Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

[jamajo]

Notgrass Ancient History has this as one of their literature reads. I'm trying to read it ahead of my rising 9th grade daughter and I am having a hard time. It's like a conundrum of ideas and words. I get lost in the verbiage and British (I'm guessing its British) terminology. If I am having a hard time and I have a college degree what is my 13 year old going to experience? :001_huh:

 

Am I the only one or has anyone else experienced this?

[Skadi]

I've read it, and I feel the need to bold my opinion for emphasis: That book has NOTHING to do with ancient history.

 

Religious studies? Philosophy? Sure. But Lewis makes sweeping generalizations about the nature of man with nary a footnote in sight, and there is really very little between the covers that directly touches on ancient civilizations. I just can't wrap my head around someone using this for, of all things, ancient history literature.

[tex-mex]

We were assigned the book back in the day when I attended a liberal arts Christian College. I was a junior and the course was one of the required "Bible" electives everyone had to take. I recall the book not being that difficult, but I was in college by then. I loved the class lectures with the professor in analyzing the book. Great in depth discussions! Better than a book group, IMO.

 

I don't know what to say. :confused: Is there a way you can read it ahead of time and take your own notes? Use a pre-purchased study guide? Go on the internet and see who has a lesson plan or guide for it to help you with the vocabulary defintions?

 

http://www.cslewis.org/resources/studyguides/Study%20Guide%20-%20Mere%20Christianity.pdf

 

Maybe start off small and read the Screwtape Letters for pleasure and get the feel of C.S. Lewis before diving into some of his deeper writings?

[tex-mex]

I've read it, and I feel the need to bold my opinion for emphasis: That book has NOTHING to do with ancient history.

 

Religious studies? Philosophy? Sure. But Lewis makes sweeping generalizations about the nature of man with nary a footnote in sight, and there is really very little between the covers that directly touches on ancient civilizations. I just can't wrap my head around someone using this for, of all things, ancient history literature.

:iagree: Which is why we read it as part of our college Bible class.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I adore the book but I can't fathom why is is an an ancients course.

I do think it is worth reading. There are many resources to help understand it.

Here are a couple.

Peter Kreeft has a free audio lecture on the book. Here

Here is a free study guide

[Lori D.]

It required a fair amount of concentration from me, too. :) MC is more abstract than other of his works. We did it last year with DSs (then) ages 16 and 18; don't know if they would have gotten much out of prior to that... Some ideas for you:

 

- Read some of Lewis' other works first to get used to his way of thinking and expressing himself (Screwtape Letters; The Great Divorce -- both are fiction, but also express a lot of theological ideas, so these "hybrid" works might be helpful "pre-reading" -- and if your DD is getting lost in the theological arguments put forth more concretely in either of these works, I would definitely shelve MC for later, as it is a whole level up in abstractness)

 

- Read it VERY slowly, in small bites (1-2 pages/day) to have time to absorb it

 

- Create a running outline or structure of the book -- after you read each paragraph, stop and write a 3-4 word summary *in your own words* of the key point, each on a new line of your paper. At the end of the chapter, go over your outline.

 

- Use someone ele's chapter by chapter outline. The one linked here is by Christopher Culpepper. It can be helpful to see, in simple language, what the key points are, the structure of his arguments, and the questions and answers he is raising

 

- Perhaps listen to an audio version; MC was originally a series of radio broadcasts that end up being compiled into a book, so it may be easier to pick up on what is being expressed by hearing it, rather than reading it...

 

 

ETA: Just looked at the booklist for Notgrass... BOTH Mere Christianity AND Abolition of Man??? Ug. Those are Lewis' two MOST abstract works! Frankly, I would drop both, and substitute a FAR better book for ancients -- and also by C.S. Lewis: "Till We Have Faces". The novel is an incredible retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche, set in an ancient Mesopotamian-type culture, but with amazing Christian themes woven throughout. Be sure to listen to the Peter Kreeft commentary on it beforehand so you have a good idea of where you are going in this wonderful work.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Lori D.
added comments

[twoforjoy]

This may be considered blasphemy, but I think part of the problem with Lewis is that many of the arguments he provides are just not that sound or logical. His famous "trilemma," for example, is not sound logic. So if you're going into it expecting the kind of airtight, totally logical proofs of the faith you often hear it contains, it might be a bit difficult to actually make sense of the text.

