One of
C.S. Lewis's finest works,
Mere Christianity is the text of a
number of talks given on the
radio to the British public between 1942 and 1944. The
talks by Lewis cover a wide range of topics on the Christian faith,
from the
Trinity, the reason that we believe in
God, and the
Christian virtues.
Lewis's
goal as outlined in the preface of the book is to boil the
Christian faith down to the things that were common to all
denominations,
while avoiding the things that divide believers. From this, the title
of the book comes: "
Mere Christianity."
The book represents Lewis at his finest. He addresses his
topics in a direct and well-reasoned manner. His arguments and
statements are clear and flow well from one to the other. The book
never talks down to the reader, but instead assumes that those who
are reading are thinking people.
Apart from a sharp mind, Lewis also brings to this book a sharp wit:
- On the subject of those who take the imagery used in the Bible to discuss
heaven literally - "The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them."
- On the subject of Christians who do not see the work of God through the
church - "That is rather like the woman in the first war who said that if there were a bread shortage it would not bother her house because they always ate toast."
- On the subject of the difficulty of living the Christian life and growing
in faith - "It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird : it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg."