Editorial notes: This Book Review was found as a ‘draft’ entry in Everything2 with the Summary section missing. It was last updated on 03/05/2011.
C.S. Lewis is the British author best known for writing the Narnia series of books, but he also authored a number of books that discussed his religious beliefs, including this one – Mere Christianity. The book evolved out of a series of BBC radio programs Lewis was invited to speak on between 1942-1944[1]. Although raised to be Christian, Lewis considered himself to be an atheist from age 15. Lewis decided to be Christian again at age 31, influenced especially by arguments with the author J.R.R. Tolkien.
Mere Christianity is an apologetic work that aims to convince the (ostensibly sceptical) reader of the truth of Christianity. The “Mere” in the title reflects Lewis’ eschewing promotion of any particular Christian denomination.
Summary
Review and observations
As for myself, I’m not superstitious, but am always interested in how others fit their superstitions into their worldviews. Like so many other things, religious thought is made possible by rationalization of premises accepted a priori. Unfortunately, this book doesn’t shed much direct light on what it is that converted Lewis. That’s not to say that he doesn’t mention various influences and ideas, but many of them sound like he’d convinced himself of them after the fact.
For instance: the arguments that since we have ideas of a transcendental morality and expectations of perfect joy, therefore, both those things must exist is obviously fallacious. (The other major leap, from deism to Christianity is easier to understand – i.e. cultural predilection). The question is whether these arguments in any way reflect what that thing that Lewis sought was. Unfortunately, this book doesn’t deliver any obvious answers. Instead it repeats all the usual tropes (common even today) of the validity and viability of religion – its difficulty (why is this important?), its complexity, the fact of needing to look at it the right way, recommended that particular doctrines be overlooked for the moment (i.e. those that are problematic) and that others be focused on (i.e. those that are humanistic), etc.
While some may find the writing witty, others, including myself, may find that the jokes achieve that unexpectedly patronizing blend of goodwill and self-assurance. It is what it is. Additionally, the lack of thematic unity comes across as slightly schizophrenic, as the translation from a radio show, to pamphlets, and eventually to the book was not organic. Still, Lewis is a professional writer, and so the text itself flows fine.
Personally, I have an impression of what may have been the motivation for Lewis’ decision to adopt a religion. The primary need must have been a social one – this seems inevitable. More interesting are the putative secondary needs that religion may have offered Lewis. Clues to this are offered in a few left-field comments found throughout Mere Christianity.
[1] For the record, Lewis was in his 40’s during WWII, but had volunteered and fought in WWI. Some of you might have already made the connection between this period – namely WWII – and the setting for the children in the first published Narnia novel; the children are sent out of London to country-side the escape the Nazi bombing of London. Although the Narnia books were written between 1949-1954, it seems possible that Lewis’ theological musings during WWII included forming an idea for the theological underpinnings of the Narnia novels.
