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C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity: A Biography
Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis's eloquent and winsome defense of the Christian faith, originated as a series of BBC radio talks broadcast during the dark days of World War Two. Here is the story of the extraordinary life and afterlife of this influential and much-beloved book.
George Marsden describes how Lewis gradually went from being an atheist to a committed Anglican—famously converting to Christianity in 1931 after conversing into the night with his friends J. R. R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson—and how Lewis delivered his wartime talks to a traumatized British nation in the midst of an all-out war for survival. Marsden recounts how versions of those talks were collected together in 1952 under the title Mere Christianity, and how the book went on to become one of the most widely read presentations of essential Christianity ever published, particularly among American evangelicals. He examines its role in the conversion experiences of such figures as Charles Colson, who read the book while facing arrest for his role in the Watergate scandal. Marsden explores its relationship with Lewis's Narnia books and other writings, and explains why Lewis's plainspoken case for Christianity continues to have its critics and ardent admirers to this day.
With uncommon clarity and grace, Marsden provides invaluable new insights into this modern spiritual classic.
George Marsden describes how Lewis gradually went from being an atheist to a committed Anglican—famously converting to Christianity in 1931 after conversing into the night with his friends J. R. R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson—and how Lewis delivered his wartime talks to a traumatized British nation in the midst of an all-out war for survival. Marsden recounts how versions of those talks were collected together in 1952 under the title Mere Christianity, and how the book went on to become one of the most widely read presentations of essential Christianity ever published, particularly among American evangelicals. He examines its role in the conversion experiences of such figures as Charles Colson, who read the book while facing arrest for his role in the Watergate scandal. Marsden explores its relationship with Lewis's Narnia books and other writings, and explains why Lewis's plainspoken case for Christianity continues to have its critics and ardent admirers to this day.
With uncommon clarity and grace, Marsden provides invaluable new insights into this modern spiritual classic.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published March 22, 2016
30 people are currently reading
370 people want to read
About the author
George M. Marsden
49 books112 followersGeorge M. Marsden is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. He has written extensively on the interaction between Christianity and the American culture and has published numerous books, including Jonathan Edwards: A Life, which won the prestigious Bancroft Prize given for the best work of history. He lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
October 1, 2017
Apart from a handful of silly pages, this was fantastic.
July 25, 2019
Meh. Read the book again. This offer is either not deep enough into the nuances of the text or not high enough to lead the reader to the big cultural impact. For me, he aims for both, and hits neither. But I don't tend to like the Great Courses for about the same reason.
May 11, 2019
Of the making of books about the making of books (of which there is no end), there is no end. That’s fine with me. A book by George Marsden, about C. S. Lewis, dedicated to Roger Lundin—sounds perfect. I was glad to learn about this “biography” during my recent re-read of Mere Christianity. I’d always known, of course, that Lewis’s book was a collection of talks he’d given on BBC radio during the war, but I didn’t know much more about the context. Marsden explains how those radio talks came to be, what else Lewis was working on at the same time, how the talks were published as books and then the one book, and the reception of the talks and the book over time. None of this is necessary to simply read and enjoy Mere Christianity, but it’s all fascinating and helpful context.
I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that Lewis has touched more people in the world than almost any other 20th-century figure. Whether through Narnia (books or movies), the Space Trilogy, The Screwtape Letters, his nonfiction writing, his autobiographical Surprised by Joy, the biographical play and film Shadowlands, or his friendship with Tolkien, the influence of Lewis is incredible. So I was amazed to read that just before Lewis died, he confided in a friend that he assumed that within five years, everything he’d done in life would be completely forgotten. Even contemporaries who cherished and respected Lewis felt that his star would quickly wane—which did happen for a brief period after his death, when publishers lost interest in his work. Being a Wheaton College alumnus, I was proud to read of the role Wheaton has played in keeping Lewis’s legacy fresh and alive. It was interesting to read about the process of Lewis, and Mere Christianity, becoming so thoroughly beloved within evangelical Christianity—which I certainly experienced, growing up and still now—but I was also fascinated to read about how influential Mere Christianity has been among other Christian traditions. I wouldn’t have guessed that it was so beloved by Roman Catholics, and even among some Orthodox believers. It’s hard to imagine a writer today having that breadth of influence—which is sad, really.
