In 1943 England, when all hope was threatened by the inhumanity of war, C.S.
Lewis was invited to give a series of radio lectures addressing the central
issues of Christianity. More than half a century after the original
lectures, they continue to retain their poignancy. First heard as informal
radio broadcasts, the lectures were then published as three books and
subsequently combined as Mere Christianity. C.S. Lewis proves that "at the
center of each there is something, or a Someone, who against all divergences
of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories of mutual
persecution, speaks with the same voice," rejecting the boundaries that
divide Christianity's many denominations. This twentieth-century masterpiece
provides an unequaled opportunity for believers and nonbelievers alike to
hear a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith.
- At the end of the first chapter in Mere
Christianity, Lewis lays out the scope of his argument: "First, that
human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought
to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly,
that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature;
they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking
about ourselves and the universe we live in" (p. 21). All cultures, he
says, have a moral code and those codes are remarkably similar. Is he
correct in inferring from this observation the existence of a Universal
"Law of Human Nature," an innate sense of right and wrong? How do you
think Lewis would respond to contemporary proponents of moral relativism?
- Lewis first delivered the chapters that make up
Mere Christianity as live radio addresses for the BBC beginning in
1941. In what ways does the writing reflect the fact that it was
originally intended to be heard rather than read? What qualities of
Lewis's speaking voice come through in the book? How do these qualities
affect your receptivity to Lewis's ideas? What pains has Lewis evidently
taken to make himself clear to an audience who had to absorb his ideas on
first hearing?
- Lewis argues that repentance "means unlearning
all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves
into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing
a kind of death" (p. 60). In what ways have we trained ourselves to be
conceited and willful? In what ways has Western culture contributed to
this willfulness? Why does Lewis insist that part of the self must die in
order to truly repent? How is this interior death related to Christ's
death on the cross?
- In explaining the way Christians see good, Lewis
offers a vivid analogy: "…the Christian thinks any good he does comes from
the Christ-life within him. He does not think God will love us because we
are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the
roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but
becomes bright because the sun shines on it" (p. 64). Such analogies
appear throughout Mere Christianity. Why are they so effective in
making complex ideas accessible? In what ways does this particular analogy
reinforce and clarify the statement that precedes it?
- Lewis ends the chapter "Sexual Morality" with a
remarkable assertion: "…a cold self-righteous prig who goes regularly to
church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute" (p. 95). Why does
Lewis consider spiritual sins to be worse than sins of the flesh? What is
Lewis's view of the proper role of sexuality, pleasure, and chastity for
Christians?
- Why does Lewis see Pride as the greatest sin,
"the utmost evil," in comparison with which "unchastity, anger, greed,
drunkenness, and all that are mere fleabites"? (p. 110). How does he
define Pride and its opposite, Humility? What effect does Pride have on
one's relation to other people, to oneself, and to God? What is the
relationship between Pride and the other vices? Lewis cites other
Christian teachers who share his perspective but does not name them. Who
might he be thinking of?
- In an introduction to a broadcast given on 11
January 1942, which was later deleted from the published text, Lewis
explains why he was chosen to give the talks: "…first of all because I'm a
layman and not a parson, and consequently it was thought I might
understand the ordinary person's point of view a bit better. Secondly, I
think they asked me because it was known that I'd been an atheist for many
years and only became a Christian quite fairly recently. They thought that
would mean I'd be able to see the difficulties-able to remember what
Christianity looks like from the outside." Do you think Lewis has
succeeded in representing the ordinary person's view of Christianity? In
what ways might his atheism and later conversion have affected his
relationship to Christian beliefs? Do his convictions gain weight because
he struggled to arrive at them?
- Lewis wants his theology to have practical uses.
In discussing Charity, he says: "Do not waste time bothering whether you
'love' your neighbor; act as if you did…. When you are behaving as if you
loved someone you will presently come to love him" (p. 116). The reverse,
he says, is also true. "The Germans, perhaps, at first ill-treated the
Jews because they hated them; afterwards they hated them much more because
they had ill-treated them" (p. 117). Why would behavior influence feeling
in this way? Why would pretending to feel something lead to actually
feeling it? Do you think this principle applies both to individuals and,
as Lewis implies, to larger political groups and nations? Have you ever
witnessed or experienced this phenomenon yourself?
- In the chapter on Hope, Lewis makes fun on those
who reject the Christian idea of Heaven because they don't want to spend
eternity playing harps. "The answer to such people," he says, "is that if
they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk
about them" (p. 121). What is Lewis's conception of Heaven? What is his
view on the right relation between this world and the next? Why does he
feel we should we "aim at Heaven" rather than at earth? (p. 119).
- Why does Lewis so vehemently reject the view
that treats Jesus as a historical rather than a divine figure? Why does he
find the notion of some who regard Jesus merely as a great moral teacher
to be absurd? Why does he assert that "If Christianity only means one more
bit of good advice, then Christianity is of no importance"? (p. 157).
- In "Counting the Cost," Lewis says that God
"will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or a goddess, a
dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such
energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright
stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly…His own boundless
power and delight and goodness" (p. 176). What is required to become such
a creature? Why do you think Lewis has chosen to describe this apotheosis
with these images?
- How appealing is Lewis's conception of
Christianity as he presents it here? Has it clarified any theological
confusions you may have had, or changed your own beliefs about how to live
as a Christian? Do you think Lewis's ideas about virtue and morality can
be valuable for non-Christians?
"I read Lewis for comfort and pleasure many years ago, and a glance into the
books revives my old admiration."
-John Updike
"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
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