Mere Christianity

I just finished reading C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity for the first time (I’ll be perusing it again in the future). Until purchasing the book, I had little idea just how much influence the book has had on modern Christianity. I was amazed at how many conversations my copy of the book started. Once in a hospital waiting room, in my office, and in a church camp college class, I met all sorts of people who had not only read the book, but who were deeply impacted by it. In fact, just yesterday I was reading in the appendix of R. Kent Hughes’ book The Disciplines of a Godly Man where he surveyed 35 of today’s greatest Christian leaders and thinkers. Ten listed Lewis’ epochal work as one of the most influential they had ever read (it was mentioned more than any other book, second was Calvin’s Institutes).

Now that I’ve completed it, I must agree with all of them. Surprisingly, Lewis never quotes Scripture or refers to the works of other theologians at all. There are no references, citations, or endnotes. Instead, Mere Christianity is a collection of informal, conversational “talks” given over the radio waves. Lewis compiled the transcriptions together, edited them for print, and the world was changed.

The book is as much a philosophical treatise as a theological one. Lewis gives to us the thinking of a man who has not grown up in Christianity. His theology is practical, gritty, and brutally honest. He raises questions that nonchurchgoers are bound to ask, and he tackles them without hesitation. Many within the Christian faith today are threatened by the possibility of such questions being hurled at the faith, but Christianity, since it is true, will stand every test.

I wish that I could recall all of the particular lessons I gleaned from Lewis’ thoughts. This book, however, has a surprising effect. Rather than being a simple outline of truthful points and principles, it is a book that simply works your mind over. You can’t get it out of your head during the day and you end up working its words into your thought patterns.

I would highly recommend that every young person entering a life of ministry read this book at the outset. It took me far too long to stumble upon it. I would also highly recommend every Christian layperson to obtain a copy and see how the world around us thinks, and how to answer them. It will certainly help prepare us to “give a reason of the hope that is in us.” And I certainly recommend the work to anyone seeking truth, who wants to know why it is that we can’t ever earn God’s favor on our own.