Marsden does a good job covering the harsher critical responses to Mere Christianity. Even though I disagree with many of the criticisms, it’s helpful to rethink Lewis’s arguments in light of stern criticism and questioning. But what Marsden brings out that is most helpful for me is a reminder that what Lewis was attempting in Mere Christianity was not the perfect answer to every question of logic, faith, and reason. Rather, as in so many of his books, Lewis is opening to us the possibility of belief, the idea that it is perfectly reasonable to see the universe as a story that is complicated but not nonsensical, a story that isn’t cyclical or pointless but that is moving toward a purposeful end. Marsden mentions (p. 173) the scene in The Magician’s Nephew, when Uncle Andrew hears Aslan’s beautiful singing. Uncle Andrew believes he sees the world scientifically, as only a truly rational person does. Because he knows that lions don’t sing, the only thing he can do when he hears Aslan’s song is to convince himself that it’s actually dreadful roaring, because that, after all, is the only thing lions do. In Mere Christianity, Lewis isn’t proving absolutely everything about the world; he’s simply saying to us, “What if . . . the world isn’t quite exactly like you assume it has to be? Would you like to be a person who believes in the story God is working out in the universe?” And our first response needn’t be a perfectly all-knowing one; it is sufficient to naively say, “Yes, I would like to be that kind of person,” and see what the next step is from there.
I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that Lewis has touched more people in the world than almost any other 20th-century figure. Whether through Narnia (books or movies), the Space Trilogy, The Screwtape Letters, his nonfiction writing, his autobiographical Surprised by Joy, the biographical play and film Shadowlands, or his friendship with Tolkien, the influence of Lewis is incredible. So I was amazed to read that just before Lewis died, he confided in a friend that he assumed that within five years, everything he’d done in life would be completely forgotten. Even contemporaries who cherished and respected Lewis felt that his star would quickly wane—which did happen for a brief period after his death, when publishers lost interest in his work. Being a Wheaton College alumnus, I was proud to read of the role Wheaton has played in keeping Lewis’s legacy fresh and alive. It was interesting to read about the process of Lewis, and Mere Christianity, becoming so thoroughly beloved within evangelical Christianity—which I certainly experienced, growing up and still now—but I was also fascinated to read about how influential Mere Christianity has been among other Christian traditions. I wouldn’t have guessed that it was so beloved by Roman Catholics, and even among some Orthodox believers. It’s hard to imagine a writer today having that breadth of influence—which is sad, really.
Marsden does a good job covering the harsher critical responses to Mere Christianity. Even though I disagree with many of the criticisms, it’s helpful to rethink Lewis’s arguments in light of stern criticism and questioning. But what Marsden brings out that is most helpful for me is a reminder that what Lewis was attempting in Mere Christianity was not the perfect answer to every question of logic, faith, and reason. Rather, as in so many of his books, Lewis is opening to us the possibility of belief, the idea that it is perfectly reasonable to see the universe as a story that is complicated but not nonsensical, a story that isn’t cyclical or pointless but that is moving toward a purposeful end. Marsden mentions (p. 173) the scene in The Magician’s Nephew, when Uncle Andrew hears Aslan’s beautiful singing. Uncle Andrew believes he sees the world scientifically, as only a truly rational person does. Because he knows that lions don’t sing, the only thing he can do when he hears Aslan’s song is to convince himself that it’s actually dreadful roaring, because that, after all, is the only thing lions do. In Mere Christianity, Lewis isn’t proving absolutely everything about the world; he’s simply saying to us, “What if . . . the world isn’t quite exactly like you assume it has to be? Would you like to be a person who believes in the story God is working out in the universe?” And our first response needn’t be a perfectly all-knowing one; it is sufficient to naively say, “Yes, I would like to be that kind of person,” and see what the next step is from there.
June 11, 2016
Of the most intriguing 40 Christian non-fiction titles published in the first half of 2016, historian George Marsden’s new book — C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity: A Biography — stands out immediately. Published in Princeton’s pioneering series, “Lives of Great Religious Books,” Marsden has written a biography about a book, and if that sounds boring, it’s not. Lewis’s classic has a backstory worth telling and Marsden has penned one of the best books of the year.
When it comes to Amazon’s bestselling books in Christian apologetics, Mere Christianity has been in first place ever since I can remember. The book was originally the product of a series of short eight-to-fifteen-minute talks delivered on BBC radio by Lewis during World War II, and delivered to a British culture quickly becoming increasingly post-Christian, and an audience that lived under perpetual fear of night bombing raids.
He gathered a listening audience of between 1–1.6m (the evening news update programs would draw ten-times that number). He pulled the addresses off with great skill and imagination, but it was all met with mixed reviews in the British press, and also generated an unbearable amount of fan mail for Lewis.
