Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis by Marissa Posada

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Justification:I chose this book because my first choice was apparently a fire and brimstone book. My coworkers saw me reading it and recommended that I read something else as an example of a christian book. They told me that books by C.S. Lewis would be better, I had heard of the author, but I thought he only wrote children's books. So agreed to this book since it is by a famous author and recommended by my coworkers.

Evaluation: The preface explains that this was originally a radio broadcast. So in a sense the whole book is a good example of dialogue. C.S. Lewis is allowing the listener/reader to get to know him. He does not try to scare or intimidate the reader into accepting Christianity and tells the reader he used to be an atheist. He also reassures the reader that his advice on Christianity is not the only 'true' way, but that he is just a layman. He also has quite a sense of humor when pointing out he does know what the devil looks like, but those who really want to know will probably find out.

This book has great examples of drawing a line in the sand. He does this a lot to prove his various points on Christianity. In his argument on the existence of God, he explains that there are a set of Laws of Nature that everyone knows they aren't supposed to break, but everyone breaks them. He sets it up that everyone gets upset when people break these set of rules, but everyone is guilty of breaking them and coming up with excuses to exempt them from it. Another argument he uses it in is the act of repentance. He argues that the bad people who need to repent have a hard time doing it and those who are good at it don't need it. He also mentions that repentance is a key factor to Christianity, but then says if it "doesn't help you, drop it."

This book has many examples of precise vocabulary. C.S. Lewis has to define alot of the language Christians use so that others will understand what is really being said. He gave a great example for this practice. the word gentlemen had a specific definition before, it was for a man who had a coat of arms and landed property. Now it is used to be praise, so it has lost its true meaning. He continues to define words so the context is understood to those who did not know before. Some examples are good and bad, authority, morality, and pride. These definitions are really helpful to clarify what the people of the christian faith mean when they say these things.

Response: The text relates to me personally in that I was raised christian and have been lax in my faith since college. This is an inspiring book to return to that faith. On a lot of the points C.S. Lewis makes, he is able to convince me of them. He does a great job with the structure of his argument that the build up has you agreeing with before you realize that you also agree with his argument. I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I was fully prepared to drag my feet reading this book, but I guess the quality of the writing can have an impact on event the most resistant reader.

Conclusion: This book has good examples of dialogue, drawing a line in the sand, and precise vocabulary. I can see why C.S. Lewis is such an accomplished writer, He was able to convince me of various points and I was resistant to it from the beginning. I recommend this book to anyone, either current Christians, or those who are curious about the faith.

APA Citation: Lewis, C.S. (2015). Mere christianity. New York: HaperCollins Publishers.