versus how people commonly treat employment and labor. But in the grand scheme of Lewis’ work, it’s not terribly difficult to see where he was going with his points. Lastly, this was a bit of a significant read for me. One of the inciting instances that spurred me into working in comics was reading an article in the (now discontinued) 7ball Magazine regarding Christians working in the comic industry. One of the comic creators interviewed (it might have been Dennis O’Neil) said ‘to paraphrase CS Lewis, we don’t need good Christians making comics, but Christians making good comics.’ And so I’m pretty certain that it was this essay to which he was referring.
Religion and Rocketry
Perhaps my favorite essay of the collection, this one fascinated me due to the scientific speculation, for the most part (which was in one sense what Lewis was attempting to avoid). I have more than once wondered about the religious implications of life on other planets. And advancements in astronomical exploration have only furthered this discussion among rationalists. But Lewis’ first point that after the dust has settled in the hot topic conversations, science and religion are still there, most often at square one, still claiming the same ideas they did beforehand. What most intrigued me was the speculation of an alien race that is not fallen. Lewis’ point that Christianity doesn’t elevate humanity but actually lowers its status is perfectly valid, and so it becomes perfectly reasonable to question the possibility that there is a people in the universe that never sinned. This, among other races (i.e. a people that have spiritual souls, but are inferior to us in rational faculties, or that sin or don’t sin in fashions that are basically different from us, to the same degree of physical differences like communicating through scents or asexual reproduction), are all ventures that would inevitably lead to destruction and evil due to humanity’s sinful tendencies: ‘We know what our race does to strangers. Man destroys or enslaves every species it can. Civilized man murders, enslaves, cheats, and corrupts savage man. Even inanimate nature he turns to dust bowls and slag-heaps.’ Some of this clearly alluded to his science-fiction books, where Earth is quarantined due to its fallen nature. Most important, as Lewis said, is that with all this speculation, all that is accomplished is a reemphasis on the necessity for people today to stand against injustice and the strong taking advantage of the weak. If we cannot make moral decisions amongst our own people, then what hope do we have of doing so to strangers from a distant world?
The World's Last Night
This was an interesting and unexpected dive into Lewis' pure doctrine, which I feel is quite rare for him. Reading his little bits of scripture interpretation was new even for me. But his assessment of apocalyptic theology concludes to points I have long felt regarding the topic: the only option of a reaction is to be always ready, always working. Anything further than that is pure nonsense. It was equally validating to see him discuss how 'the sky is falling' beliefs function on inciting intense emotions from the believers, and his rebuke of that philosophy. Feelings are certainly a part of the human experience, but to base anything off of their fickle nature only creates further difficulties.
The collection was a wonderfully insightful look into Lewis' general theology. Glimpses into various topics, I can now see, is a valuable method of understanding the broader concepts that Lewis leans toward. Reading his brief thoughts on public vs. private education, evolution, the involvement of government in the private sector, etc. all leant themselves to my understanding of his theology a bit better. What fascinated me, though, was that despite my disagreeing with him on several points (most of which were not the focus of the respective essays), I still not only learned from the central ideas he proposed, but also still hold him as an authority I trust, even after all these years of changes to my own beliefs. It's been quite a while since I read something by him, but he still has the same effect on me.
This was actually the essay that most caught my interest and made me pick up the book. Prayer has been an issue for me for quite a while now, particularly its effectiveness on things/people prayed for. Lewis, as he has done many times for me in the past, succeeded in focusing on the simplicity of the subject, and discarding problematic theology surrounding it as if it wasn’t worth his time. I think I most appreciated his clarification of prayer as a request, and nothing more. Having been raised in an Evangelical environment, I was abundantly familiar with the stipulation that Christianity is a relationship with a personal, intimate God, as opposed to a collection of rites and rituals, laws and standards. But to read Lewis’ points on prayer being a method of communication to a relational God, fashioned purely on tenants of trust and personal connection, was in a strange way refreshing. While I still have plenty of issues with prayer and my arguments are far from solved, this essay reminded me that Lewis is still an authority within Christendom whom I trust.
On Obstinacy in Belief
The title for me was a bit misleading, which is likely (at least in some part) due to my reading it sixty years after it was published. The battle between science and faith seems just as strong then as it is now, from what Lewis has written, but I feel that the phrase ‘faith in the face of evidence’ carries a different weight today. Evidence has today such a close relationship with scientific thinking, that upon examination it seems silly that the modern American English dialect doesn’t have a different word when used in the context of trusting a friend or family member. Despite this feeling of disconnect, this essay was an enjoyable read, but most of its points were already ones I had arrived at along my life. Faith and Reason, to me, cannot be opposed to each other because they aren’t playing the same game. They occupy different parts of the human condition. If anything, they can enrich each other and learn from each other.
Lilies that Fester
I’m incredibly curious if I’ve read this essay before. I’ve always remembered its title, and have a vague memory of reading it, most curious to see what the title relates to in the text. But none of the statements or ideas seemed familiar to me. I must admit that reading this was a bit like my experience reading Kierkegaard in the past: I started off thinking ‘this won’t relate to me,’ but as I got deeper into it, could only think ‘my God, I’m terribly guilty of this.’ I freely admit that I take an absurd pride in being ‘cultured,’ and that my ego is certainly a contributing factor to my reading the books for ‘The Great Conversation.’ But I was encouraged to also connect with Lewis on his points of taking delight in art and literature, purely because of their inherent greatness. Perhaps it was more an issue at the time and environment of the writing, but I don’t feel like his ‘Charientocracy’ is any sort of looming danger in 21st century America. I certainly see the the problem of an ‘elite’ within the art world, and more broadly in academia, but those demographics are simply not the same demographics as the ruling class of today. Still, the essay was an enjoyable and educational read.
Screwtape Proposes a Toast
I read ‘The Screwtape Letters’ in jr. high, and this essay was included in my copy. I’ve read this essay a few times in my life, and as any Evangelical will tell you, ‘Screwtape’ is one of the necessary reads for the often deified CS Lewis (though if Evangelicals read and applied more of what he says in the grander body of his works, that sect of the church would look rather different). Needless to say, I was not terribly excited to work my way through this essay. To me, the two ’Screwtape’ works, along with the Narnia series, and ‘Mere Christianity,’ are basic, rudimentary reads for Christian theology. They are well done and have good lessons, but these works carry a heavy weight for me, having been raised in American Evangelicalism. And it still frustrates me how highly praised they are for their perceived high theology. Objectively, though, the read was easy and littered with good points, but I think I’ll be carrying these weights with me for the rest of my life.
Good Work and Good Works
This essay was a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I appreciated Lewis’ brief summary of how the working world developed and how that relates to taking pride in work. I smiled at his disparaging words regarding the art world. And I loved his statement ‘…employment is not an end in itself.’ (this earned the highest honor I give a statement in reading: drawing a box around the statement) I even go so far as to say I will be thinking for a while on how some of his statements relate to socialism (which I know he would not like). But on the other hand, I can’t help but notice that Lewis is uncharacteristically silent in terms of presenting solutions to the problems he discusses. It’s a short essay, and aside from a few brief statements commenting on better attitudes versus how people commonly treat employment and labor. But in the grand scheme of Lewis’ work, it’s not terribly difficult to see where he was going with his points. Lastly, this was a bit of a significant read for me. One of the inciting instances that spurred me into working in comics was reading an article in the (now discontinued) 7ball Magazine regarding Christians working in the comic industry. One of the comic creators interviewed (it might have been Dennis O’Neil) said ‘to paraphrase CS Lewis, we don’t need good Christians making comics, but Christians making good comics.’ And so I’m pretty certain that it was this essay to which he was referring.