Marsden retells the amazing story of how God used one intellectual, but also a novice apologist and lay theologian (CSL), to invest himself in the immediate medium at his disposal (BBC), in a dire time in world history (WWII), to produce talks that would become three separate books, then one book, that would spread globally in the 1950s and then largely be forgotten in during the sexual revolution in the 1960s (except at Wheaton College under the key influence of Clyde Kilby), and then would surge in the late 1960s and take on new life in the 1970s — largely by the long-tail of word-of-mouth spread — leading to a swell of posthumous sales and popularity and eventually to Amazon’s top spot.
In the end, what makes Mere Christianity so powerful? All Christian non-fiction apologists will pay close attention as Marsden summarizes the key features of Lewis’s work (pages 153–188):
1. Lewis looks for timeless truth as opposed to the culturally bound.
2. He uses common human nature as the point of contact with his audience.
3. Lewis sees reason in the context of experience, affections, and imagination.
4. He is a poet at heart, using metaphor and the art of meaning in a universe that is alive.
5. Lewis’s book is about “mere Christianity.”
6. Mere Christianity does not offer cheap grace.
7. The lasting appeal of Mere Christianity is based on the luminosity of the gospel message itself.
A respected historian has retold a worthy story any Christian reader or writer will benefit from hearing. Like his biography of Jonathan Edwards, though shorter by 460 pages, Marsden has once again pulled off a masterpiece of history, in retelling the fascinating life of one of the most influential Christian books in the past century.
When it comes to Amazon’s bestselling books in Christian apologetics, Mere Christianity has been in first place ever since I can remember. The book was originally the product of a series of short eight-to-fifteen-minute talks delivered on BBC radio by Lewis during World War II, and delivered to a British culture quickly becoming increasingly post-Christian, and an audience that lived under perpetual fear of night bombing raids.
He gathered a listening audience of between 1–1.6m (the evening news update programs would draw ten-times that number). He pulled the addresses off with great skill and imagination, but it was all met with mixed reviews in the British press, and also generated an unbearable amount of fan mail for Lewis.
Marsden retells the amazing story of how God used one intellectual, but also a novice apologist and lay theologian (CSL), to invest himself in the immediate medium at his disposal (BBC), in a dire time in world history (WWII), to produce talks that would become three separate books, then one book, that would spread globally in the 1950s and then largely be forgotten in during the sexual revolution in the 1960s (except at Wheaton College under the key influence of Clyde Kilby), and then would surge in the late 1960s and take on new life in the 1970s — largely by the long-tail of word-of-mouth spread — leading to a swell of posthumous sales and popularity and eventually to Amazon’s top spot.
In the end, what makes Mere Christianity so powerful? All Christian non-fiction apologists will pay close attention as Marsden summarizes the key features of Lewis’s work (pages 153–188):
1. Lewis looks for timeless truth as opposed to the culturally bound.
2. He uses common human nature as the point of contact with his audience.
3. Lewis sees reason in the context of experience, affections, and imagination.
4. He is a poet at heart, using metaphor and the art of meaning in a universe that is alive.
5. Lewis’s book is about “mere Christianity.”
6. Mere Christianity does not offer cheap grace.
7. The lasting appeal of Mere Christianity is based on the luminosity of the gospel message itself.
A respected historian has retold a worthy story any Christian reader or writer will benefit from hearing. Like his biography of Jonathan Edwards, though shorter by 460 pages, Marsden has once again pulled off a masterpiece of history, in retelling the fascinating life of one of the most influential Christian books in the past century.
February 23, 2022
This was the first time I have ever read a biography of a book. And honestly it was better than I thought. I think what helped was that I had a basic knowledge of the book Mere Christianity, having read it twice and having a pretty sound knowledge of Lewis as its author, which made the book more enjoyable. I especially liked the portion where the author points out all the criticism of Mere Christianity and then the subsequent defenses. With Mere Christianity it seemed like the more people tried to tear it apart the more people would read it. I really enjoyed the author’s estimations as to why the book remains so popular. This was his final chapter and the last point about the Gospel and how Lewis pointed to it was spot on and really in my opinion summed up Lewis and Mere Christianity well. Very well done!
September 14, 2025
Read this a second time in preparation for leading a C. S. Lewis reading group at church. I loved it again, and (re)learned a lot! Highly recommended for a quick bio of Lewis and interesting background about the radio talks and Mere Christianity.
November 23, 2020
I'll admit, when a friend handed me this book I thought it sounded a little dry (Sorry to that friend; the birthday gift was especially meaningful 😀); but, it turned out to be an insightful read. Part biography of the time, place, and staying power of Mere Christianity, and part C.S. Lewis biography, I learned Lewis-related history I mightn't have learned elsewhere.
Here’s a test: what’s the longest you have gone without reading something by or related to C.S. Lewis? So ubiquitous of the 20th century is Lewis, that I have a theory that it is hard to go more than a year without reading some sort of book relating to him.
