Mere Christianity - By C.S. Lewis
Review by Alyosha
Author: C.S. Lewis
Title: Mere Christianity
Age: 13+
Other books by this Author: Countless (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, and the Space Trilogy are a few).
"I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond. One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke. Everyone there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light. But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything. They are not thinking of it. They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes. But this is near the stage where the road passes over the rim of our world. No one's eyes can see very far beyond that: lots of people's eyes can see further than mine."
Mere Christianity is C.S. Lewis' most famous nonfiction book. As the title suggests, it was written for ordinary people to read -- understanding it doesn't require any special knowledge of Christianity. Lewis uses analogies and examples to explain Christianity's basic beliefs, in a way that is simple and logical without being preachy or full of Christian jargon.
In the first part of the book, Lewis begins with no assumptions about God's existence. He talks about moral law-- our inborn knowledge of a Right and a Wrong --and how, if this is true (and he explains why it is) there must be a source behind it. From there we get to a "Something directing the universe" and that leads to the Christian God, and his plan for his creation. Later, Lewis looks at Jesus' claims and how Christianity is, or ought to be, practised.
As always, C.S. Lewis' writing is witty and his arguments are convincing. Mere Christianity is more instructive than imaginative (unlike the Narnia books, or Till We Have Faces) and is well worth reading even if you aren't in the habit of reading much nonfiction.