Religion and Rocketry
Perhaps my favorite essay of the collection, this one fascinated me due to the scientific speculation, for the most part (which was in one sense what Lewis was attempting to avoid). I have more than once wondered about the religious implications of life on other planets. And advancements in astronomical exploration have only furthered this discussion among rationalists. But Lewis’ first point that after the dust has settled in the hot topic conversations, science and religion are still there, most often at square one, still claiming the same ideas they did beforehand. What most intrigued me was the speculation of an alien race that is not fallen. Lewis’ point that Christianity doesn’t elevate humanity but actually lowers its status is perfectly valid, and so it becomes perfectly reasonable to question the possibility that there is a people in the universe that never sinned. This, among other races (i.e. a people that have spiritual souls, but are inferior to us in rational faculties, or that sin or don’t sin in fashions that are basically different from us, to the same degree of physical differences like communicating through scents or asexual reproduction), are all ventures that would inevitably lead to destruction and evil due to humanity’s sinful tendencies: ‘We know what our race does to strangers. Man destroys or enslaves every species it can. Civilized man murders, enslaves, cheats, and corrupts savage man. Even inanimate nature he turns to dust bowls and slag-heaps.’ Some of this clearly alluded to his science-fiction books, where Earth is quarantined due to its fallen nature. Most important, as Lewis said, is that with all this speculation, all that is accomplished is a reemphasis on the necessity for people today to stand against injustice and the strong taking advantage of the weak. If we cannot make moral decisions amongst our own people, then what hope do we have of doing so to strangers from a distant world?
The World's Last Night
This was an interesting and unexpected dive into Lewis' pure doctrine, which I feel is quite rare for him. Reading his little bits of scripture interpretation was new even for me. But his assessment of apocalyptic theology concludes to points I have long felt regarding the topic: the only option of a reaction is to be always ready, always working. Anything further than that is pure nonsense. It was equally validating to see him discuss how 'the sky is falling' beliefs function on inciting intense emotions from the believers, and his rebuke of that philosophy. Feelings are certainly a part of the human experience, but to base anything off of their fickle nature only creates further difficulties.
The collection was a wonderfully insightful look into Lewis' general theology. Glimpses into various topics, I can now see, is a valuable method of understanding the broader concepts that Lewis leans toward. Reading his brief thoughts on public vs. private education, evolution, the involvement of government in the private sector, etc. all leant themselves to my understanding of his theology a bit better. What fascinated me, though, was that despite my disagreeing with him on several points (most of which were not the focus of the respective essays), I still not only learned from the central ideas he proposed, but also still hold him as an authority I trust, even after all these years of changes to my own beliefs. It's been quite a while since I read something by him, but he still has the same effect on me.
November 11, 2021
"ماذا إذا كانت الليلة هى الليلة الأخيرة للعالم؟"
يطرح الكاتب الكثير من الاسئلة, بعض الاسئلة لها إجابات واضحة وبعض منها لها إجابات مبنية على فرضيات والبعض الاخر ليس لها إجابات واضحة.
فى اجزاء كتير من الكتاب كانت محتاجة تتعاد اكتر من مرة عشان تتفهم 💔 دى أول مرة اقرا لـ لويس مش عارف هل كتاباته معقدة إلى حد ما بالشكل ده ولا المشكلة فيا 😂
يطرح الكاتب الكثير من الاسئلة, بعض الاسئلة لها إجابات واضحة وبعض منها لها إجابات مبنية على فرضيات والبعض الاخر ليس لها إجابات واضحة.
فى اجزاء كتير من الكتاب كانت محتاجة تتعاد اكتر من مرة عشان تتفهم 💔 دى أول مرة اقرا لـ لويس مش عارف هل كتاباته معقدة إلى حد ما بالشكل ده ولا المشكلة فيا 😂
October 16, 2018
Quanto mais eu leio C. S. Lewis, mais ele consolida o seu posto de 'meu autor favorito'. <3
Neste livro de pouco mais de 100 páginas, o autor aborda diversas questões religiosas e sociais, as quais são bastante intrigantes. Dentre as temáticas abordadas por Lewis ao longo destes 7 ensaios, estão a eficácia da oração, um paralelo muito pertinente sobre cultura e religião, como devemos encarar os nossos conceitos sobre Deus e até a possibilidade de haver vidas em outros planetas (algo que já estava presente em sua 'Trilogia Espacial').
Dos ensaios que compõem o livro, um dos meus favoritos foi "Maldonado propõe um brinde" escrito em dezembro de 1959. O autor, de forma genial, faz uma explicação sobre aquilo que hoje temos e enxergamos como Democracia. No entanto, algo que deixa o/a leitor/a mais intrigado é que esta explicação é feita por Maldonado, um dos demônios à serviço do diabo. Em tempos como o que estamos vivendo no momento, este texto é tão preciso, atual e conversa de forma tão poderosa com o nosso contexto que parece que foi escrito na semana passada. Isso só mostra o quanto Lewis era um homem que escreveu não só para a época em que viveu, mas também para as gerações futuras.
Entretanto, de todos os ensaios, o que mais me envolveu e comoveu foi "A última noite do mundo", o último ensaio que dá título ao livro e foi escrito no inverno de 1952. A temática principal do ensaio é a volta de Cristo (ou segunda vinda de Cristo), onde o autor traz uma perspectiva clara e bastante coerente sobre a questão, esclarecendo muitas dúvidas, amenizando alguns medos e abrindo os olhos para outras questões que nós, Cristãos, devemos ficar atentos.
Deixo aqui o parágrafo que encerra tanto o ensaio quanto o livro "A última noite do mundo", um dos trechos que mais conversou comigo:
"Não acho que imagens de catástrofe física - aquele sinal nas nuvens, aqueles céus enrolados como um pergaminho - ajudem tanto quanto a ideia nua de julgamento. Nem sempre podemos estar empolgados. Podemos, talvez, treinar-nos para perguntar cada vez mais frequentemente como aquilo que estamos dizendo ou fazendo (ou deixando de fazer) a cada momento parecerá quando a luz irresistível fluir sobre ela; aquela luz que é tão diferente da luz deste mundo - e, no entanto, mesmo agora, conhecemos apenas o suficiente dela para levá-la em conta. As mulheres às vezes têm o problema de tentar julgar sob luz artificial como um vestido ficará à luz do dia. Isso é muito parecido com o problema de todos nós: vestir nossa alma não para as luzes elétricas do mundo atual, mas para a luz do dia do vindouro. O bom vestido é aquele que enfrentará essa luz, pois essa luz durará mais."
Neste livro de pouco mais de 100 páginas, o autor aborda diversas questões religiosas e sociais, as quais são bastante intrigantes. Dentre as temáticas abordadas por Lewis ao longo destes 7 ensaios, estão a eficácia da oração, um paralelo muito pertinente sobre cultura e religião, como devemos encarar os nossos conceitos sobre Deus e até a possibilidade de haver vidas em outros planetas (algo que já estava presente em sua 'Trilogia Espacial').