Here’s a test: what’s the longest you have gone without reading something by or related to C.S. Lewis? So ubiquitous of the 20th century is Lewis, that I have a theory that it is hard to go more than a year without reading some sort of book relating to him.
April 12, 2016
"Mere Christianity" has been one of the books most responsible for shaping my faith. I re-discovered C.S. Lewis in my third or fourth year of undergrad ( I'd watched the old BBC Narnia adaptations and read some bits of the books as a child) and I eagerly devoured his most popular works. I'd still place "Mere Christianity" in my top 3 spiritual books along with "Orthodoxy" and "No Man Is An Island."
George Marsden's "biography" of the book helpfully chronicles its origins as wartime radio addresses and eventual ascension as a Christian classic that is widely admired by virtually all Christians (even Mormons have embraced it). Marsden provides some basic biographical information on C.S. Lewis himself, explaining Lewis' apologetics method. Much of the book is taken up with the reception of "Mere Christianity" and its embrace by North American evangelicals (but Marsden points out that it was actually "The Screwtape Letters" that first introduced Lewis to North American readers) and other Christians worldwide. Clyde Kilby, professor at Wheaton (at the time a bastion of fundamentalism but soon to move into evangelicalism) in particular was important in pushing Lewis. The apologist was successful at translating the Christian faith to the ordinary man. Yet "Mere Christianity" also provoked criticisms both from skeptics and Christians. For instance, though Roman Catholics lauded the book, some of them criticized Lewis' analogy of Christianity being a hall with many rooms; Catholics insisted that THEIR expression of Christian faith was THE orthodox expression and so Lewis' hall analogy betrays a very Protestant understanding of ecumenism.
This book has quite a few grammatical errors. Had I not known a lot of the information my rating would be a 3.5-4/5 (I tend to rate books higher if it teaches me a lot I didn't know; I did learn that Lewis made it a habit to have weekly confession with an Anglican cleric). Still, a good tribute to an enduring classic.
George Marsden's "biography" of the book helpfully chronicles its origins as wartime radio addresses and eventual ascension as a Christian classic that is widely admired by virtually all Christians (even Mormons have embraced it). Marsden provides some basic biographical information on C.S. Lewis himself, explaining Lewis' apologetics method. Much of the book is taken up with the reception of "Mere Christianity" and its embrace by North American evangelicals (but Marsden points out that it was actually "The Screwtape Letters" that first introduced Lewis to North American readers) and other Christians worldwide. Clyde Kilby, professor at Wheaton (at the time a bastion of fundamentalism but soon to move into evangelicalism) in particular was important in pushing Lewis. The apologist was successful at translating the Christian faith to the ordinary man. Yet "Mere Christianity" also provoked criticisms both from skeptics and Christians. For instance, though Roman Catholics lauded the book, some of them criticized Lewis' analogy of Christianity being a hall with many rooms; Catholics insisted that THEIR expression of Christian faith was THE orthodox expression and so Lewis' hall analogy betrays a very Protestant understanding of ecumenism.
This book has quite a few grammatical errors. Had I not known a lot of the information my rating would be a 3.5-4/5 (I tend to rate books higher if it teaches me a lot I didn't know; I did learn that Lewis made it a habit to have weekly confession with an Anglican cleric). Still, a good tribute to an enduring classic.
September 8, 2021
Cutting to the chase:
What I liked about the book:
I learned about the early years when Lewis was asked to create a series of talks for the BBC during WWII. I think Marsden does very well describing how the book came about. I also found his list of yay and nay sayers to be interesting.
What I did not like:
After a while it feels as though the nay sayers get way too much credit and to much attention devoted to the sneering detraction of Lewis and all of his work, including Mere Christianity.
What I found most interesting as well as deplorable was that none of his detractors argued a single point Lewis made. Instead they settled for making unsubstantiated assertions that could be summed up as:
" C.S. Lewis is not a theologian. He is not a sophisticated thinker as we, the theologians, are. Therefore we are scornful of anything he has to say. He wants to drive the church back into the middle ages with his silly notions of Biblical inerrancy, the divinity of Jesus and all the other nonsense that requires one to take Scripture seriously. 20th century Christianity has moved way beyond that, no wonder it's only backwards fundamentalists in America that read him and so forth..."
What they don't seem to recognize is that their ilk is as old as the gospel. The writers of the Bible, Paul, James, John and Peter were already dealing with the same doubts and denials that today's "sophisticated" aka liberal theologian believes.
Hence:
I liked the first half and not so much the rest.
What I liked about the book:
I learned about the early years when Lewis was asked to create a series of talks for the BBC during WWII. I think Marsden does very well describing how the book came about. I also found his list of yay and nay sayers to be interesting.
