[The Great Yazoo]

Heartfelt "Thanks," Jack (if I may be so bold) for Mere Christianity, which changed my life.

Happy Birthday!

[Mamzelle]

Bump.

[RushCrush]

Mere Christianity is a great book. I recommend it to everyone.

[bubman]

Bump

[derheimwill]

If you're interested, a good way to start is to find a Josephus edition with a full index/reference section for subsequent study.

Or, if you have too much money and time for your own good, several Catholic publishers (and zondervan too) put out 'Complete Church Fathers' sets. A good one is usually $300+

There is a book - I forget the title - which has CSLewis, JFKennedy and Aldous Huxley meeting in the afterlife and discussing various points: good read.

[anniegetyourgun]

Naturalism is the faith belief of so many here on FR.

Not to change the subject, but Mark Noll's Scandal of the Evangelical Mind was a great book too - though differently intended and oriented.

[elbucko]

He was a professor in the academy, with a specialty in medieval literature, which gave him a mental framework shaped by the whole scope of intellectual history and Christian thought.

This doesn't surprise me. Mallory's, "Le Morte de Artur", the Life of King Arthur, is a wealth of Christian thought. From lust and pride, to fall and redemption, the story of Arthur is, IMHO, the basis for the Christian fantasies of Lewis and Tolkien.

[AnAmericanMother]

The book Lewis wrote that makes this most clear is The Discarded Image

It lays out how the assumptions of our worldview differ from those that went before, particularly the world of the medieval Christians. It's a very, very good book.

My favorite's still The Great Divorce.

[Dunstan McShane]

May I also humbly but strongly suggest getting one's paws on That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis, the third volume in the so-called "Space" Trilogy (so called, that is, by the publisher)? Though written in 1943 (and apparently completed on Christmas Eve of that year), it is a prophetic fantasy about the post-war world that comes way too close to the bull's eye for anyone's comfort--not in terms of specific predictions, but in the forecasting of the kind of world and "values" headed our way. I started reading it for the umpteenth time last week, and find it creepily relevant.

[cripplecreek]

Just Curious.

Have you ever read "The book of the dun cow"? In it's original form it was part of a collection written by Irish monks around 1160 AD. When I read it as a teen I saw it as a fantasy book but looking back I see some really good messages in the story.

Personally I see some interesting comparisons between the barnyard in the book and modern America. Some of the Animals saw the evil and wanted to destroy it, others only wanted to fend it off. Other Animals wanted to build a wall to keep the evil away. Some wanted to negotiate with the evil and others wanted to ignore it.

The barnyard animals ended up going to war against each other as the evil continued to grow and very nearly lost the true war against evil.

My memory has dimmed considerably in the 25 years since I read the book but it really stuck with me in some ways.

[CitadelArmyJag]

For any who might be unfamiliar with him, G.K. Chesterton is –arguably- the most prolific author of the early Twentieth Century. Chesterton inspired Lewis, who had become increasingly agnostic after reading the works of Nitche. Check out the website below for more!
http://www.chesterton.org/

[bert]

.....we rarely give the same scholarly attention to history, literature, politics, philosophy, economics, or the arts......

oops..... he left out science. Perhaps most of the reason for the problem was revealed.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Naturalism weakens Western culture and Islam takes over.

[utahagen]

Can you imagine what C.S. Lewis, who was an Anglican, would say about the current state of the Episcopal Church in the USA?

[Matchett-PI]

He speaks of the politically correct religious legalists (on the right and on the left) here:

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C. S. Lewis

[hosepipe]

Just so that C.S. Lewis most important work of all don't get passed by as usual... I'll mention it here..;
The Screwtape Letters... A riveting expose' of BOTH religiosity AND atheisism.. never equaled and totality misunderstood by the ones that need to read it the most.

[escapefromboston]

Well as long as we are discussing Lewis and Chesterton has anyone read Charles Williams?? I haven't read any of his works, but I often hear his name along with Lewis, so I am just wondering if he is worth checking out.

[Zack Nguyen]

Lewis's The Great Divorce is one of the finest books I have ever read.

[January24th]

Actually, I've often felt that "That Hideous Strength" was a more accurate picture of today than anything Orwell ever penned. Worship of the Macrobes is upon us!

And "The Last Battle" definitely captures the spirit of our age. The Great Ape is the Media, Hollywood, and the Left, without a doubt.

[iconoclast]

Amen.

C. S. Lewis has been an important person in my life. IMO, he is a theosophical genius/saint. He was important in leading me from "skimmed milk" Christianity to the whole-bodied, orthodox real thing.

I would not know with which of his books one who is unfamiliar with his works should start. Chances are that person will wind up reading them all, as I did.

[iconoclast]

Lewis once wrote than any new book “has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages.” Because he himself was steeped in that “great body of Christian thought,” he quickly discerned trends that ran counter to it.

I believe he also said that one should read four "old" books (very least, author deceased?) to every one contemporary book.