Originally posted by ChessNutBeing as C.S.Lewis was a well known christian author, I doubt I would trust his arguments against christianity. I read the "Chronicles of Narnia" as a child but only picked up on their heavy handed christian symbolism as I grew older. But I admit that I have not read the book you are talking about.
Has anyone else read this book? I'm reading it right now and it really is an awesome book. He does an excellant job breaking down arguments for and against Christianity.
I haven't read the book you refer to but I'll look it up. His arguments against Christianity are actually some of the more popular arguments that I have heard before, and even voiced myself. You definitely have to keep in the back of your mind that he is known for his Christian writing but it's making for a good read.
Originally posted by ChessNutThe Chronicles of Narnia is a whole series of books. I believe there were seven of them. The first one in the series is called "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", and I believe it is the most well known. They are generally aimed at a younger audience, although an adult could still enjoy them I suppose. I read the whole series in my early teens, but was rather put out when I later discovered that they contained a whole sublayer of christian propoganda.
[b]I haven't read the book you refer to but I'll look it up...
Originally posted by kirksey957How would you define "heart and soul" in this context?
There is a really excellent movie about his life "Shadowlands" I believe. Anthony Hopkins is the Lewis character. Fascinating movie as it shows him moving from an intellectual man to an intellectual man with a heart and soul. KIrk
I have read bits and pieces of Mere Christianity and I think, although well reasoned, it's pretty
vague. That is, I am not sure that most of the positive things which he says Christians are or do
are truly peculiar to Christianity, but are found in most if not all other religions in their ideal states.
I think he is wrestling with general morality rather than a specific flavor of it.
Much more enlightening a read is "The Screwtape Letters." In it, an important devil writes to a
"devil-in-training" about the nature of sin and temptation. Very scary stuff; it's not the usual
"tempt to lie" type of sin, but a more insidious insincere sincerity type of sin (like false public piety,
or self-righteous pride in good works). Of this work, C. S. Lewis wrote that it was the easiest,
albeit least enjoyable of his compositions. Readers thought that his "_Letters_ were the ripe fruit
of many years' study in moral and ascetic theology," but "forgot that there is an equally reliable,
though less creditable, way of learning how temptation works. 'My heart...showeth me the
wickedness of the ungodly.'"
Originally posted by kirksey957I have never heard of that movie before. With Anthony Hopkins in it I'll definitely have to try and find it. I hope it was popular enough to be in a video rental place. Thanks for the information! 🙂
There is a really excellent movie about his life "Shadowlands" I believe. Anthony Hopkins is the Lewis character. Fascinating movie as it shows him moving from an intellectual man to an intellectual man with a heart and soul. KIrk
Though Lewis's prose style sparkles in Mere Christianity, as everywhere, it is not one of my favorite books by him, perhaps because it doesn't have as much to offer to someone who doesn't buy into the doctrine.
On the other hand, I'd definitely second the recommendation for the Screwtape Letters, which apart from its religious slant is a very sharp and insightful social and moral critique. The Four Loves, a discussion of love that Lewis wrote late in life, is worthwhile reading, as is A Grief Observed, a very candid, but also very analytical, diary that Lewis kept after the death of his wife (originally published under a pseudonym).
Lewis's autobiography, Surprised by Joy, is a bit uneven to my mind but quite interesting.
I'll also throw in a plug for The Discarded Image, his eulogy for medieval culture and its worldview, a way of thinking with which he greatly sympathized.
But perhaps my favorite book by Lewis is "The Abolition of Man", a critique of modern-day moral relativism that has lost none of its relevance in the 50 years since its writing.
Those are my preferences-- there is much else to choose from. I have yet to read a work of Lewis's that wasn't well-written and interesting.
Screwtape Letters is great - if you are a Christian, you'll be able to identify with the human being assigned to Wormwood (the junior devil). Uncle Screwtape and nephew Wormwood are kind of like Abott & Costello of evil spirits. Very good read, lighter that Mere Christianity but just as deep. Move to The Great Divorce after that.