What I did not like:
After a while it feels as though the nay sayers get way too much credit and to much attention devoted to the sneering detraction of Lewis and all of his work, including Mere Christianity.
What I found most interesting as well as deplorable was that none of his detractors argued a single point Lewis made. Instead they settled for making unsubstantiated assertions that could be summed up as:
" C.S. Lewis is not a theologian. He is not a sophisticated thinker as we, the theologians, are. Therefore we are scornful of anything he has to say. He wants to drive the church back into the middle ages with his silly notions of Biblical inerrancy, the divinity of Jesus and all the other nonsense that requires one to take Scripture seriously. 20th century Christianity has moved way beyond that, no wonder it's only backwards fundamentalists in America that read him and so forth..."
What they don't seem to recognize is that their ilk is as old as the gospel. The writers of the Bible, Paul, James, John and Peter were already dealing with the same doubts and denials that today's "sophisticated" aka liberal theologian believes.
Hence:
I liked the first half and not so much the rest.
September 17, 2023
Following a book study of Mere Christianity, I appreciated a referral to this book which is part of a series of Great Religious Books offered by Princeton University Press. It put Lewis’s book in context - of the times, its origin, and the criticisms and influence over time. I confess to its being a “heavy”, easy-to-put-down read, but ever so enlightening.
November 29, 2020
A short book diving into the history, themes, theology, and life of C.S. Since it’s been so long since I read Mere Christianity I thought an examination of its Attributes, positive and critical would be a good refresher. I liked it! Narrated well on audio too.
July 29, 2022
I’m not sure about this book. I’m reading it without actually having read the book it’s discussing. So, all conclusions are based completely from what I can gather from this book and my general impressions of the book’s reputation. I don't know if I have a good picture of this book or not.
I really enjoyed the direct history of how Lewis’s wartime radio presentations eventually became one of the most well-known Christian books. It was a fascinating look at Christianity during WW2.
What confuses me, though, is the author’s take on the book or maybe it’s just his focus that confuses me. At the beginning he claims to be a sympathetic biographer. Yet, he seems to be solidly on the side of those academics who can’t figure out why it has such staying power among believers and seekers alike. So, those scholars whose criticism focuses on Lewis’s layman status and traditional doctrine receive the lion’s share of the focus in this book, particularly when it comes to more modern scholarship. He left me with the feeling that Lewis’s only worthwhile contribution to Christian apologetics should have been ecumenism, and his other arguments are just too traditional and amateurish to be taken seriously by any modern person, let alone any scholar.
I was left feeling that he was missing something in his attempt to account for Mere Christianity's influence. He leaves out the power of the Gospel being presented by Lewis. He talks a lot about logic and scholarship, but almost nothing about actual theology. But how can you assess a book about theology without a theological base to compare it to? How can you measure the influence of a book about our Savior without assessing what it teaches about Him? How can you measure the positive or negative cultural impact without comparing it to a Biblical standard?
So, this is my understanding of his assessment of the book. It’s dated, sexist, and hopelessly common, but unaccountably influential.
It did make me want to read Lewis’s Mere Christianity. I want to know if it really is as ecumenical as Marsden claims. I want to know if is as traditional as the scholar’s attacks claim. Or is it as solidly Biblical as Graham and other Evangelicals claim? I’ll just have to find out for myself. I wouldn’t really recommend this book, just because it was so confusing.
I really enjoyed the direct history of how Lewis’s wartime radio presentations eventually became one of the most well-known Christian books. It was a fascinating look at Christianity during WW2.
What confuses me, though, is the author’s take on the book or maybe it’s just his focus that confuses me. At the beginning he claims to be a sympathetic biographer. Yet, he seems to be solidly on the side of those academics who can’t figure out why it has such staying power among believers and seekers alike. So, those scholars whose criticism focuses on Lewis’s layman status and traditional doctrine receive the lion’s share of the focus in this book, particularly when it comes to more modern scholarship. He left me with the feeling that Lewis’s only worthwhile contribution to Christian apologetics should have been ecumenism, and his other arguments are just too traditional and amateurish to be taken seriously by any modern person, let alone any scholar.
I was left feeling that he was missing something in his attempt to account for Mere Christianity's influence. He leaves out the power of the Gospel being presented by Lewis. He talks a lot about logic and scholarship, but almost nothing about actual theology. But how can you assess a book about theology without a theological base to compare it to? How can you measure the influence of a book about our Savior without assessing what it teaches about Him? How can you measure the positive or negative cultural impact without comparing it to a Biblical standard?
