The Pilgrim's Regress

Rating:
Summary: Well Reasoned, Thoughtful, and Entertaining
Review: Most of the other reviews have already given you a basic description. Though some say that you need extensive education to understand some of the topics Lewis discusses, I have to disagree. While Mr. Sensible tosses around a bit of Greek and Latin, it's almost enough simply to know that he is taking excerpts from famous sources out of context and twisting them to fit his sensual and pragmatic dogma.

It's true that on my second reading, after a course in Buddhism, I was better able to follow Mr. Wisdom (who, while not being Buddhist, is clearly of a more Monist philosophy). But on the whole, he tackles great issues with clarity. For example, by beginning in "Puritania" he is able to distinguish his own views regarding reality from Puritanical ones. That said, as with all of the steps along the way, he does not become embittered and blindly reject anything which has to do with Puritanism. It is where he begins, and there are bits which help him to grow as he searches. By thus constructing his framework from experience, he is able to explore the concepts discussed with full knowledge of the emotional content associated with them, and yet not be encumbered by it.

While I disagree with Lewis on certain subjects, I cannot help but love reading his work. Pilgrim's Regress, in particular, is among my favorite books. It really is light reading, but it is thought provoking in every way. His philosophy is comprehensive and intensive, his style is gentle to the reader, and every subject is approached with refreshing candidness.

Rating:
Summary: Well Reasoned, Thoughtful, and Entertaining
Review: Most of the other reviews have already given you a basic description. Though some say that you need extensive education to understand some of the topics Lewis discusses, I have to disagree. While Mr. Sensible tosses around a bit of Greek and Latin, it's almost enough simply to know that he is taking excerpts from famous sources out of context and twisting them to fit his sensual and pragmatic dogma.

It's true that on my second reading, after a course in Buddhism, I was better able to follow Mr. Wisdom (who, while not being Buddhist, is clearly of a more Monist philosophy). But on the whole, he tackles great issues with clarity. For example, by beginning in "Puritania" he is able to distinguish his own views regarding reality from Puritanical ones. That said, as with all of the steps along the way, he does not become embittered and blindly reject anything which has to do with Puritanism. It is where he begins, and there are bits which help him to grow as he searches. By thus constructing his framework from experience, he is able to explore the concepts discussed with full knowledge of the emotional content associated with them, and yet not be encumbered by it.

While I disagree with Lewis on certain subjects, I cannot help but love reading his work. Pilgrim's Regress, in particular, is among my favorite books. It really is light reading, but it is thought provoking in every way. His philosophy is comprehensive and intensive, his style is gentle to the reader, and every subject is approached with refreshing candidness.

Rating:
Summary: A very profound dream canyon deep with meaning
Review: Pilgrim's Regress is written in allegory form, like it's inspiration Pilgrim's Progress, as a modern day apology (defined as: in defense of) for Christianity and succeeds tolerably well.

The story is told as a dream being recounted by an unnamed narartor who sees in his dream a young boy named John; who lives in Puritania and becomes aware of a person refered to as 'The Landlord'. John is instructed as to the Landlord's rules by a Steward and begins to see the Landlord and the Rules as oppressive.

One day John is out strolling along a road and follows it far away from home. He hears music that he has never heard before coming from the other side of the wall that buttresses the road and notices a window in it. Looking through he catches a glimpse of an exotic Island that quickly fades away.

This vision becomes an obsession that leads him to set out on his own in the hope of finding the Island and fullfilling the desire it has awoke within him.

The characters that John meets on his solitary qwest are named for challenges or alternatives given to the Christian faith or are the names of attributes seen as leading to morality and salvation independent of Christ : Virtue, Mr.Enlightenment, Reason, Mr. Sensible, Mr Humanist, etc. Lewis succeeds most of the time while doing this but fails in a few places.

The challenges are presented by these characters, or even in some cases by John himself, as questions concerning The Island, The Landlord, or the world these characters all share. These arguements ,however, are thinly veiled arguements similar to those hurled at the believers of the Christian faith. In most parts of the book the explanations given to these challenges are easily understood. In some parts, however, it is very difficult to grasp the meaning the author was trying to convey. In the Preface to the 3rd edition, C.S.Lewis himself wrote: "On re-reading this book 10 years after I first wrote it, I find its' chelf faults to be those 2 which I myself least easily forgive in the books of other men, needless obscurity, and an uncharitable temper."

This book has much to offer anyone who appreciates Philosophy in general and enjoys a lively give and take. There are moments of brilliance in this book not to be missed. I was particularly impressed with the author's ability to reveal, dramatically, the faulty logic used by some of the characters to lead John astray. There is one scene where John is imprisoned and the jailer is telling all the prisoners that cow's milk is like any other secretion from an animal "like it's urine or its' dung." John replies: "Are you a liar or only a fool that you see no difference between that which nature casts out as refuse and that which she stores up as food?". This takes place while he is in the land owned by the 'Spirit of the Age".