Dos ensaios que compõem o livro, um dos meus favoritos foi "Maldonado propõe um brinde" escrito em dezembro de 1959. O autor, de forma genial, faz uma explicação sobre aquilo que hoje temos e enxergamos como Democracia. No entanto, algo que deixa o/a leitor/a mais intrigado é que esta explicação é feita por Maldonado, um dos demônios à serviço do diabo. Em tempos como o que estamos vivendo no momento, este texto é tão preciso, atual e conversa de forma tão poderosa com o nosso contexto que parece que foi escrito na semana passada. Isso só mostra o quanto Lewis era um homem que escreveu não só para a época em que viveu, mas também para as gerações futuras.
Entretanto, de todos os ensaios, o que mais me envolveu e comoveu foi "A última noite do mundo", o último ensaio que dá título ao livro e foi escrito no inverno de 1952. A temática principal do ensaio é a volta de Cristo (ou segunda vinda de Cristo), onde o autor traz uma perspectiva clara e bastante coerente sobre a questão, esclarecendo muitas dúvidas, amenizando alguns medos e abrindo os olhos para outras questões que nós, Cristãos, devemos ficar atentos.
Deixo aqui o parágrafo que encerra tanto o ensaio quanto o livro "A última noite do mundo", um dos trechos que mais conversou comigo:
"Não acho que imagens de catástrofe física - aquele sinal nas nuvens, aqueles céus enrolados como um pergaminho - ajudem tanto quanto a ideia nua de julgamento. Nem sempre podemos estar empolgados. Podemos, talvez, treinar-nos para perguntar cada vez mais frequentemente como aquilo que estamos dizendo ou fazendo (ou deixando de fazer) a cada momento parecerá quando a luz irresistível fluir sobre ela; aquela luz que é tão diferente da luz deste mundo - e, no entanto, mesmo agora, conhecemos apenas o suficiente dela para levá-la em conta. As mulheres às vezes têm o problema de tentar julgar sob luz artificial como um vestido ficará à luz do dia. Isso é muito parecido com o problema de todos nós: vestir nossa alma não para as luzes elétricas do mundo atual, mas para a luz do dia do vindouro. O bom vestido é aquele que enfrentará essa luz, pois essa luz durará mais."
December 9, 2023
C.S. Lewis, Jesus was wrong....
“Say what you like,” we shall be told, “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.”
“It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.”
― C.S. Lewis, The World's Last Night: And Other Essays
“Say what you like,” we shall be told, “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.”
“It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.”
― C.S. Lewis, The World's Last Night: And Other Essays
April 3, 2020
3.5🌟🌟🌟/5
This book is a short collection of essays that circulate around the subject of christianity. These were well written and seem to be meant more for people who have more of a background in this faith. There were many times where he would make a reference and there was no background given, no further details what the reference was directed toward. I feel this could have rounded out the points he was making, which is more of a flaw with the this version not being updated to acknowledge just under 70 years worth of different between now and the time this was written.
This was also written differently than his Narnia books. So the writing itself was also not something I was a huge fan of. This read more like philosophy than anything.
C.S. Lewis did make many excellent points and I was very enlightened by what I did understand of it. I enjoyed the overall subject matter and found this read interesting and mind expanding.
This book is a short collection of essays that circulate around the subject of christianity. These were well written and seem to be meant more for people who have more of a background in this faith. There were many times where he would make a reference and there was no background given, no further details what the reference was directed toward. I feel this could have rounded out the points he was making, which is more of a flaw with the this version not being updated to acknowledge just under 70 years worth of different between now and the time this was written.
This was also written differently than his Narnia books. So the writing itself was also not something I was a huge fan of. This read more like philosophy than anything.
C.S. Lewis did make many excellent points and I was very enlightened by what I did understand of it. I enjoyed the overall subject matter and found this read interesting and mind expanding.
October 31, 2025
I don't know what my problem was when I first read this book in 2018. I found this time around that I enjoyed each chapter far more than I seem to have done before. Here are my thoughts on each essay (and my original review can be found below).
1. The Efficacy of Prayer (4/5)
A lovely reflection on what prayer is really for: For personal communion with God and participation alongside him in his eternal plan and purpose. Reflection of Psalm 8 would accompany this one quite well.
2. On Obstinancy in Belief (4.5/5)
This one is quite interesting to read right after Bavinck's The Certainty of Faith because there's actually a lot of overlap in the argument being made: Christian faith is essentially trust in the testimony of an eminently trustworthy Person, and so it isn't subject to the same rules of doubt required of scientific hypotheses or other forms of knowledge. Sprinkle in a little Plantinga with the insight that this faith fits neatly with a confident disbelief in solipsism.
3. Lilies that Fester (3.5/5)
More cultural commentary than devotional, but it's still an interesting read. Lewis seems to articulate a third way between what I see as the loudest voices of the moment: Both of which sides would use education as a means of reproducing a certain kind of cultured person. Lewis' criticisms of "the Charientocracy" land simultaneously against those (especially common among homeschoolers) who push "Classical education" and against those who push for more modern critical mindset. Both destroy the arts by appropriating them to some other end (that of cultivating a specific mindset in order to swing society in a particular political direction).
4. Screwtape Proposes a Toast (4.5)
Equal parts remarks on virtue (via vice) and social commentary. Through the character of Screwtape, Lewis laments the effects of what he calls "the democratic spirit" -- not democracy itself but the idea that the ideal of equality is actually a plain fact ("I'm as good as you"), regardless of individual merits or demerits. Plenty of these remarks might be quibbled with or nuanced, but the whole thrust of the argument is (I think) spot on.
5. Good Work and Good Works (4/5)
This essay felt surprisingly modern. Lewis bemoans our present consumerist culture with its problems of planned obsolescence and valueless labor, and muses on how to live in this world in a way that promotes good work. As with many of Lewis' essays, this one touches on several related subjects, particularly the role of artists in culture and how a responsible artist fulfills that role.
6. Religion and Rocketry (4.5/5)
This was a rather creative exercise in Apologetics, with Lewis imagining the likelihood that the existence of alien life would pose a theological problem for Christians. He concludes, I think quite rationally, that even if extraterrestrial animals existed, we would have to assume several more major propositions before any Christian would have any reason to sweat. In typical Lewisian fashion, there's plenty of fun speculation going on in these pages.
7. The World's Last Night (4/5)
It just so happened that I read this chapter on the same morning I read Matthew 24-25, with the idea of Christ's return already on my mind. This might be my favorite of all the chapters for its devotional practicality. It's just a shame this is also the essay in which Lewis perhaps makes his most problematic theological statement!
Lewis deals credibly and sensibly with naturalistic objections to the doctrine of the Second Coming, and he makes several sound suggestions for how we ought to live in light of that doctrine. The arguments are thoughtful, well-illustrated, and (as far as I can tell) perfectly logical.
The problem, of course, comes when Lewis admits that Jesus was mistaken when he said his Return would be during his disciples' lifetime. Without meaning to dismiss the seriousness of that error, though, I did find multiple factors that mitigated it. (1) He does, perhaps inconsistently, accept at face value all of Christ's other teachings on the subject. (2) He grounds the possibility of mistakenness in a perfectly orthodox understanding of the Incarnation. (The issue is not so much, "Could Jesus speak according to human ignorance?" but rather, "Would the Holy Spirit ever permit Jesus to teach fallibly?" Lewis' answer to that problem is, at best, poorly thought through. At worst, it'splain wrong.) (3) He does at least hedge a bit and acknowledge that Jesus's incorrectness is apparent. (4) The whole essay doesn't hang on this supposition. One could read this part as a concession for the sake of argument ("Even if Jesus was wrong on this point, it wouldn't disprove the doctrine as a whole.").
At any rate, the gold here far outweighs the dross -- though the dross is there, and it's a reminder that we can't read Lewis like a typical American evangelical. He wasn't one.
--- 30/35 = 85/100 = 4.25/5 ---
2018 Review: This is somewhat of a mixed bag of essays. "The Efficacy of Prayer" is alright, as well as "On Obstinancy in Belief." "Lilies That Fester" deviated from what I think to be Lewis' trademark cleverness. The last three articles, "Good Work and Good Works," "Religion and Rocketry," and "The World's Last Night" are more like what I expect from my favorite Anglican. "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," however, blows all the rest of them away. Those twenty-one pages are worth the price of the entire book!
1. The Efficacy of Prayer (4/5)
A lovely reflection on what prayer is really for: For personal communion with God and participation alongside him in his eternal plan and purpose. Reflection of Psalm 8 would accompany this one quite well.
2. On Obstinancy in Belief (4.5/5)
This one is quite interesting to read right after Bavinck's The Certainty of Faith because there's actually a lot of overlap in the argument being made: Christian faith is essentially trust in the testimony of an eminently trustworthy Person, and so it isn't subject to the same rules of doubt required of scientific hypotheses or other forms of knowledge. Sprinkle in a little Plantinga with the insight that this faith fits neatly with a confident disbelief in solipsism.
3. Lilies that Fester (3.5/5)
More cultural commentary than devotional, but it's still an interesting read. Lewis seems to articulate a third way between what I see as the loudest voices of the moment: Both of which sides would use education as a means of reproducing a certain kind of cultured person. Lewis' criticisms of "the Charientocracy" land simultaneously against those (especially common among homeschoolers) who push "Classical education" and against those who push for more modern critical mindset. Both destroy the arts by appropriating them to some other end (that of cultivating a specific mindset in order to swing society in a particular political direction).
4. Screwtape Proposes a Toast (4.5)
Equal parts remarks on virtue (via vice) and social commentary. Through the character of Screwtape, Lewis laments the effects of what he calls "the democratic spirit" -- not democracy itself but the idea that the ideal of equality is actually a plain fact ("I'm as good as you"), regardless of individual merits or demerits. Plenty of these remarks might be quibbled with or nuanced, but the whole thrust of the argument is (I think) spot on.
5. Good Work and Good Works (4/5)
This essay felt surprisingly modern. Lewis bemoans our present consumerist culture with its problems of planned obsolescence and valueless labor, and muses on how to live in this world in a way that promotes good work. As with many of Lewis' essays, this one touches on several related subjects, particularly the role of artists in culture and how a responsible artist fulfills that role.
6. Religion and Rocketry (4.5/5)
This was a rather creative exercise in Apologetics, with Lewis imagining the likelihood that the existence of alien life would pose a theological problem for Christians. He concludes, I think quite rationally, that even if extraterrestrial animals existed, we would have to assume several more major propositions before any Christian would have any reason to sweat. In typical Lewisian fashion, there's plenty of fun speculation going on in these pages.
7. The World's Last Night (4/5)
It just so happened that I read this chapter on the same morning I read Matthew 24-25, with the idea of Christ's return already on my mind. This might be my favorite of all the chapters for its devotional practicality. It's just a shame this is also the essay in which Lewis perhaps makes his most problematic theological statement!
Lewis deals credibly and sensibly with naturalistic objections to the doctrine of the Second Coming, and he makes several sound suggestions for how we ought to live in light of that doctrine. The arguments are thoughtful, well-illustrated, and (as far as I can tell) perfectly logical.
The problem, of course, comes when Lewis admits that Jesus was mistaken when he said his Return would be during his disciples' lifetime. Without meaning to dismiss the seriousness of that error, though, I did find multiple factors that mitigated it. (1) He does, perhaps inconsistently, accept at face value all of Christ's other teachings on the subject. (2) He grounds the possibility of mistakenness in a perfectly orthodox understanding of the Incarnation. (The issue is not so much, "Could Jesus speak according to human ignorance?" but rather, "Would the Holy Spirit ever permit Jesus to teach fallibly?" Lewis' answer to that problem is, at best, poorly thought through. At worst, it'splain wrong.) (3) He does at least hedge a bit and acknowledge that Jesus's incorrectness is apparent. (4) The whole essay doesn't hang on this supposition. One could read this part as a concession for the sake of argument ("Even if Jesus was wrong on this point, it wouldn't disprove the doctrine as a whole.").
At any rate, the gold here far outweighs the dross -- though the dross is there, and it's a reminder that we can't read Lewis like a typical American evangelical. He wasn't one.
--- 30/35 = 85/100 = 4.25/5 ---
2018 Review: This is somewhat of a mixed bag of essays. "The Efficacy of Prayer" is alright, as well as "On Obstinancy in Belief." "Lilies That Fester" deviated from what I think to be Lewis' trademark cleverness. The last three articles, "Good Work and Good Works," "Religion and Rocketry," and "The World's Last Night" are more like what I expect from my favorite Anglican. "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," however, blows all the rest of them away. Those twenty-one pages are worth the price of the entire book!
December 23, 2021
Recomendo: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
É um livro curtinho, mas super denso no trato dos temas.
Não se deixe enganar pelo número de páginas.
Gostei, especificamente, do Capítulo 3 - "Lírios Que Apodrecem".
Neste, ele fala muito sobre a educação, sistema educacional, sua filosofia fundante, "modus operandi", modernismo, pós-modernismo (mesmo sem saber...).
É dogmático confrontador e simples.
Posso dizer que é um "desviciador" da nossa comum visão de mundo.
É um livro curtinho, mas super denso no trato dos temas.
Não se deixe enganar pelo número de páginas.
Gostei, especificamente, do Capítulo 3 - "Lírios Que Apodrecem".
Neste, ele fala muito sobre a educação, sistema educacional, sua filosofia fundante, "modus operandi", modernismo, pós-modernismo (mesmo sem saber...).
É dogmático confrontador e simples.
Posso dizer que é um "desviciador" da nossa comum visão de mundo.
August 29, 2019
Several of these essays and excerpts were new to me, or possibly, too much time has passed since I first read them! I especially appreciated "Lilies That Fester" and the concepts of refinement and culture. Culture or "being cultured" was an idol at the time of the essay and holds strikingly true still with each example. So relevant and so needed.
March 20, 2020
The title essay is really great. Plus some other goodies.
April 17, 2021
In this compilation of essays, CS Lewis presents topics and issues in easy to read language. But I still find myself having to read and reread passages because I fail to grasp the concepts and the author's meaning.
The first in the collection of essays, "Efficacy of Prayer" was what caught my attention as I so often struggle with our call to prayer in light of the doctrine of Providence. So, I had to read this essay over and over. Lewis's use of the following Pascal quote is the theme of this piece.
