Rating: 
Summary: A Reminder of God
Review: C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" doesn't really break new ground in original Christian thought as much as simplifies some observations of Christian strictures. It's not a guide to prescriptive living as much of an insight to what a rationally minded Christian intellectual thinks about his religion. I suppose I approached this book with minor expectations of life altering thought. That's not what I got out of it, but instead was reminded and reaffirmed of some beliefs that lay dormant but still deeply entrenched. Lewis's observations are simplistic but deep. For that fact, Lewis earns quite a bit of admiration for turning the complex into easily digestible reading is a daunting task.I found the book getting interesting about mid-way through. The first half was almost too simplistic. Lewis has some perceptive observations of society's obsession with sex (without being prudish), forgiveness being difficult to put into practice, and the ability of God to change a person but sometimes not in ways that person would expect or be comfortable with. Of particular note is Lewis' observation of when a person is brought closer to God. It is not when everything is going right in life and church visits are consistent, but rather when one is brought to question and search on their own, when life is challenging and belief is challenging. There is a lot of truth to Lewis' writing but some of it rings through clearer than others. Life altering book...not so much. A Good reminder of God...yes.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm not a Christian and...
Review: ...I think C.S. Lewis is brilliant. His defence of theism in general and Christianity in particular is impassioned, thorough, and philosophically sound. It takes some concentration, and it may just change your life. If you're already a Christian, your faith will be strengthened, uplifted, and challenged. If you're looking to become one, this book is a great place to start understanding how to live it, and if you aren't one and have no intention of being one, you can still find tons of wisdom and great philosophy in this book. I was, and I am, challenged by Lewis' words and the knowledge and feeling behind them. I do not agree with him on several major points, and my greatest criticism is that he is far too narrow minded at times. Objections aside, however, his work is astounding and deserves wide readership.
Rating: 
Summary: C.S. Lewis lost me on the first chapter
Review: This book builds up chapter by chapter as sort of an argument for Christianity. The first chapter tries to argue that all people, for all time in all cultures, all have an inante sense of Moral Law, and despite minor differences, everyone has the same Moral Law, and that therefore, there must be a God. I find it incomprehensibly narrow minded that Lewis feels the only explanation for humans having common, cross cultural behavior, is a God. I was hoping for this book to keep me interested for quite a while, but instead I'm getting a rehashing of Descartes, and no credit is even given!
Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars for the book, 1 star for the audio book=3 stars
Review: The book, Mere Christianity, is wonderful. See comments below for praise for this book.
The latest audio book version is TERRIBLE. I am currently listening to it on an old, unabridged version read by Michael York that I got from the library. Unfortunatly, the library will have to replace this worn out, but wonderful audio version with the lifeless version now offered by Harper Audio. The reader is lifeless and dull, reading the text so quickly and without expression that I think maybe he was reading it against his will. It's AWFUL. Read the book rather than buying this rotten version. OR - go to the library in hopes that they still have the audio book read by Michael York. He reads with such warmth and caring that I felt that C.S. Lewis was sitting in my car next to me gently explaining things.
Rating:
Summary: For Skeptics and Believers
Review: "Mere Christianity" by C.S Lewis is an erudite, cogent view of Christianity. Skeptics will appreciate Lewis' willingness to look at the harder questions of the Christian God, while true believers will gain confidence as they see the logic of God presented sensibly and pursuaively. Not to be compared with Augustine, or any of the church fathers, Lewis does bring a modern, yet classical examination of what Christianity is and why it is reasonable to believe. He doesn't get caught up in anything but the core and substantive matters of the faith. Lewis is eloquent here in his clarity. For an entertaining and insightful expose of human sin, read his "Screwtape Letters." I fully recommend "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. Anthony Trendl
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating book.
Review: By any measure, this is a classic work of twentieth century apologetics. Lewis does an effective job of exploring the moral argument and then moves forward into presuppositional arguments. You may or may not agree with Lewis -- many fundamentalists struggle with his positions, as of course do atheists -- but anyone interested in questions of God's existence and nature will do himself a favor in reading this book.
Discussing his own journey from atheism to Christianity, Lewis relates: "... in the very act of trying to prove that God did not 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 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 without meaning."
Rating:
Summary: one of the best!
Review: Whenever I get into intellectual arguments with nonbelievers, I refer to this book the most, and then I give them a copy. I always have a few laying around so that I can give it to a nonbeliever or a new chrisitan. It is a short read that can equip a Christian to enter an intellectual conversation with some credibility. C.S. Lewis has a gift of making complex theological/philosophical ideas coherent to the average man. If you haven't read it, go get it now.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: In response to "disillusioned Bob," I offer a very good reason for why negative reviews are voted "unhelpful." More often than not, they insult the work without saying why. I myself voted you "unhelpful" because all you could say was, "C.S. Lewis has a lot of fallacies." But you never bother to illustrate even a single of these fallacies so-called. A lawyer can say to the jury, "the prosecution has a weak case" in the hopes of "tricking" them, but technically he has not said anything worth while. And remember, Lewis never was trying to prove anything-he says that at the outset. To my mind, Lewis has done a revolutionary job to elucidate Christianity. He shows the inconsistency of Dualism, Utilitarianism, pacifism, Freud, Romantic love, loveless sex, and moral relativeness. He never mentions Kierkegaard, but some of the arguments surely echo him, as for instance when he says that romantic love is a "feeling" which unfortunately comes and goes whereas Christian love is a commandment that has to stay irrespective of the people involved. Again, like Kierkegaard, he notes how shocking the Incarnation really is, insisting it cannot be human invention. The best part of the book, I think, is the early chapters where he says that morality is not a human invention but something over above ourselves, urging us in spite of ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: Missing Christianity
Review: This book sets out to be an exposition of "agreed, or common, or central, or 'mere' Christianity" for non-Christians or doubting Christians. It is important to note that the word "Christianity" can be understood either as the body of Christ or else as the body of Christians. Most people, when talking about Christianity, mean the first. Lewis quite explicitly means the second. In this book he only describes what Christians believe. In the preface he states that some objected that "a person who cannot believe the doctrines expounded in the book can be far more truly Christian, far closer to the spirit of Christ, than some who do". He accepts this objection as very right, but claims that it is not "useful" and that it would be a "disaster" to use language like that. This cannot be true: if it is not belief in the doctrines what makes a person more truly Christian, then the exposition of these doctrines have no place in a book that sets out to be about the central aspect of Christianity. In fact this book very nicely shows that what Christians believe is a mixture of the sublime and the despicable. Let us not forget that a short while ago many Christians believed that slavery was divinely sanctioned, and that it said so in the Bible, not to mention beliefs about the Jews being the enemies of Christ, or about witches being the tools of the devil. For Lewis the defining characteristic of Christianity is doctrine, and therefore this book is really about Christian doctrine, not about Christianity. The problem is not so much that the book's title is wrong, but that non-Christians or doubting Christians who read it searching for truth will get the wrong message. Much of what is central to the spirit of Christianity, such as compassion, is discussed in only a few pages. On the other hand, much of what is peripheral, such as, supposedly, that a wife should obey her husband, is expounded at length and defended with ...arguments (page 113). Fatally, much that is clearly contrary to Christianity is expounded if only because all major denominations have allowed it: so it is explained that a Christian judge may hang a murderer (page 118), and that a Christian soldier may kill his enemies, even while loving them, forgiving them, and literally wishing them well (page 120). Clearly Lewis is hard at work trying to find arguments to paper over the absurdities and contradictions in Christian doctrine. But this is hypocrisy, and hypocrisy, no matter how cleverly done, is the very antithesis of Christianity. Also, many of his arguments are childishly weak: For example, he recognizes that one of the major stumbling blocks for non-believers is the fact that Christians are as bad if not worse than non-Christians. He even asserts that "Christ told us to judge by results - a tree is known by its fruit" (page 208), but then sets out to prove that it is unreasonable to hold that "the whole world can be neatly divided into two camps - Christian and non-Christian - and that all the people in the first camp at any given moment should be obviously nicer than all the people in the second". This is evidently true, but quite beside the point. Lewis is fiercely intelligent, writes beautiful English, and this small book is more compact full with ideas than other books three times its size. His capacity for luminous analogy is incredible, beyond the ability of any other writer I know. Most of what is true in Christian doctrine is rendered beautifully and memorably. He is courageous in many points, for example he flatly states that when Jesus said that the rich will not enter the Kingdom he meant the economically rich (page 213). Mercifully, he accepts the theory of evolution. Christians should not use the laws to impose their morality on others - after all "we would be very angry if the Mohammedans tried to prevent the rest of us from drinking wine" (page 112). The book is uncompromising in its morals, it gives refreshing views into the meaning of Trinity and the Atonement, and most useful of all, it gives good practical advice, such as, splendidly, on how to love our neighbor: "Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him" (page 131). This is one of the most inspiring books I have read, and at the same time one of the most frustrating. I think that Lewis is led by the supposedly Christian virtue of obedience to the church. If obedience is a Christian virtue then Christ displayed very little of it, towards the authorities civil or religious, or even towards his own family. I think that Jesus was telling us that the only and undiluted authority is God. Tragically, because Lewis is really a great writer, to him the authority is the church. So he chickens out and refuses to oppose supposedly 'central' church dogma. This includes his long discussion of sexuality, where he jarringly admonishes against even married couples "indulging" in ...[intercourse] (page 97). The argument is that sex, like eating, is a natural function that should be exercised only as far as needed: we should only eat while hungry and we should only have ...[intercourse] when wanting to have babies. The book is only a few decades old and already amusingly outdated: masturbation is a sin (page 202), homosexuality is a perversion (page 89), our wishes are suggested by devils (page 225). Also, unfortunately, its tone is often spoiled by sexist expressions. All in all, I can only recommend this book to steadfast Christians. I cannot imagine anybody else not being confused by it.
Rating:
Summary: In one word - amazing
Review: If you don't think highly of CS Lewis, you will after reading this book. Renowned worldwide as the most important Christian apologetics book of the 20th century, this book approaches the Christian faith in a simple, enlightened fashion that will take even mature Christians on a journey of discovery. Starting at the very basis of theism, moving on to monotheism, and finally to Christianity, this book works through Christian doctrine and beliefs in a logical, analytical manner that is both easily readable and profound. Himself being a former atheist, Lewis shows how uniquely logical our faith is. While no book can save someone on its own and it would be blasphemous to claim such, I will readily say that any logical, intellectual challenger of Christian faith will be challenged by this book to re-examine Christian faith for what it really is. Recommended to believers and non-believers alike!
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