C.S. Lewis was one of the great popular Christian writers of the 20th century. His books still sell extremely well and the most popular of his explicitly Christian books remains ‘Mere Christianity’. ‘Mere Christianity’ is a fantastic introduction to Christianity and many people testify to how this book, and other writings of Lewis, either led them back into the Church, or led them there for the first time.
Now we have a book about ‘Mere Christianity’ itself. Published by Princeton University Press, it is part of their ‘Lives of Great Religious Books’ series. The author is George M Marsden, Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame in the United States. The book is called ‘C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity: A Biography’.
I have to confess that I knew very little about the origins of ‘Mere Christianity’. I was aware that Lewis, an Oxford Don, born in Northern Ireland, had delivered a series of short radio talks on the BBC during World War II explaining Christianity. I did not know that ‘Mere Christianity’ arose out of those talks.
Lewis’s radio talks proved to be extremely popular which is why the BBC asked him to do several series of them. From that popular reception arose ‘Mere Christianity’ and subsequent defences by Lewis of basic Christian belief like ‘Miracles’, ‘The Problem of Pain’ and ‘The Abolition of Man’ (a personal favourite of mine).
What I liked about Marsden’s book is that he also includes the criticisms of ‘Mere Christianity’ and of Lewis’s works more generally. His critics fell into two camps; atheists and liberal Christians. The atheists deplored his religion entirely, while liberal Christians intensely disliked the fact that he took doctrines such as the Virgin Birth and the physical resurrection of Jesus seriously. In other words, they disliked the fact that he was an orthodox Christian.
These criticisms did not stop ‘Mere Christianity’ and his other books reaching the best-seller lists and they proved so popular in America that Time magazine actually featured Lewis on its cover in September 1947. His books were favourably reviewed in the likes of the New York Times.
Marsden goes on to assess the lasting impact, legacy and appeals of ‘Mere Christianity’. Lewis, who died in 1963 (on the same day as John F Kennedy and Aldous Huxley), believed his books would fade from the memory, a passing fad.
But his books continue to sell well more than 50 years after his death. They are especially popular in Evangelical circles, but Catholics like them also.
‘Mere Christianity’, short and lucidly and engagingly written, remains the book to give to anyone who is making a first stab at honestly attempting to understand Christianity.
It is a tremendous compliment to ‘Mere Christianity’ that it remains that book. Marden’s ‘biography’ of ‘Mere Christianity’ is a great treat for fans of Lewis and the most famous of Lewis’s directly apologetic works.