“God,’ said Pascal, ‘instituted prayer in order to lend to His creatures the dignity of causality.’ But not only prayer; whenever we act at all He lends us that dignity.”
This causes me to ponder, what a wonder it is that God gives us the privilege and lends us this dignity!
I mulled over Lewis's repeated sentiment in “Lilies that Fester,”
“All political power is at best a necessary evil: but it is least evil when its sanctions are most modest and commonplace, when it claims no more than to be useful or convenient and sets itself strictly limited objectives. Anything transcendental or spiritual, or even anything very strongly ethical, in its pretensions is dangerous and encourages it to meddle with our private lives.”
(How dangerous is the meddling and the power of government at this time....hmmm?)
In "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" Lewis presents the nature of government and education and their effects on societal moral development. Lewis never claimed to be a prophet, but, oh my! This essay should be read by every thinking human who is willing to consider and evaluate the purposes and effectiveness of various government institutions.
Lewis explains in "Good Work and Good Works", the proper marriage between “good works” and “good work”. He declares that “the great mass of men in all fully industrialized societies are the victims of a situation which almost excludes the idea of Good Work from the outset.” Most poignantly he details the field of academia and how few 'educational professionals' are truly interested in what learning takes place there, but that the focus among educators, students and parents is to 'get an education' in order to 'make money.' This he contrasts with the Good Work of learning and growing in knowledge for the pure delight of becoming a learner.
Most stunning to me is "The World's Last Night". Here Lewis gives us a rare taste of his pure doctrine. And how intriguing it is that he refers to himself as far from an expert to do so! His assessment of apocalyptic theology concludes with the view to be always ready, always working. To predict the time or even the era of the Second Coming of Christ is nonsense. His rebuke of the 'the sky is falling' philosophy caused me to pause because we so frequently hear Christians say "the time is near" as though our current time is more troubled than any other in the history. How narrowly we interpret times and epochs. How little we know and how we fail to see beyond ourselves and our "world".
These brilliantly crafted essays will need to be visited again as I most assuredly was able to just tread in the shallows of the author's intended depth of purpose in writing each piece. But, I thoroughly enjoyed the first dive! Please dive in and let me know your thoughts!
The first in the collection of essays, "Efficacy of Prayer" was what caught my attention as I so often struggle with our call to prayer in light of the doctrine of Providence. So, I had to read this essay over and over. Lewis's use of the following Pascal quote is the theme of this piece.
“God,’ said Pascal, ‘instituted prayer in order to lend to His creatures the dignity of causality.’ But not only prayer; whenever we act at all He lends us that dignity.”
This causes me to ponder, what a wonder it is that God gives us the privilege and lends us this dignity!
I mulled over Lewis's repeated sentiment in “Lilies that Fester,”
“All political power is at best a necessary evil: but it is least evil when its sanctions are most modest and commonplace, when it claims no more than to be useful or convenient and sets itself strictly limited objectives. Anything transcendental or spiritual, or even anything very strongly ethical, in its pretensions is dangerous and encourages it to meddle with our private lives.”
(How dangerous is the meddling and the power of government at this time....hmmm?)
In "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" Lewis presents the nature of government and education and their effects on societal moral development. Lewis never claimed to be a prophet, but, oh my! This essay should be read by every thinking human who is willing to consider and evaluate the purposes and effectiveness of various government institutions.
Lewis explains in "Good Work and Good Works", the proper marriage between “good works” and “good work”. He declares that “the great mass of men in all fully industrialized societies are the victims of a situation which almost excludes the idea of Good Work from the outset.” Most poignantly he details the field of academia and how few 'educational professionals' are truly interested in what learning takes place there, but that the focus among educators, students and parents is to 'get an education' in order to 'make money.' This he contrasts with the Good Work of learning and growing in knowledge for the pure delight of becoming a learner.
Most stunning to me is "The World's Last Night". Here Lewis gives us a rare taste of his pure doctrine. And how intriguing it is that he refers to himself as far from an expert to do so! His assessment of apocalyptic theology concludes with the view to be always ready, always working. To predict the time or even the era of the Second Coming of Christ is nonsense. His rebuke of the 'the sky is falling' philosophy caused me to pause because we so frequently hear Christians say "the time is near" as though our current time is more troubled than any other in the history. How narrowly we interpret times and epochs. How little we know and how we fail to see beyond ourselves and our "world".
These brilliantly crafted essays will need to be visited again as I most assuredly was able to just tread in the shallows of the author's intended depth of purpose in writing each piece. But, I thoroughly enjoyed the first dive! Please dive in and let me know your thoughts!
July 9, 2023
a lovely little collection of essays!
April 14, 2020
Still making my way through my 2020 reading goals (read all of C.S. Lewis's published works). This is a compilation of essays Lewis wrote, and leave the reader with a fridge stuffed full of food for thought...metaphorically...too much?
"He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do in the twinkling of an eye. He allows us to neglect what He would have us do, or to fail. Perhaps we do not fully realize the problem, so to call it, of enabling finite free wills to co-exist with Omnipotence. It seems to involve at every moment almost a sort of divine abdication. We are not mere recipients or spectators. We are either privileged to share in the game or compelled to collaborate in the work, 'to wield our little tridents.'"
"Prayer is not a machine. It is not magic. It is not advice offered to God. Our act, when we pray, must not, any more that all our other acts, be separated from the continuous act of God Himself, in which alone all finite causes operate. It would be even worse to think of those who get what they pray for as a sort of court favorites, people who have influence with the throne. The refused prayer of Christ in Gethsemane is answer to that."
"My epithet for the other would, I think, be 'swaggering.' It tends in my experience to be raw, truculent, eager to give pain, insatiable in its demands for submission, resentful and suspicious of disagreement. Where the goody-goody slinks and sidles and purrs (and sometimes scratches) like a cat, his opposite number in the ranks of the cultured gobbles like an enraged turkey. And perhaps both types are less curable than the hypocrite proper. A hypocrite might (conceivably) repent and mend; or he might be unmasked and rendered innocuous. But who could bring to repentance, and who can unmask, those who were attempting no deception? Who don't know that they are not the real thing because they don't know that there ever was a real thing?"
"Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds."
"This is the point non-Christians always seem to forget. They seem to think that the Incarnation implies some particular merit or excellence in humanity. But of course it implies just the reverse: a particular demerit and depravity. No creature that deserved Redemption would need to be redeemed. They that are whole need not the physician. Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it."
I'd rate this book a PG.
"He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do in the twinkling of an eye. He allows us to neglect what He would have us do, or to fail. Perhaps we do not fully realize the problem, so to call it, of enabling finite free wills to co-exist with Omnipotence. It seems to involve at every moment almost a sort of divine abdication. We are not mere recipients or spectators. We are either privileged to share in the game or compelled to collaborate in the work, 'to wield our little tridents.'"
"Prayer is not a machine. It is not magic. It is not advice offered to God. Our act, when we pray, must not, any more that all our other acts, be separated from the continuous act of God Himself, in which alone all finite causes operate. It would be even worse to think of those who get what they pray for as a sort of court favorites, people who have influence with the throne. The refused prayer of Christ in Gethsemane is answer to that."
