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The Case for Christianity
Clear and Compelling Reasoning From the Master Apologist First delivered as an informal radio address during World War II to bring hope to an embattled public, "The Case for Christianity" is C.S. Lewis's artful and compelling argument for the reasonableness of Christian faith. Dividing his case into two parts, "Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe" and "What Christians Believe", Lewis uses all the powers of his formidable wit and logic and the strength of his convictions to shed light on this most important subject.
64 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2000
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About the author
C.S. Lewis
1,014 books47.6k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.
Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]
Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.
Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
February 1, 2020
C.S. Lewis had a mind unlike any other author or theologian I've ever come across. In his book Surprised by Joy, he talks about the different philosophers he read. The amount, and scope, was dumbfounding. Later in his life, he was given a position as a professor of philosophy in the university where he was employed.
Once an atheist, Lewis literally philosophized his way out of atheistic thinking by confronting the impossibilities he found in atheism. This book is short, but potent and mindbending. Still, expect to take your time getting through it. There's so much to chew on.
I'd rate this book a G.
Once an atheist, Lewis literally philosophized his way out of atheistic thinking by confronting the impossibilities he found in atheism. This book is short, but potent and mindbending. Still, expect to take your time getting through it. There's so much to chew on.
I'd rate this book a G.
September 12, 2020
“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
Critique of this book. The Lewis appeal is rhetorical and emotional, not logical.
https://philosophynow.org/issues/74/C...
=========
C.S. Lewis is not the evangelical fundamentalist that Americans like to believe.
On the Second Coming...
"Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." (Matthew 24:34)
C.S. Lewis called this the most embarrassing verse in the Bible. He wrote.....
“Say what you like,” we shall be told, “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.”
"It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible".
=======
see my comments in response to a question in the comments section for my review of Mere Christianity for further detail....
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
=========
Interesting article on Lewis from The New Yorker....
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
=========
Book that refutes Lewis's arguments point by point....
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
― Anthony Burgess
Critique of this book. The Lewis appeal is rhetorical and emotional, not logical.
https://philosophynow.org/issues/74/C...
=========
C.S. Lewis is not the evangelical fundamentalist that Americans like to believe.
On the Second Coming...
"Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." (Matthew 24:34)
C.S. Lewis called this the most embarrassing verse in the Bible. He wrote.....
“Say what you like,” we shall be told, “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.”
"It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible".
=======
see my comments in response to a question in the comments section for my review of Mere Christianity for further detail....
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
=========
Interesting article on Lewis from The New Yorker....
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
=========
Book that refutes Lewis's arguments point by point....
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
February 27, 2013
I started reading and it was very familiar. When I picked up this book I didn't realize that this book is actually just one part of Lewis' Mere Christianity. I didn't mind reading it again because it was short, but also because it's a good book. I appreciate Lewis' clear and concise writing. It's good to read because it's nice opposition to my tendency to mention every possible objection. If there's anything that my philosophy degree taught me it's that any point of view can be criticized. Lewis states his point of view admitting that there are unexpected aspects but voices his opinions with humble confidence. Maybe this is my bias speaking here, but I feel that there is a contrast between Lewis' style and that of the new atheists of today who argue much more vehemently and condescendingly. Obviously Lewis doesn't answer every objection to Christianity, but he does a nice job of pointing out compelling reasons for a charitable reader to consider it. It's worth reading Mere Christianity rather than merely this book, but all things considered, it's a rightful classic of Christian apologetics.
January 11, 2025
slow start but amazing finish! The first little bit maybe went a little over my head but the middle to end was captivating! Very thought provoking as well!
“If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect it to show itself would be inside us as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave in a certain way. And that’s just what we do find inside us.”
“If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and aren't in the least likely to do any better to-morrow, and so our case is hopeless again. We can't do without it, and we can't do with it. God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to keep out of the way of. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies.”
“It's after you've realized that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong
with that Power — it's after all that that Christianity begins to talk. When you know you're sick, you'll listen to the doctor.”
“For Christianity is a fighting religion. It thinks God made the world— that space and time, heat and cold, and all the colours and tastes, and all the animals and vege. tables, are things that God "made up out of His head" man makes up a story. But it also thinks that a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists, and insists very loudly, on our putting them right again.”
“Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God didn't exist—in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless—I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality-namely my idea of justice was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.”
“ love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it. Now if we hadn't fallen, that would be all plain sailing. But unfortunately we now need God's help in order to do something which God, in His own nature, never does at all-to surrender, to suffer, to submit, to die. Nothing in God's nature corresponds to this process at all. So that the one road for which we now need God's leadership most of all is a road God, in His own nature, has never walked. God can share only what He has: this thing, in His own nature, He has not.
