Christianity

This is a forceful and accessible discussion of Christian belief that has become one of the most popular introductions into Christianity and the most popular among Lewis's books. Mere Christianity is a book that uncovers common ground upon which all those who have Christian faith can stand together. This was a key contributor to Chuck Colson's conversion.

It was suggested to the Fool some time ago that C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity is a good book for an unbeliever to read to establish a rational basis for belief in Christianity. The Fool had been told that Lewis is an example of a great scholar and intellectual who was at one time an atheist and/or agnostic who later converted to Christianity.

Shortly after the Fool finished reading Mere Christianity , he had the opportunity to see the documentary film on the life of C.S. Lewis, "Through Joy and Beyond." At the conclusion of the film, an open forum was held in which the question was asked, "What is a good book to give to an atheist or an agnostic?" Father Hooper, who was C.S. Lewis' private secretary during the last few months of Lewis' life and who accompanied the presentation of the film, mentioned Mere Christianity again!

The Fool had not been convinced of the validity of Christian beliefs by his first reading of Mere Christianity, so he decided that he had better read it again. At the same time, he read God in the Dock (previously recommended by a young Seminary student) and skimmed through several books about Lewis.

The Fool does not question Lewis' conversion to Christianity, and he is quite overwhelmed with his intellect, imagination, and ability to write fiction. But the Fool doubts that Lewis ever was a convinced and dedicated agnostic or atheist. It is true that while still a young man, he professed to have no religion and maintained that "All religions, that is all mythologies, to give them their proper name, are merely man's own invention - Christ as much as Loki." (C.S. Lewis, A Biography , p. 48) but the tone of his objection to religions seems more the schoolboy realization of religious errors and inconsistencies than that of a mature thinker who has considered the atheist or agnostic positions extensively and sympathetically and who accepts the inevitability of one or the other of both positions. As a youth he had an apparent fascination with elaborate systems of mythology, and his later fiction, the Narnia saga and stories of the planets, is filled with poetic symbols of power and morality. It is a small step from contemplating a deity to bowing before it. In one account of his conversion, he said, "In 1929 I gave in and admitted that God is God." Had Lewis been a comfortable atheist or committed agnostic, he would not have had anything to "give in" to.

On the second reading of Mere Christianity, the Fool found in the "Preface" the key to his misgivings about the book. Lewis concludes the "Preface" by saying that the he sees Christianity as a great house with a large hall. Different rooms leading off the hall are the different denominations. He said that he is not primarily concerned about which room Christians occupy, but he is concerned about getting them into the hall. The Fool realized the second time around that Lewis might have been writing to the people in the rooms, and possibly even to those in the hall, but the Fool found no convincing reasons to move into the hall from outside the house, and certainly nor into any of the rooms, on the book's account.

In the first place, there is no such thing as "mere Christianity." For instance, either the Virgin Birth is valid or it is not. Either it is essential to Christian Belief or it is not. Lewis discusses and then avoids conclusions about such issues as being too controversial. If he believes in historical Christianity, then he must take a stand one way or the other and be willing to justify and/or explain the reasons for his conclusions. He needs to take into account the Biblical record as well as the later traditions that developed and label them accordingly. In reading the Bible, he must deal with the two disparate accounts of Jesus' lineage in Matthew and Luke and with the fact that both trace his genealogy through Joseph, not Mary. For the Christian who wants to ignore these difficulties, there is nothing reasonable that can be said, but for the outside or the Fool, and certainly for the agnostic who does not want to come to any conclusions without adequate evidence, a problem such as this must be cleared up rather than avoided.

The Fool finds that Lewis' comments about what one must believe about Jesus to be not at all persuasive. He gives only two options in a crucial sentence on page 41. "Either this man (Jesus) was, and is, the son of God, or else a madman or something worse."