"My epithet for the other would, I think, be 'swaggering.' It tends in my experience to be raw, truculent, eager to give pain, insatiable in its demands for submission, resentful and suspicious of disagreement. Where the goody-goody slinks and sidles and purrs (and sometimes scratches) like a cat, his opposite number in the ranks of the cultured gobbles like an enraged turkey. And perhaps both types are less curable than the hypocrite proper. A hypocrite might (conceivably) repent and mend; or he might be unmasked and rendered innocuous. But who could bring to repentance, and who can unmask, those who were attempting no deception? Who don't know that they are not the real thing because they don't know that there ever was a real thing?"
"Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds."
"This is the point non-Christians always seem to forget. They seem to think that the Incarnation implies some particular merit or excellence in humanity. But of course it implies just the reverse: a particular demerit and depravity. No creature that deserved Redemption would need to be redeemed. They that are whole need not the physician. Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it."
I'd rate this book a PG.
December 3, 2017
Lewis takes a hard intellectual look at the topics of prayer, the Second Coming of Jesus, and other issues of faith in the collection of essays. His academic and philosophical perspective along with his renowned education give no way to arrogance. Instead, Lewis makes a set of logical yet humble arguments about his subjects to varying degrees. His haughtiest opponents could not, in good conscience, deny Lewis as the epitome of profound logic and beautifully executed argumentation. One of his most poignant sections goes as follows:
"But we think thus because we keep on assuming that we know the play. We do not know the play. We do not even know whether we are in Act I or Act V. We do not know who are the major and who the minor characters. The Author knows. The audience, if there is an audience (if angels and archangels and all the company of heaven fill the pit and the stalls) may have an inkling. But we, never seeing the play from the outside, never meeting any characters except the tiny minority who are ‘on’ in the same scenes as ourselves, wholly ignorant of the future and very imperfectly informed about the past, cannot tell at what moment the end ought to come. That it will come when it ought, we may be sure; but we waste our time in guessing when that will be. That it has a meaning we may be sure, but we cannot see it. When it is over, we may be told. We are led to expect that the Author will have something to say to each of us on the part that each of us has played. The playing it well is what matters infinitely."
January 14, 2024
Some essays were better than others. "Lilies that Fester" and "Screwtape Proposes a Toast” were my favorites.
March 15, 2025
BRO->HOU->HSV.
Been flying United lately and honestly would recommend it over American. It seems as though American's going through the domestic slump that I witnessed United go through 8 years ago, flying to DC to travel to Moldova 🇲🇩.
The best thing about this anecdote is that it doesn't matter. CS Lewis' essay, "The World's Last Night," approaches not only the failures of Second Coming rhetoric, but it helped me meditate on our temporal nature, amidst a backdrop of thunderheads and stars.
If tonight were the world's last night, and we were all stripped bare from anything earthly-- no more dishes to scrub, laundry to fold, or sinus pressure in my nose or around my eyes--maybe it would be a massive relief. If I were damned, the curtain would have still dropped. We'd all face our Author, Who loves us to the point of experiencing human ignorance from our temporal perspective.
Thank God I have this chance to stand post now, and thank God for the Judge, Teacher, and Advocate, all in one. If tonight were the world's last night, and it may well be, I'd tell Sam and Anthony, and my mom and my dad 'thank you,' and 'I love you.' I would ruffle Sam's hair one more time, and wish to watch Anthony draw one more time. I'd give Dad another hug, and I'd hope Mom got to bed with no more worries about me.
I have done many, many, many bad things in my life. I do not deserve mercy. In the past week, quite simply, I have not loved my neighbor. If tonight's the world's last night, then I rely on God's mercy through Christ alone--it is my only defense.
Been flying United lately and honestly would recommend it over American. It seems as though American's going through the domestic slump that I witnessed United go through 8 years ago, flying to DC to travel to Moldova 🇲🇩.
The best thing about this anecdote is that it doesn't matter. CS Lewis' essay, "The World's Last Night," approaches not only the failures of Second Coming rhetoric, but it helped me meditate on our temporal nature, amidst a backdrop of thunderheads and stars.
If tonight were the world's last night, and we were all stripped bare from anything earthly-- no more dishes to scrub, laundry to fold, or sinus pressure in my nose or around my eyes--maybe it would be a massive relief. If I were damned, the curtain would have still dropped. We'd all face our Author, Who loves us to the point of experiencing human ignorance from our temporal perspective.
Thank God I have this chance to stand post now, and thank God for the Judge, Teacher, and Advocate, all in one. If tonight were the world's last night, and it may well be, I'd tell Sam and Anthony, and my mom and my dad 'thank you,' and 'I love you.' I would ruffle Sam's hair one more time, and wish to watch Anthony draw one more time. I'd give Dad another hug, and I'd hope Mom got to bed with no more worries about me.
I have done many, many, many bad things in my life. I do not deserve mercy. In the past week, quite simply, I have not loved my neighbor. If tonight's the world's last night, then I rely on God's mercy through Christ alone--it is my only defense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2024
Interesting collection of essays, C.S. Lewis definitely has some interesting and weird opinions, which I enjoy.
I liked the essay on prayer the most.
I liked the essay on prayer the most.
March 29, 2025
CS Lewis is one of my favorite theologians. These essays were fantastic.
August 4, 2025
3.5 stars - but I will admit I rushed through the last few essays so I could finish before heading to Columbus for the school year. There were a few specific lines that really resonated with me which made me round up!
July 20, 2023
this book is 120 pages, so i was able to start and finish it today. i have found C.S. Lewis’ books, particularly his essay collections, to be so enriching. this book is no different. he tackles topics that frequently challenge Christianity. i highlighted ENTIRE pages. there were points that i disagreed (few and far between), but overall, wow.
i wrote a sentence introduction for each of his essays. if any of these topics interest you, please read this book:
1. how to know if prayers work at all when results are inconsistent
2. why Christians can acceptably dismiss opposing evidence in order to cling to belief
3. how attentiveness to “culture” (as an end in and of itself) can corrupt a person, education system, government, or entire society
4. how the devil succeeds in smiting true individuals in the name of “democracy”
5. how our modern economy is modeled to create desires while Good Work is tailored to fulfill needs
6. what the potential for alien life would mean for Christians
7. why the Second Coming of Christ is an essential doctrine to ponder daily
i wrote a sentence introduction for each of his essays. if any of these topics interest you, please read this book:
1. how to know if prayers work at all when results are inconsistent
2. why Christians can acceptably dismiss opposing evidence in order to cling to belief
3. how attentiveness to “culture” (as an end in and of itself) can corrupt a person, education system, government, or entire society
4. how the devil succeeds in smiting true individuals in the name of “democracy”
5. how our modern economy is modeled to create desires while Good Work is tailored to fulfill needs
6. what the potential for alien life would mean for Christians
7. why the Second Coming of Christ is an essential doctrine to ponder daily
August 5, 2021
Another fascinating CS Lewis book containing a few insightful essays. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from some of the essays:
The Efficacy of prayer:
Our assurance is quite different in kind from scientific knowledge. It is born out of our personal relation to the other parties; not from knowing things about them but from knowing them.
Our assurance - if we reach an assurance - that God always hears and sometimes grants our prayers, and that apparent grantings are not merely fortuitous, can only come in the same sort of way.
Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly concrete Person.
On Obstinacy in Belief:
I will never believe that an error against which so many and various defensive weapons have been found necessary, from the outset, wholly lacking in plausibility. All this "post-haste and rummage in the land" obviously implies a respectable enemy.