But supposing God became a man-suppose our human nature which can suffer and die was amalgamated with God's nature in one person-then that person could help us. He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God.
You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can do it only if He becomes man. Our attempts at this dying will succeed only if we men share in God's dying, just as our thinking can succeed only because it is a drop out of the ocean of His intelligence: but we can't share God's dying unless God dies; and He can't die except by being a man. That is the sense in which He pays our debt, and suffers for us what He Himself needn't suffer at all.”
“If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it could not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect it to show itself would be inside us as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave in a certain way. And that’s just what we do find inside us.”
“If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and aren't in the least likely to do any better to-morrow, and so our case is hopeless again. We can't do without it, and we can't do with it. God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to keep out of the way of. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies.”
“It's after you've realized that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong
with that Power — it's after all that that Christianity begins to talk. When you know you're sick, you'll listen to the doctor.”
“For Christianity is a fighting religion. It thinks God made the world— that space and time, heat and cold, and all the colours and tastes, and all the animals and vege. tables, are things that God "made up out of His head" man makes up a story. But it also thinks that a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists, and insists very loudly, on our putting them right again.”
“Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God didn't exist—in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless—I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality-namely my idea of justice was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.”
“ love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it. Now if we hadn't fallen, that would be all plain sailing. But unfortunately we now need God's help in order to do something which God, in His own nature, never does at all-to surrender, to suffer, to submit, to die. Nothing in God's nature corresponds to this process at all. So that the one road for which we now need God's leadership most of all is a road God, in His own nature, has never walked. God can share only what He has: this thing, in His own nature, He has not.
But supposing God became a man-suppose our human nature which can suffer and die was amalgamated with God's nature in one person-then that person could help us. He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God.
You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can do it only if He becomes man. Our attempts at this dying will succeed only if we men share in God's dying, just as our thinking can succeed only because it is a drop out of the ocean of His intelligence: but we can't share God's dying unless God dies; and He can't die except by being a man. That is the sense in which He pays our debt, and suffers for us what He Himself needn't suffer at all.”
January 25, 2024
“Only a bad person needs to repent: only a good person can repent “
Though it’s short it is mighty. I love how he breaks down the law of human nature.
This would be great for someone just starting their journey into Christianity.
Though it’s short it is mighty. I love how he breaks down the law of human nature.
This would be great for someone just starting their journey into Christianity.
January 31, 2009
I just finished this little book that isn't nearly as easy a read as one might think from the length. I'm a big C.S. Lewis fan and read this book over 30 years ago. "Jack" as C.S. Lewis was called by his friends, was brought to Christianity later in life. He has an amazing way of taking you logically through the arguments for different viewpoints of where we came from and how we should be living. His approach is a layman's rather than a theologian. This gives a much more logical explanation about why we believe what we believe. For someone who is already a Christian, it's a must read. For those searching, it's an excellent place to start. And even for the cynics who want to know where those wacky Christians have picked up their ideas from, it's a nice simple statement of our faith. If you're more in the mood for fiction, he wrote wonderful fantasy including his space trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Peralandra, & That Hideous Strength) in addition to the better known series Chronicles of Narnia. By the way, it's interesting that was good friends with J.R.R. Tolkien.
September 28, 2011
I am an atheist, and I read this book because every Christian I have ever met told me it would change my mind, or at the very least present several questions I could not answer.
Well, I read it.
I did not like it, or find a single argument that was convincing or particularly well put. They are the same arguments posed by any person of the faith and can be answered in numerous ways unless you are blinded by your faith or simply too lazy to look at them from a scientific point of view.
That's what it really boils down to, isn't it? Point of view.
If you are a christian (as I was raised to be) you will find in this book a lot of your own beliefs repeated back to you in a learned tone of voice by a person more well-versed in the subject than yourself (it's a fact, most Christians have never read the bible in its entirety).
But, if you are NOT a Christian, there is nothing here that will convince you to be one, or that you are living a life that will lead you to hell.
Two stars are awarded, however, because Lewis has an easy writing style, which is suitable for the average reader or even young people, which is who he intended much of his writing for.
Well, I read it.
I did not like it, or find a single argument that was convincing or particularly well put. They are the same arguments posed by any person of the faith and can be answered in numerous ways unless you are blinded by your faith or simply too lazy to look at them from a scientific point of view.