So, this is my understanding of his assessment of the book. It’s dated, sexist, and hopelessly common, but unaccountably influential.
It did make me want to read Lewis’s Mere Christianity. I want to know if it really is as ecumenical as Marsden claims. I want to know if is as traditional as the scholar’s attacks claim. Or is it as solidly Biblical as Graham and other Evangelicals claim? I’ll just have to find out for myself. I wouldn’t really recommend this book, just because it was so confusing.
March 30, 2016
Classic Marsden. He did his homework and dug up some interesting anecdotes, offering a strong narrative, a clear outline and analysis, and some insightful points along the way. He did some "reception history" by looking at ways that people have reacted to Lewis' book, including his famous "trilemma" (Jesus is liar, lunatic, or Lord).
One insight from the book that struck me: Lewis didn't use reason to prove Christianity so much as to clear away objections and then invite others to see and experience what he did in the faith.
Another point that struck me was that though Lewis has been instrumental in the Tiber-crossings of some prominent Roman Catholics, some of those very people (including a graduate of my [very Protestant] alma mater, Dwight Longenecker) have pointed out that Lewis' famous hallway metaphor in the preface to Mere Christianity is actually itself a Protestant conception of ecclesiology.
One insight from the book that struck me: Lewis didn't use reason to prove Christianity so much as to clear away objections and then invite others to see and experience what he did in the faith.
Another point that struck me was that though Lewis has been instrumental in the Tiber-crossings of some prominent Roman Catholics, some of those very people (including a graduate of my [very Protestant] alma mater, Dwight Longenecker) have pointed out that Lewis' famous hallway metaphor in the preface to Mere Christianity is actually itself a Protestant conception of ecclesiology.
Ian Kerr, who acknowledges that Mere Christianity was an "enormous influence" on him in his teens, argues...: "The Roman Catholic Church would have to insist that the envisaged house is the Roman Catholic Church, with the other communions as more or less attached to it as annexes our outbuildings." So, Kerr concludes, "The whole concept of a common hall with different rooms opening off it is not an acceptable ecclesiastical model from the Catholic point of view." (130)
Want to read
October 6, 2017
September 9, 2019
A book about a book, and I give it five stars not because it says anything surprising or brilliant, but because it does perfectly what it set out to do--be a short description of where Lewis's book came from, what it says, how it was received, how theologians attack and defend it, and why its readership has steadily grown over the last fifty years, when most non-fiction books from the period have disappeared. Mere Christianity remains pretty much the most popular book of Christian apologetic in the world--even Chinese Christians buy it in numbers second only to the Bible. It is the book most likely to have been read by lay-people in just about every denomination from Baptist to Catholic to Mormon. I was very much a C.S. Lewis fan fifty years ago, and while this is far from his best book, it certainly is his most popular (aside from the Narnia books). I've read most of his work, and I've read several biographies; but there was still new information for me here. A very careful work by a first-rate historian, and about 400 pages shorter than his biography of Jonathan Edwards.
October 24, 2020
Marsden's biography is not of CS Lewis, but of the creation and impact of "Mere Christianity" from the BBC talks that spawned the book to the impact that has only spread and increased until today. He also addresses what some of the critiques of the book have been as well as what the most important aspects of the book are. You obviously have to appreciate "Mere Christianity" to appreciate this book, but I enjoyed the ride. One of the things that I appreciated most was how widespread the impact of Mere Christianity has been, both theologically and geographically.
For more reviews see www.thebeehive.live.
For more reviews see www.thebeehive.live.
April 23, 2021
In preparing to read C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity", I read this book to get the backstory. It's a well-balanced presentation of Lewis' conversion to Christianity and the origin story of the famous book. I was also intrigued to hear what the advocates and critics had to say about Lewis' influence and beliefs. In addition, I was intrigued by the author's compelling reasons for why Lewis has had a lasting impact across the board on Christian religions, including my religious group The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
August 21, 2019
A first-rate historian examines Lewis and his most well-known work. It’s easy now to have an aura-like image of Lewis, contending for the Christian faith, pumping out book after book, writing well-known fiction and children’s books. But this book made me even more grateful for Lewis by helping me understand his context, critics, and challenges. One of the things I most appreciate about Lewis is how he wedded reason and imagination, logic and metaphor.
April 28, 2020
A biography of a book? Sure, why not! And such a classic. I didn't know exactly what to expect from this, but I wanted to learn more about the background and the life of the book we know as Mere Christianity. This biography from noted Christian historian George Marsden did a fine job of that.
Listened to this on Scribd as an audiobook.
Listened to this on Scribd as an audiobook.
August 7, 2024
Well, I'm on a literary binge reading C. S. Lewis...