If human life is in fact ordered by a beneficent being whose knowledge of our real needs and of the way in which they can be satisfied infinitely exceeds our own, we must expect a priori that His operations will often appear to us far from beneficent and far from wise, and that it will be our highest prudence to give Him our confidence in spite of this.
To love involves trusting the beloved beyond the evidence, even against much evidence.
What would, up until then, have been variations simply of opinion become variations of conduct by a person to a Person. Credere Deum esse (the existence of God) turns into Credere in Deum (Believing in God).
Lilies that Fester:
Refinement, in fact, is a name given to certain behavior from without. From within, it does not appear as refinement; indeed it does not appear, does not become an object of consciousness at all. Where it is most named it is most absent.
To be religious is to have one's attention fixed on God and on ones neighbor in relation to God. Therefore, almost by defintion, a religious man, or a man where he is being religious, is not thinking about religion; he hasn't the time.
The talk is inimical to the thing talked of, likely to spoil it where it exists and to prevent its birth where it is unborn.
Culture, like religion, is a name given from outside to activities which are not themselves interested in culture at all, and would be the ruined the moment they were.
I can well imagine a lifetime of such enjoyments leading a man to such a habit of mind, but on one condition; namely that he went to the arts for no such purpose. Those who read poetry to improve their minds will never improve their minds by reading poetry. For the the true enjoyments must be spontaneous and compulsive and look to no other remoter end.
The desirable habit of mind, if it is come to at all, must come as a by-product, unsought.
Screwtape propose a Toast:
No man who says I'm as good as you believes it. He would not say it if he did. The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept.
And therefore resents every kind of superiority in other; denigrates it; wishes its annihilation. Presently he suspects every mere difference of being a claim to superiority. No one must be different from him in voice, clothes, manners, recreation, choice of food.
What I want to fix your attention on is the vast, overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence - moral, cultural, social or intellectual.
The little stalks will now of themselves bite the tops off the big ones. The big ones are beginning to bite off their own tops in their desire to Be Like Stalks.
The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils.
As an English politician remarked not long ago, "a democracy does not want great men".
It is our function to encourage the behavior, the manners, the whole attitude of mind, which democracies naturally like and enjoy, because these are the very things which, if unchecked, will destroy democracy.
The overthrow of free peoples and the multiplication of slave states are for us a means; but the real end is the destruction of individuals. For only the individual can be saved or damned, can become sons of the Enemy or food for us.
All said and done, my friends, it will be an I'll day for us if what most humans mean by 'religion' ever vanishes from the Earth.
Good work and Good works:
Of one sort, a man can truly say, "I am doing work which is worth doing. It would be still worth doing if nobody paid for it. The other kind of job is that in which people do work whose sole purpose is the earning of money; work which need not be, ought not be, or would not be, done by anyone in the whole world unless it were paid.
In a rational world, things would be made because they were wanted; in the actual world, wants have to be created in order that people may receive money for making the things.
Just as the Christian has a great advantage over other men, not by being less fallen than they nor less doomed to live in a fallen world, but by knowing that he is a fallen man in a fallen world.
In the highest aesthetic circles one now hears nothing about the artists duty to us. It is all about our duty to him. He owes us nothing; we owe him 'recognition', even though he has never paid the slightest attention to our tastes, interests or habits.
Great works (of art) and good works (charity) had better also be Good Work. Let choirs sing well or not at all. Otherwise we merely confirm the majority in their conviction that the world of Business, which does with such efficiency so much that never really needed doing, is the real, the adult, and the practical world; and that all this 'culture' and 'religion' (horrid words both) are essentially marginal, amateurish and rather effeminate activities.
Religion and Rocketry:
They that are whole need not the physician. Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it.
We have been warned that all but conclusive evidence against Christianity, evidence that would deceive (if it were possible) the very elect, will appear with the Antichrist. And after that there will be wholly conclusive evidence on the other side.
The Worlds Last Night:
The doctrine of the Second Coming is deeply uncongenial to the whole evolutionary or developmental character of modern thought. We have been taught to think of the world as something that grows slowly towards perfection, something that 'progresses' or 'evolves'. Christian Apocalyptic offers us no such hope.
The modern conception of Progress or Evolution (as popularly imagined) is simply a myth, supported by no evidence whatever.
But how can the characters in a play guess the plot? We are not the playwright, we are not the producer, we are not even the audience. We are on the stage. To play well the scenes in which we are 'on' concerns us much more than to guess about the scenes that follow it.
Feelings come and go, and when they come a good use can be made of them: they cannot be our regular spiritual diet.
I basically summarized the book in these excerpts. And it was worth it.
The Efficacy of prayer:
Our assurance is quite different in kind from scientific knowledge. It is born out of our personal relation to the other parties; not from knowing things about them but from knowing them.
Our assurance - if we reach an assurance - that God always hears and sometimes grants our prayers, and that apparent grantings are not merely fortuitous, can only come in the same sort of way.
Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly concrete Person.
On Obstinacy in Belief:
I will never believe that an error against which so many and various defensive weapons have been found necessary, from the outset, wholly lacking in plausibility. All this "post-haste and rummage in the land" obviously implies a respectable enemy.
If human life is in fact ordered by a beneficent being whose knowledge of our real needs and of the way in which they can be satisfied infinitely exceeds our own, we must expect a priori that His operations will often appear to us far from beneficent and far from wise, and that it will be our highest prudence to give Him our confidence in spite of this.
To love involves trusting the beloved beyond the evidence, even against much evidence.
What would, up until then, have been variations simply of opinion become variations of conduct by a person to a Person. Credere Deum esse (the existence of God) turns into Credere in Deum (Believing in God).
Lilies that Fester:
Refinement, in fact, is a name given to certain behavior from without. From within, it does not appear as refinement; indeed it does not appear, does not become an object of consciousness at all. Where it is most named it is most absent.
To be religious is to have one's attention fixed on God and on ones neighbor in relation to God. Therefore, almost by defintion, a religious man, or a man where he is being religious, is not thinking about religion; he hasn't the time.
The talk is inimical to the thing talked of, likely to spoil it where it exists and to prevent its birth where it is unborn.
Culture, like religion, is a name given from outside to activities which are not themselves interested in culture at all, and would be the ruined the moment they were.
I can well imagine a lifetime of such enjoyments leading a man to such a habit of mind, but on one condition; namely that he went to the arts for no such purpose. Those who read poetry to improve their minds will never improve their minds by reading poetry. For the the true enjoyments must be spontaneous and compulsive and look to no other remoter end.
The desirable habit of mind, if it is come to at all, must come as a by-product, unsought.
Screwtape propose a Toast:
No man who says I'm as good as you believes it. He would not say it if he did. The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept.
And therefore resents every kind of superiority in other; denigrates it; wishes its annihilation. Presently he suspects every mere difference of being a claim to superiority. No one must be different from him in voice, clothes, manners, recreation, choice of food.
What I want to fix your attention on is the vast, overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence - moral, cultural, social or intellectual.
The little stalks will now of themselves bite the tops off the big ones. The big ones are beginning to bite off their own tops in their desire to Be Like Stalks.
The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils.
As an English politician remarked not long ago, "a democracy does not want great men".
It is our function to encourage the behavior, the manners, the whole attitude of mind, which democracies naturally like and enjoy, because these are the very things which, if unchecked, will destroy democracy.