That's what it really boils down to, isn't it? Point of view.
If you are a christian (as I was raised to be) you will find in this book a lot of your own beliefs repeated back to you in a learned tone of voice by a person more well-versed in the subject than yourself (it's a fact, most Christians have never read the bible in its entirety).
But, if you are NOT a Christian, there is nothing here that will convince you to be one, or that you are living a life that will lead you to hell.
Two stars are awarded, however, because Lewis has an easy writing style, which is suitable for the average reader or even young people, which is who he intended much of his writing for.
January 7, 2024
Reread this because I wanted to hear the gospel again in a clear, kind voice, without alot of Christianese. I love Lewis for this. Not a perfect book, but I love it.
“[A Christian] doesn’t think God will love us because we’re good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”
"A Christian isn't a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble -- because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out."
“[A Christian] doesn’t think God will love us because we’re good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”
"A Christian isn't a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble -- because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out."
February 4, 2025
3.5 stars
Good book. I think this is a more bare bones version of Mere Christianity, but I sort of forgot Lewis’s arguments, and it was fun reading it in the more conversational style. I liked the last paragraph of the book a lot,
“When the author walks on to the stage the play’s over. God’s going to invade, all right: but what’s the good of saying you’re on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else—something it never entered your head to conceive—comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There’s no good saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That won’t be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not. Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won’t last forever. We must take it or leave it.”
Good book. I think this is a more bare bones version of Mere Christianity, but I sort of forgot Lewis’s arguments, and it was fun reading it in the more conversational style. I liked the last paragraph of the book a lot,
“When the author walks on to the stage the play’s over. God’s going to invade, all right: but what’s the good of saying you’re on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else—something it never entered your head to conceive—comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There’s no good saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That won’t be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not. Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won’t last forever. We must take it or leave it.”
May 7, 2023
The Case for Christianity may be a challenge for today's society to accept, as it is a society where man is each his own creator. Society is redefining "the one thing" we know internally, "Man." It is doing so with the selective external of psychological hypothesis and theory. There is disregard for moral law and and even science. Instead good is led by undisciplined emotions; which lead to chaos. Chaos is not godly nor good. It is good gone wrong, as Lewis would say. Or misguided compassion as Mother Angelica would say. Where is the person of this age comparable to C. S. Lewis or G.K. Chesterton or Flannery O'Connor who can stand against our moral decline and raise up a case for Christianity in this era.
September 5, 2020
I enjoy Lewis's views and analysis, and they hold up as sensible right up until his proofs of a tangible and real god. His proofs are enough for him, and he seems to accept them as absolute because they meet his needs. A thoughtful and intelligent dialogue with nuggets of nonsense declared as truth that we must accept. With that said, someone can be very wrong and still add value to a discourse, and I think that's what we find here.
May 10, 2022
Essentially a condensed version of Mere Christianity, targeted at the argument for divine authority and the Christian version of it. I have read these sections numerous times, but I find them as powerful as ever. Lewis masters the wit and logic of this subject, demanding readers' attention. As a short read, it is approachable to any and all, and I highly recommend it. Extraordinarily well-considered as always by Lewis.
June 30, 2023
I have long been a great admirer of C.S. Lewis and his history of examining the Christian faith through rational thinking. This little book encapsulates his essential arguments, and does so in a way that makes it accessible to anyone.
October 17, 2024
Lewis says so much in so little of pages- as usual, I learned more about Christ. I am thankful to live in a world where CS Lewis' writings exist.
January 31, 2025
very good, definitely a book i’ll want to reread in a few years.
June 5, 2025
2.5 stars, it had some interesting philosophy in it but it did not grip me like other works of his!
March 22, 2019
This book is less than 80 pages which is the cut off line for a book to be entered onto my all time book list. I do not really consider this to be a book at all. This is more like a long short story. This is basically transcripts of radio broadcasts that Lewis made in England during WWII. The book is broken up into two parts. The second part is much more enjoyable and less boring than the first part. Overall Lewis is a landmark writer of Christian / theology based material, this in not his best. This short of a book really should not drag so much. 3/5
GaryReviews
GaryReviews
April 21, 2008
This book made me think, I enjoyed it a lot
July 10, 2008
I enjoyed reading a book which stands up for Christianity.
October 21, 2015
Every Lewis book I read is better the last one...I don't know how he does it. His logic in this is downright beautiful.
May 28, 2018
A component of Mere Christianity. A keen insight into Christianity for non-believers
December 27, 2024
What an interesting book. Fascinating. When I read the athiest’s case, I was looking for a strongly reasoned case for religion. I read utter trash, and I should have read this. Short but sweet.