Marsden focus on the bestseller classic "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis.
Loved it...
Well researched, wonderful narrated audio-book!!!
Even if you have read this classic, it's worthwhile your time!!!
Dean;)
Marsden focus on the bestseller classic "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis.
Loved it...
Well researched, wonderful narrated audio-book!!!
Even if you have read this classic, it's worthwhile your time!!!
Dean;)
December 17, 2025
Helpful and interesting, though there were one or two odd sections, and at times it got a little repetitive.
January 11, 2023
A truly eye opening book on CS Lewis’s life I didn’t know I needed! I will defintely have a greater appreciation for this books after this one.
July 14, 2017
Excellent... but not for a "recreational" reader... have your cup of coffee and dive in. Rich writing, great material, complex thought.
January 19, 2016
A surprisingly engaging overview of the origin of Lewis's most famous non-fiction book, a book that began as radio lectures and which were compiled almost as a afterthought. Marsden takes time to explore how the book went from being suspicious to American Evangelicals to being lovingly embraced by many of them. His overview of British and American reactions sheds a lot of light on mid-20th century Christian thought in general.
Another strong contribution to the Lives of Great Religious Books series, this being the second focusing on a twentieth century text (the other being Bonhoeffer's "Letters and Papers from Prison").
Another strong contribution to the Lives of Great Religious Books series, this being the second focusing on a twentieth century text (the other being Bonhoeffer's "Letters and Papers from Prison").
June 25, 2016
Marsden does a masterful job of writing a biographical sketch of, not a person, but a book. Now, one might think a biography of a book would be cumbersome or boring, but I can attest that it, or at least this one, was most certainly not. The reach and scope of Lewis' Mere Christianity was only heightened by understanding how it came about, why it came about, when it came about, the cultural atmosphere in which it was birthed, how it has transcended time and nation of origin, and taken on a life of its own. I loved this book, especially the latter chapters.
February 8, 2021
A biography, not of Lewis, but of one his most famous works. It was very interesting to hear the way it became influential and the various reactions (critical and appreciative) people have had to it over the years.
The final chapter, which discusses the reasons for the effectiveness of Lewis’ style of communication is worth reading, even if you don’t read the rest of the book. (For me, that chapter expresses well the two sides of Lewis—reason and imagination—that I have deliberately tried to incorporate into my own preaching.)
The final chapter, which discusses the reasons for the effectiveness of Lewis’ style of communication is worth reading, even if you don’t read the rest of the book. (For me, that chapter expresses well the two sides of Lewis—reason and imagination—that I have deliberately tried to incorporate into my own preaching.)
August 29, 2023
What do you get when you bring together a great historian (Marsden), a great subject (Lewis), and a great book (Mere Christianity? - This book. It is a wonderful combination of biography, exposition, reception history, and historical evaluation. A love the concept of this series and have read 4 volumes to date, with hopes of getting to a few more very soon. This one may be my favorite so far. The volumes on Augustine’s Confessions and Aquinas’ Summa are both very good as well.
July 22, 2016
3.5 stars. I enjoyed it, but it doesn't seem right to rate it as highly as the book that it discusses (one of my all-time faves, btw). I felt the same way about Ward's "Planet Narnia." I thought it was great, but it would seem wrong to give it more stars than the actual Narnia books, right? If you love "Mere Christianity," you'll appreciate this too
December 13, 2018
A wonderful guided tour of the life and thought of C.S. Lewis told through the lens of the impact made by the perennial bestseller MERE CHRISTIANITY. George Marsden shows once again why he is such an esteemed historian even when venturing on more popular turf, with his wise, masterful, and judicious encapsulations of points and reflections on why all of it matters.
October 2, 2018
I suppose I’m a part of the sizable class of ideal readers for this book: I’ve read 'Mere Christianity' (MC) several times in addition to several Lewis biographies. This means I have a fairly good sense of where MC fits in Lewis’ literary career, but nonetheless I learned a number of points about MC and its reception that had hitherto been obscure to me. For instance, I was unaware of how the book was initially warmly received by Catholic intellectuals, though later Catholic interpreters took issue with some parts of the book. In particular they were troubled by Lewis' claims to be elucidating the ‘Mere’ part of MC given his comments in MC on, say, the nature of Christian salvation. Nonetheless, as Marsden documents, the book has been widely influential in the Christian intellectual world in Catholicism, mainline Protestantism, evangelicalism, and beyond (e.g. Marsden includes a brief discussion of MC's influence in the Mormon church). In addition, while I was familiar with Charles Colson and his interest in Lewis, I was not aware of the extent to which Colson’s conversion experience was connected to Lewis’ discussion of pride in MC (which is probably my favorite part of MC), as well as the role Colson had in promoting the book to evangelical readers in the US.