The overthrow of free peoples and the multiplication of slave states are for us a means; but the real end is the destruction of individuals. For only the individual can be saved or damned, can become sons of the Enemy or food for us.
All said and done, my friends, it will be an I'll day for us if what most humans mean by 'religion' ever vanishes from the Earth.
Good work and Good works:
Of one sort, a man can truly say, "I am doing work which is worth doing. It would be still worth doing if nobody paid for it. The other kind of job is that in which people do work whose sole purpose is the earning of money; work which need not be, ought not be, or would not be, done by anyone in the whole world unless it were paid.
In a rational world, things would be made because they were wanted; in the actual world, wants have to be created in order that people may receive money for making the things.
Just as the Christian has a great advantage over other men, not by being less fallen than they nor less doomed to live in a fallen world, but by knowing that he is a fallen man in a fallen world.
In the highest aesthetic circles one now hears nothing about the artists duty to us. It is all about our duty to him. He owes us nothing; we owe him 'recognition', even though he has never paid the slightest attention to our tastes, interests or habits.
Great works (of art) and good works (charity) had better also be Good Work. Let choirs sing well or not at all. Otherwise we merely confirm the majority in their conviction that the world of Business, which does with such efficiency so much that never really needed doing, is the real, the adult, and the practical world; and that all this 'culture' and 'religion' (horrid words both) are essentially marginal, amateurish and rather effeminate activities.
Religion and Rocketry:
They that are whole need not the physician. Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it.
We have been warned that all but conclusive evidence against Christianity, evidence that would deceive (if it were possible) the very elect, will appear with the Antichrist. And after that there will be wholly conclusive evidence on the other side.
The Worlds Last Night:
The doctrine of the Second Coming is deeply uncongenial to the whole evolutionary or developmental character of modern thought. We have been taught to think of the world as something that grows slowly towards perfection, something that 'progresses' or 'evolves'. Christian Apocalyptic offers us no such hope.
The modern conception of Progress or Evolution (as popularly imagined) is simply a myth, supported by no evidence whatever.
But how can the characters in a play guess the plot? We are not the playwright, we are not the producer, we are not even the audience. We are on the stage. To play well the scenes in which we are 'on' concerns us much more than to guess about the scenes that follow it.
Feelings come and go, and when they come a good use can be made of them: they cannot be our regular spiritual diet.
I basically summarized the book in these excerpts. And it was worth it.
February 10, 2022
"On the Efficacy of Prayer," "On Obstinacy in Belief," "Lilies that Fester" were each decent. I appreciated those more than the others, though the others have great value as well. I just didn't fully appreciate their contents this time around, I suppose.
A couple quotes from the readings:
"Therefore, almost by definition, a religious man, or a man when he is being religious, is not thinking about religion; he hasn’t the time. Religion is what we (or he himself at a later moment) calls his activity from the outside."
Really puts a perspective on what religion is.. what culture is.. and how the terms interact with reality.
"To love involves trusting the beloved beyond the evidence, even against much evidence."
Shakespeare once famously wrote, "Love is blind," and Lewis argues that is so. The same way for scientists as it is for Christians. When we love something, we trust it, beyond what we see on the surface level. Once we know God, how can we ever not know him? Once we have personal encounters..
A couple quotes from the readings:
"Therefore, almost by definition, a religious man, or a man when he is being religious, is not thinking about religion; he hasn’t the time. Religion is what we (or he himself at a later moment) calls his activity from the outside."
Really puts a perspective on what religion is.. what culture is.. and how the terms interact with reality.
"To love involves trusting the beloved beyond the evidence, even against much evidence."
Shakespeare once famously wrote, "Love is blind," and Lewis argues that is so. The same way for scientists as it is for Christians. When we love something, we trust it, beyond what we see on the surface level. Once we know God, how can we ever not know him? Once we have personal encounters..
January 6, 2025
Speaking of Christian belief, "I will never believe that an error against which so many and various defensive weapons have been found necessary was, from the outset, wholly lacking in plausibility. All this ‘post haste and rummage in the land’ obviously implies a respectable enemy."
A wonderful collection of essays regarding the efficacy of petitionary prayers, how "democracy" has been used to foster envy and rot, the real-life potential of extraterrestrial life and the consequences thereof to Christian theology, end times, and much much more.
Ponder these questions, grow in wisdom, strengthen your faith, and check out this title.
A wonderful collection of essays regarding the efficacy of petitionary prayers, how "democracy" has been used to foster envy and rot, the real-life potential of extraterrestrial life and the consequences thereof to Christian theology, end times, and much much more.
Ponder these questions, grow in wisdom, strengthen your faith, and check out this title.
July 25, 2025
another CS Lewis classic completed ✨
some essays impacted me more than others (especially “The Efficacy on Prayer”), but I still enjoyed this collection 💙
recommend to any CS Lewis fan, or those interested in topics such as the nature of prayer, the meaning of belief, the theological implications of possible extraterrestrial life, the relationship between Christianity and current culture and science, and the doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming!
some essays impacted me more than others (especially “The Efficacy on Prayer”), but I still enjoyed this collection 💙
recommend to any CS Lewis fan, or those interested in topics such as the nature of prayer, the meaning of belief, the theological implications of possible extraterrestrial life, the relationship between Christianity and current culture and science, and the doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming!
Want to read
August 12, 2021The title essay includes a comment by Lewis that Matt. 24:34 "is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible," because Jesus said that "this generation" would not die until they had seen all of these destructive events as well as His return. Bertrand Russell uses this passage to discredit Jesus as a prophet.
February 4, 2025
There’s a lot I could say about this one. I very much enjoyed it. My favorite essays were (unsurprisingly) the more theological ones: “The World’s Last Night” (my favorite), “The Efficacy of Prayer,” “Religion and Rocketry” etc. The other essays were more philosophical. I’ve become obsessed with Lewis’ imaginative, witty, honest, and conversational style.(Also, get Fable).
December 19, 2023
Another good book (collection of Essays) by Lewis! I especially found the final essay entitled "the world's last night" an encouraging reflection on the second coming of Christ. In addition to this, his essay addressing "Good Works vs Good Work" is much needed in our current culture.
July 8, 2025
Not bad. Honestly the only main one that really captured my attention was the efficacy of prayer. I really loved c.s Lewis thoughts on prayer. I also enjoyed On Obstinancy in belief and the end of The Worlds last night.
Most of the shorts poems unfortunately didn’t capture my attention.
Most of the shorts poems unfortunately didn’t capture my attention.
September 11, 2024
Cheeky lil set of essays from the depths of Clive Staple’s anthology. Can officially say I’m a CS Nerd with the addition of this to my “Read” shelf. Worked through it a couple to a few pages at a time as a nightly wind-down read. Feeling rationally edified, theologically challenged, practically motivated to good work (not just good works), and spurned by the reality of the thief soon to come. Additionally, I have become convinced that the model of CS reacting to the cultural trends of his day should be precedent for our same. Further, most of the things he critiques are fully fledged and mature parts of our culture now, much of which we all participate. It is good to consider how aspects of our culture may not be as acceptable as we want to believe, if we are to follow Jesus not just spiritually but culturally as well.
Read
September 22, 2024Worth the purchase if just to read “Screwtape proposes a toast”
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