I like that Lewis doesn’t start with accepting Christianity before jumping into why Christianity is the best and all the others suck. The fact that he logically steps his way into a “good” all-powerful god appeals to my sense of reason, something he would argue comes from god itself. I actually think his musings on a “higher” law of morality - things that are good and fair and that seem to unerringly be true throughout human history in different civilizations and peoples - I find that compelling and beautiful. He is right how different they all are. But almost always (always also with exceptions), selfishness, cruelty, cowardice… - some things are almost always looked down upon or treated with shame. Why? I am open to evolutionary reasons, to be honest. But I like that CS Lewis is contemporary enough that he is familiar with atomic theory and evolution and accepts many elements of those theories to be real and true fact. It makes it easier to read and to accept some of his arguments.
My biggest challenge is that while I can accept that there is this overarching “moral law” that seems to be a through line in the wild diversity of human history and civilization, it’s a HUGE leap from that, to assuming that law or force has AGENCY. If he made that claim, I missed it (and I was looking). He assumes that the “moral law” comes from “something or someone.” And I genuinely do not see a logical foundation for that assumption. It means that the rest of the book - which as he goes into more Christian theology has some more leaps of reasoning - I am still back at the first half. He says we need to turn around and I say - the road ahead looks clear to me. I think I want to go on in this direction.
So…I feel clear now that I am agnostic. I do believe in that higher power, but it’s not clear to me that that force has agency. He does discuss this, but his analogies sometimes are not apples to apples. Yes gravity always exists and always behaves. But now we know about things like quarks and string theory which introduce elements of randomness. Humans and animals are so infinitely complex, our loves and skin and vices and diseases and fears could all be chemical reactions one after another, but it’s also possible to me that morality as Lewis describes it is like color. A certain length visual wave will result in the color blue, but some people may close their eyes, or be wearing sunglasses, or be colorblind, or may look at something else, or mix blue with yellow and get green. It is there - it is a law of the universe, but it is not like gravity or inertia.
Overall though I am impressed with CS Lewis’ clarity, his reasoning, and his beautiful faith. I found his description and explanation for the death of Christ to be the most reasonable and makes the most sense of any explanation I have ever heard - and I went to Catholic Mass and CCD for half my life. It cleared a lot of the theory up for me for sure.
Recommended to anyone who can hold an idea in their head without accepting it. To those who love philosophy. Who believe in atheism like others believe in god. I enjoyed it and it’s short, and CS Lewis must have been one hell of a teacher!
I like that Lewis doesn’t start with accepting Christianity before jumping into why Christianity is the best and all the others suck. The fact that he logically steps his way into a “good” all-powerful god appeals to my sense of reason, something he would argue comes from god itself. I actually think his musings on a “higher” law of morality - things that are good and fair and that seem to unerringly be true throughout human history in different civilizations and peoples - I find that compelling and beautiful. He is right how different they all are. But almost always (always also with exceptions), selfishness, cruelty, cowardice… - some things are almost always looked down upon or treated with shame. Why? I am open to evolutionary reasons, to be honest. But I like that CS Lewis is contemporary enough that he is familiar with atomic theory and evolution and accepts many elements of those theories to be real and true fact. It makes it easier to read and to accept some of his arguments.
My biggest challenge is that while I can accept that there is this overarching “moral law” that seems to be a through line in the wild diversity of human history and civilization, it’s a HUGE leap from that, to assuming that law or force has AGENCY. If he made that claim, I missed it (and I was looking). He assumes that the “moral law” comes from “something or someone.” And I genuinely do not see a logical foundation for that assumption. It means that the rest of the book - which as he goes into more Christian theology has some more leaps of reasoning - I am still back at the first half. He says we need to turn around and I say - the road ahead looks clear to me. I think I want to go on in this direction.
So…I feel clear now that I am agnostic. I do believe in that higher power, but it’s not clear to me that that force has agency. He does discuss this, but his analogies sometimes are not apples to apples. Yes gravity always exists and always behaves. But now we know about things like quarks and string theory which introduce elements of randomness. Humans and animals are so infinitely complex, our loves and skin and vices and diseases and fears could all be chemical reactions one after another, but it’s also possible to me that morality as Lewis describes it is like color. A certain length visual wave will result in the color blue, but some people may close their eyes, or be wearing sunglasses, or be colorblind, or may look at something else, or mix blue with yellow and get green. It is there - it is a law of the universe, but it is not like gravity or inertia.
Overall though I am impressed with CS Lewis’ clarity, his reasoning, and his beautiful faith. I found his description and explanation for the death of Christ to be the most reasonable and makes the most sense of any explanation I have ever heard - and I went to Catholic Mass and CCD for half my life. It cleared a lot of the theory up for me for sure.
Recommended to anyone who can hold an idea in their head without accepting it. To those who love philosophy. Who believe in atheism like others believe in god. I enjoyed it and it’s short, and CS Lewis must have been one hell of a teacher!
April 11, 2022
Book 1 is really interesting. I like the idea that to be good when it is inconvenient is the real thing. The author calls out sort of fair-weather fans of religion who see something overwhelmingly beautiful and ascribe to it a higher meaning, but give themselves a break when they are sinning because there's no God and no law other than the law of the jungle. If you believe in "good" and "bad", then you must admit to the "bad" things you do for the "good" to mean anything.
Book 2 is religious hogwash. Book 1 is argued like Socrates - potentially not sound, but clearly defining the ground rules and making a point on that basis. Book 2 is less of an argument and more of an onboarding document. The author gets into things like why the christian view of God is the right one out of the other religions (about which he knows little), and how christians are doing Christ's work on earth. Probably the most interesting thought in book 2 is the rejection of dualism or the idea that good and bad are independent entities. If good and bad are equal in strength and equal in morality (e.g. sometimes strength is good, or other times flexibility is good), then we wouldn't really call them good and bad and have our connotation of them. We may do good for its own ends, but we do not do bad for bad's sake. We do bad in order to attain good things. So therefore, the idea that God created an angel who fell to the dark is the correct interpretation of the forces of good and evil.
Book 2 is religious hogwash. Book 1 is argued like Socrates - potentially not sound, but clearly defining the ground rules and making a point on that basis. Book 2 is less of an argument and more of an onboarding document. The author gets into things like why the christian view of God is the right one out of the other religions (about which he knows little), and how christians are doing Christ's work on earth. Probably the most interesting thought in book 2 is the rejection of dualism or the idea that good and bad are independent entities. If good and bad are equal in strength and equal in morality (e.g. sometimes strength is good, or other times flexibility is good), then we wouldn't really call them good and bad and have our connotation of them. We may do good for its own ends, but we do not do bad for bad's sake. We do bad in order to attain good things. So therefore, the idea that God created an angel who fell to the dark is the correct interpretation of the forces of good and evil.
December 10, 2025
Makes a good case that the desire for goodness is above all the others making it not a desire. The categorization of good and evil is the axiomatic measurement that we consciously feel and it can't be derived from the instinct of self-preservation. People can try to rationalize that evil is just not beneficial to the community and that's why it is negatively seen, but when they see the horrors of extreme evil, they also judge the perpetrator as a monster.
No matter the extent of determinism, we still judge a person for his unimaginable evil, because we intrinsically believe that in the end everybody has a choice. We can believe that consciousness is the source of non-determinism in this world. Either that or we are all just monsters and ignorants.
No matter the extent of determinism, we still judge a person for his unimaginable evil, because we intrinsically believe that in the end everybody has a choice. We can believe that consciousness is the source of non-determinism in this world. Either that or we are all just monsters and ignorants.
July 24, 2025
I loved Mere Christianity and it first made Christianity really seem plausible without hiding from reality. This was so refreshing to dive back into some of his talks. The illustration of the “Perfect Penitent” in chapter 4 of part 2 is probably my favorite explanation of Christ’s real ministry in the incarnation.
July 11, 2019
Actual rating: 3.5/5
Quite an interesting book. His perspective and purpose is very clear, and the arguments seem very logical and organized. It was transcript from a radio series and that shows in the writing. That's part was all right.
Quite an interesting book. His perspective and purpose is very clear, and the arguments seem very logical and organized. It was transcript from a radio series and that shows in the writing. That's part was all right.
October 27, 2025
Reading this as a Christian was so satisfying. It explained our beliefs with good analogies and reasoning. I hope this helps me to explain to others, especially nonbelievers so they may choose to surrender to Jesus Christ.
June 12, 2019
Many fantastic points! Many great things to think about, and answers to challenging questions! Sometimes challenging to understand, but is worth reading and thinking through.
September 17, 2019
Good logical arguments for Christianity; the author takes the reader in small steps to a saving faith in Christ.
October 12, 2019
This book is excellent. I love the logic of Lewis. It's easily read in an afternoon, and if you have read Mere Christianity this will be familiar, though not as long.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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