Overall, Marsden has done careful historical work here on how MC was received, interpreted, challenged, and he puts forward some plausible reasons for why the book has continued to have relevance. In addition to the detailed textual and reception history, Marsden also properly situates the ongoing scholarly controversies regarding the quality (or lack thereof) of Lewis’ apologetics. In certain contexts, I’ve seen readers be especially fawning over Lewis’ arguments (with much attention given to Lewis’ academic credentials), and I was glad to see Marsden outline the critiques of some of Lewis’ more famous arguments (e.g. the ‘Liar, Lunatic, Lord’ trilemma) and how Lewis’ defenders have responded to these critiques (and counter-responses, and so on). I expect that, from a writer’s perspective, executing that discussion was not easy given that some of the issues are fairly complex, and it is probably difficult to see whether one is too deep in the weeds, so to speak. I found Marsden to be a fairly balanced voice who provided the reader with wise guidance on both the debates and where readers could turn next for future inquiries into the subject matter.
I also agree with Marsden, and the authors he quotes, when he suggests that Lewis’ staying power is deeply tied to his ability to use his considerable powers of imagination and metaphor in the service of theological discussion. Many of Lewis’ metaphors have continued to resonate with me long after I came to see the weaknesses in some of his arguments. Marsden rightly notes that Lewis’ prodigious reading and command of his literary experiences made him deeply comfortable in the discipline of using imagery in the service of conceptual explanations. In my judgment, this is why it is close to impossible to imitate Lewis well: to do a proper imitation the writer would need to be close to as widely read in poetry and prose as Lewis was--which is a mountain too tall for nearly all of us.
I agree with another reviewer that the ending of the book was a bit repetitive given previous discussions in the text, though I read that as Marsden just trying make sure that the reader came away with a coherent vision of what made Lewis and MC so distinctive. At times I thought that Marsden was reliant on a few historical sources that he returned to a bit too often in the text, though his methodology is, in my view, generally sound and I found his prose lively and enjoyable. Overall, I would not recommend the book to those seeking primarily to learn more about Lewis’ life or those who haven’t read MC at least once. Both the discussion of Lewis’ life and the content of MC are too cursory for that, but if you would like to better understand how MC came to be and why it has the place it does in the present culture, I couldn’t think of a better text to recommend.
Overall, Marsden has done careful historical work here on how MC was received, interpreted, challenged, and he puts forward some plausible reasons for why the book has continued to have relevance. In addition to the detailed textual and reception history, Marsden also properly situates the ongoing scholarly controversies regarding the quality (or lack thereof) of Lewis’ apologetics. In certain contexts, I’ve seen readers be especially fawning over Lewis’ arguments (with much attention given to Lewis’ academic credentials), and I was glad to see Marsden outline the critiques of some of Lewis’ more famous arguments (e.g. the ‘Liar, Lunatic, Lord’ trilemma) and how Lewis’ defenders have responded to these critiques (and counter-responses, and so on). I expect that, from a writer’s perspective, executing that discussion was not easy given that some of the issues are fairly complex, and it is probably difficult to see whether one is too deep in the weeds, so to speak. I found Marsden to be a fairly balanced voice who provided the reader with wise guidance on both the debates and where readers could turn next for future inquiries into the subject matter.
I also agree with Marsden, and the authors he quotes, when he suggests that Lewis’ staying power is deeply tied to his ability to use his considerable powers of imagination and metaphor in the service of theological discussion. Many of Lewis’ metaphors have continued to resonate with me long after I came to see the weaknesses in some of his arguments. Marsden rightly notes that Lewis’ prodigious reading and command of his literary experiences made him deeply comfortable in the discipline of using imagery in the service of conceptual explanations. In my judgment, this is why it is close to impossible to imitate Lewis well: to do a proper imitation the writer would need to be close to as widely read in poetry and prose as Lewis was--which is a mountain too tall for nearly all of us.
I agree with another reviewer that the ending of the book was a bit repetitive given previous discussions in the text, though I read that as Marsden just trying make sure that the reader came away with a coherent vision of what made Lewis and MC so distinctive. At times I thought that Marsden was reliant on a few historical sources that he returned to a bit too often in the text, though his methodology is, in my view, generally sound and I found his prose lively and enjoyable. Overall, I would not recommend the book to those seeking primarily to learn more about Lewis’ life or those who haven’t read MC at least once. Both the discussion of Lewis’ life and the content of MC are too cursory for that, but if you would like to better understand how MC came to be and why it has the place it does in the present culture, I couldn’t think of a better text to recommend.
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