Mere Christianity"C.S. Lewis is the ideal persuader for the half-convinced, for the good man who would like to be a Christian but finds his intellect getting in the way." — Anthony Burgess, New York Times Book Review Our moral consciousness and moral judgements are proof to the human race that a moral being exists—God. Mere Christianity explores the core beliefs of Christianity by providing an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to hear a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith. A brilliant collection, Mere Christianity remains strikingly fresh for the modern reader and at the same time confirms C. S. Lewis’s reputation as one of the leading writer and thinkers of our age. The book brings together Lewis’ legendary broadcast talks during World War II. Lewis discusses that everyone is curious about: right and wrong, human nature, morality, marriage, sins, forgiveness, faith, hope, generosity, and kindness. |
Contents
some objections | 9 |
the reality of the law | 16 |
we have cause to be uneasy | 28 |
the rival conceptions of god | 35 |
the shocking alternative | 47 |
the perfect penitent | 53 |
the practical conclusion | 60 |
the three parts of morality | 69 |
hope | 134 |
faith | 138 |
faith | 144 |
or first steps in the doctrine of the trinity | 151 |
making and begetting | 153 |
the threepersonal god | 160 |
time and beyond time | 166 |
good infection | 172 |
the cardinal virtues | 76 |
social morality | 82 |
morality and psychoanalysis | 88 |
sexual morality | 94 |
christian marriage | 104 |
forgiveness | 115 |
the great sin | 121 |
charity | 129 |
the obstinate toy soldiers | 178 |
two notes | 183 |
lets pretend | 187 |
is christianity hard or easy? | 195 |
counting the cost | 201 |
nice people or new men | 207 |
the new men | 218 |
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Common terms and phrases
become begets begin behave believe better C. S. Lewis charity chastity Christ Christian idea Christian morality Chronicles of Narnia Church Clive Staples Lewis course creatures death decent behaviour desire devil Dick Dualism eternal everything fact Faith Father feel forgive George MacDonald give God’s going Grief Observed happen hate herd instinct imagine impulse inside instinct keep kill kind Law of Nature less live look man’s marriage matter mean meant Mere Christianity merely mind Moral Law never nice obey ordinary ourselves Pantheists perfect person picture pleasure Pride Problem of Pain psychoanalysis question realise reason religion rule Screwtape Letters sense sexual silly simply someone Son of God sort speak spiritual suppose talk teetotal tell thing tin soldier told true truth trying turn virtues whole universe words
Popular passages
Page 123 - God. In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that— and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison — you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.
Page 121 - Now what you want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive — is competitive by its very nature — while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.
Page 51 - I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
Page 4 - What was the sense in saying the enemy were in the wrong unless Right is a real thing which the Nazis at bottom knew as well as we did and ought to have practised? If they had had no notion of what we mean by right, then, though we might still have had to fight them, we could no more have blamed them for that than for the colour of their hair. I know that some people say the idea of a Law of Nature or decent behaviour known to all men is unsound, because different civilisations and different ages...
Page 51 - A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.
Page 136 - If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
Page 43 - ... action when you are not feeling kind and when it gives you no pleasure, simply because kindness is right; but no one ever did a cruel action simply because cruelty is wrong — only because cruelty was pleasant or useful to him. In other words badness cannot succeed even in being bad in the same way in which goodness is good. Goodness is, so to speak, itself: badness is only spoiled goodness.
Page 23 - If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe — no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect it to show itself would be inside ourselves as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave in a certain way.
Page 198 - In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.
Page 34 - If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all these religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth.