must read

This is my first ever C.S. Lewis book. He writes with a style that promotes critical thinking, replete with analogies, deductions, etc. It simply changes the way you think, abandoning assumptions and superficial reasoning.

What's not to love in this classic!

This book was adapted from a series of radio talks given by Lewis on the BBC during WWII. Lewis amplified and edited these talks to be suitable to a book format and allow for additional information to be provided that could not be given within the time limits of the radio broadcasts. It is therefore quite conversational in tone and compared to his other nonfiction books, a fairly easy read.

Its purpose is to explain the common core of Christian doctrines without getting into the distinctives of different groups. Lewis illustrates the logic of Christian beliefs with simple examples from everyday life as in this portion of a discussion on good and evil:

"When a man is getting better, he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse, he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good; a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense really. You understand sleep when you are awake and not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly; while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil; bad people do not know about either."

It is the sort of book that leaves one thinking "perhaps one more chapter" when it is time to be finished reading and go on to other things. It is no wonder that it has become a classic.

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1898, Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis wrote more than 30 books, several of which are classics of children's fantasy literature and Christian apologetics. You'll find C.S. Lewis on the lists of greatest 20th-century writers, and rarely will you not find Mere Christianity at or near the top of the most influential Christian book lists. I read the theological classic as part of a book study soon after moving to China back in 2003. Mere Christianity is less than 200 pages and is divided into four books:

1. Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe (five chapters focused on the law of human nature)

2. What Christians Believe (1942 - five chapters that include rival conceptions of God)

3. Christian Behaviour (1943 - twelve chapters covering topics such as marriage, forgiveness, hope, and faith)

4. Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity (1944 - eleven chapters comprising of time, the cost of following Christ, and more)

The books were originally given as a series of BBC radio broadcasts during World War II in which C.S. Lewis provides much-needed answers to complex questions for both believers and nonbelievers. If you have any interest in learning about the fundamentals of the Christian worldview, it is explained in a sensible and logical manner in Mere Christianity. Some, such as the late Chuck Colson, have stated the book was instrumental in helping them know Christ. If you have an interest in apologetics or you consider yourself to be an intelligent skeptic, I recommend checking out Lewis' Mere Christianity. It is a significant piece of work that has impacted many.

For a more in-depth look at Mere Christianity, check out the outline provided by the C.S. Lewis Society of California.