All in all this book was well worth the little it took to read it ( I read it in about half a day ) and provided alot of valuable insight. Don't be put off by the religious (Christian) undertones; there is more than enough here for everyone to enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Read his other works first...
Review: Read Lewis's popular works first: Screwtape, The Great Dirvorce, Mere Christianity, etc...

This is not his best work, but true fans may want to read Lewis's first apologetic work. It is easy to read, but difficult to comprehend. Lewis tries to say too much in each symbol, or perhaps the symbols are too abstract.

Rating:
Summary: Read his other works first...
Review: Read Lewis's popular works first: Screwtape, The Great Dirvorce, Mere Christianity, etc...

This is not his best work, but true fans may want to read Lewis's first apologetic work. It is easy to read, but difficult to comprehend. Lewis tries to say too much in each symbol, or perhaps the symbols are too abstract.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed but fascinating
Review: The Pilgrim's Regress, Lewis's first book after his conversion to Christianity, is among his lesser known works. This in spite of the fact that it is highly readable and contains a good deal of insight into the problems of belief and unbelief. In short, it's the story of a boy (John) who searches for the answer to a longing he has had from his childhood, which leads him to (and past) many philosophies that were current in Lewis's time (and some of which still linger today). The allegory is thinly disguised - actually, it's not disguised at all. Characters like "Reason" and "Mr. Enlightenment" pop up all the time. Some of the references are a little out-of-date but generally the work is successful. This book is best read in conjunction with his other works, of course.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, but not Lewis's best
Review: This is an allegory to the road Lewis traveled in becoming a Christian. The traveler on the road encounters many different views represented as characters, like Ms. Enlightenment or Reason. In the end John comes to a huge canyon and must take a dive - a leap of faith - which is representative of a person's repentance. The journey back is very different than the journey that he took, obviously representing the different life of a Christian.

Rating:
Summary: The Lewis Tour of FORCE
Review: This is Lewis's first book, and in many ways, his best. This book is a blatant strutting of Lewis's fine mind, and explains how he overcame many of the popular philosophies on his journey to Christ. In the book, you follow the poor hero through encounters with Freud, Marx, Circular logicians, Tolstoyans, Hedons and even Gnostics. At each encounter the young hero confronts the philosophical issues of each character and is often captured by the philosophy. If you like allegory so blatant that a female knight named reason rides to the rescue, you will love this book. It is literally an essay masquerading as a novel... Pilgrim's Regress has had the most affect upon me. It will never be more influential than Pilgrim's progress (but it is better).

Rating:
Summary: A very subjective treatment ...
Review: This is one of C. S. Lewis' rare misses. It's a wonderful format in which to write about the Christian experience, but it fails for two reasons, both of which Lewis was aware of and wrote about in the afterword of the edition I read. Firstly, when he wrote it he didn't know how very subjective his journey to Christianity was, so that a lot of his early references are confusing. Secondly, it was written in the thirties, and most of the allegories are rather dated. The book is still worth reading for the passages that connect, but lovers of Lewis' Christian allegory would do better with a copy of "The Great Divorce".

Rating:
Summary: An allegorical journey to faith
Review: This was the first book written by CS Lewis after his conversion to Christianity, and was also his first book of fiction. This allegorical look at "the narrow road" of Christianity set the stage in many ways for much of Lewis's later fiction: the Space Trilogy, Till We Have Faces, and the Chronicles of Narnia, for example. In much of Lewis's later fiction the allegory was less prominent and more attention was paid to the story. This book also varies from Lewi''s other fiction in that it is more autobiographical. The main character, John, encounters many different schools of thought and endures much of the intellectual uncertainty that Lewis himself experienced in the time leading up to his conversion.

Lewis's allegory is absolutely spectacular, though it is necessary to have a pretty thorough knowledge of Lewis's way of thinking in order to follow the allegory. The headers at the top of the page do a great deal to clarify, and help the reader avoid getting lost in all the symbolism. This is especially useful when John is encountering some movement which, though prevalent in Lewis's time, is not very well-known today. Despite the excellent headers, however, the best preparation for this book would be to read Lewis's autobiographical Surprised by Joy. Exposure to this book, along with some of Lewis's other apology, will definitely enrich the experience of reading from this excellent book.

Lewis had a talent for explaining things in such a way that nearly anyone could understand them. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his fiction. The lessons he teaches, through his fiction and non-fiction alike, are important insights into the worlds of Christianity and morality.