Reading and thinking...
I have been reading some C. S. Lewis this summer. I am almost finished with Mere Christianity, and I would like to use this blog to write some of my thoughts as I read or outline things from the book that I find interesting or enlightening (which is nearly every word on the page.) What brought me to start this endeavor? As the New York Times Book Review puts it, "Lewis is the ideal persuader for the half-convinced, for the good man who would like to be a Christian but finds his intellect getting in the way." In my own words, "Can you be a Christian and a rationally thinking person at the same time?" After reading, I hope you will be convinced, as I am, that the answer is YES!
In order to start this thing properly, I think I must start with a VERY brief biography of C.S. Lewis, so you can understand a little better who he was and why you should listen to anything he said. If you are unsatisfied with my account of his life, feel free to do your own research.
Clive Staples Lewis (Oh, Wikipedia...how we all love to hate you) was born in Belfast, Ireland and was raised in a church-going family in the Church of Ireland. At the age of 15 he became an atheist, and later described his young self as being paradoxically "angry with God for not existing." Over time, and by the influence of Oxford colleagues such as J.R.R. Tolkein, Lewis slowly re-embraced Christianity, at first adopting theism and later Christianity as his belief. He fought in the trenches in WWI, studied Norse, Greek and Irish mythology and literature, and later became a professor of English. He was a prolific writer. Due to his approach to Christianity as a skeptic, he was referred to by some as "The Apostle of the Skeptics." He has been regarded by many as the greatest apologist of his time. Mere Christianity is based on a a series of radio talks Lewis did during wartime in 1942, '43 and '44.
Well, there you have it. As I said before it is really very brief, but please, if you are interested enough, do some research on your own. I just put in the little bits that I felt were relevant before digging into Mere Christianity. You could probably get on just fine without knowing C.S. Lewis from any other author, but I wanted to give just a teeny background. Now with that out of the way, we can get into the good stuff...
NEXT TIME!!!
In order to start this thing properly, I think I must start with a VERY brief biography of C.S. Lewis, so you can understand a little better who he was and why you should listen to anything he said. If you are unsatisfied with my account of his life, feel free to do your own research.
Clive Staples Lewis (Oh, Wikipedia...how we all love to hate you) was born in Belfast, Ireland and was raised in a church-going family in the Church of Ireland. At the age of 15 he became an atheist, and later described his young self as being paradoxically "angry with God for not existing." Over time, and by the influence of Oxford colleagues such as J.R.R. Tolkein, Lewis slowly re-embraced Christianity, at first adopting theism and later Christianity as his belief. He fought in the trenches in WWI, studied Norse, Greek and Irish mythology and literature, and later became a professor of English. He was a prolific writer. Due to his approach to Christianity as a skeptic, he was referred to by some as "The Apostle of the Skeptics." He has been regarded by many as the greatest apologist of his time. Mere Christianity is based on a a series of radio talks Lewis did during wartime in 1942, '43 and '44.
Well, there you have it. As I said before it is really very brief, but please, if you are interested enough, do some research on your own. I just put in the little bits that I felt were relevant before digging into Mere Christianity. You could probably get on just fine without knowing C.S. Lewis from any other author, but I wanted to give just a teeny background. Now with that out of the way, we can get into the good stuff...
NEXT TIME!!!
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