 

I enjoy reading Lewis, and there's a lot in him that I think is worth thinking about and a lot of interesting ideas that he brings up, but I don't think his books live up to the hype in terms of their logical soundness.

 

But that's just my liberal Episcopalian take on it. ;)

[Brenda in MA]

My son and I read Mere Christianity last year when he was in 8th grade. We enjoyed it, but we read it together out loud. We only read a few pages at a time as one of the others suggested so that we could think about the material and discuss it.

 

I definitely think this work is best with discussion.

 

Brenda

[mcconnellboys]

I adore Lewis, but wouldn't hand this book to my 13 year old, particularly not as part of "ancient" history, LOL.... There are more pertinent books that he's written, such as Til We Have Faces. Why wouldn't that one be listed with ancient history, I wonder?

 

If I were going to hand one of his religion related books to my 13 year old, it might be The Screwtape Letters (along with Screwtape Proposes a Toast) or The Great Divorce....

[jamajo]

Thank you all so much for your comments. I didn't mean for anyone to get caught up in the fact that this read is part of an Ancient History curriculum. I failed to mention that the Notgrass text for Ancient History includes credit for Bible, Literature, and History so this reading was part of the Bible credit.

 

I think I opened the book thinking I could just read it leisurely but like one commenter said I need to read 1-2 pages and ponder what is being said and take notes. I think I will just drop the requirement for my daughter and

persevere through it myself at my leisure.

 

Thanks!

[laundrycrisis]

This may be considered blasphemy, but I think part of the problem with Lewis is that many of the arguments he provides are just not that sound or logical. His famous "trilemma," for example, is not sound logic. So if you're going into it expecting the kind of airtight, totally logical proofs of the faith you often hear it contains, it might be a bit difficult to actually make sense of the text.

 

 

ITA. I read this book in college after being told it would "convince me beyond any doubt." I wanted to be as impressed by the book as my church friends were....it didn't happen. I was underwhelmed by the circular arguments and the vast holes. I left it to others to oooooh and aaaaaah over the supposedly fantastic book and moved on to other ideas.

[ereks mom]

I agree with the poster who said that Lewis is best read and digested in small increments--a few pages at a time. I have read and re-read Mere Christianity, and I require my children to read it as part of their high school education. We don't use it as part of our history, but as Bible.

[tex-mex]

ITA. I read this book in college after being told it would "convince me beyond any doubt." I wanted to be as impressed by the book as my church friends were....it didn't happen. I was underwhelmed by the circular arguments and the vast holes. I left it to others to oooooh and aaaaaah over the supposedly fantastic book and moved on to other ideas.

:D This is why it made for great discussion in a class format with a M.Div professor leading us underclassmen! I really enjoyed his lectures. Helped me to better appreciate C.S. Lewis! ;)

[Cleopatra]

Oh my, I absolutely love the logic of Lewis! I also love how respectful he is towards people he doesn't agree with. At times he does come up with some of his own ideas regarding certain doctrine but he always acknowledges that the ideas are his creations (base on logical surmise) and that he may be wrong.

 

I just finished TA-ing a homeschool C.S. Lewis course for grade 8-12. I'll attach a link to some powerpoint presentations used by the class for Mere Christianity. Since my professor is moving universities, they may not be accessible shortly, so review them soon. I don't know whether they will be helpful or not. http://inthefootstepsofcslewis.blogspot.com/search/label/Mere%20Christianity

 

I took a C.S. Lewis course last year at university and it was so helpful for me to understand his works. Reading many of them at once made it much easier to identify common threads running through the works and therefore, follow his ideas. Even though he says he writes to laymen, and when you look at his word structure it doesn't look that difficult, the depth of his writing makes it hard for people to understand everything that he's trying to communicate. We covered Till We Have Faces in class, as well and, on the surface it seems like an interesting story, but the book is so multi-layered it's amazing!

 

............. but I had a wonderful professor to help expose the many "jewels" in Lewis's works. ;) I hope the power points help you ..... oh, and I'd also recommend this: http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/Course_Detail.aspx?cid=297 I've only listened to a bit of it but I like what I've heard so far! :001_smile:

[fischerl]

We have The Teaching Company lectures on The Works of C.S. Lewis, and I think they are very good: the lecturer is enthused about his subject but does not have an obvious religious bias. He does a great job of pointing out the themes woven through Lewis' different genres: fantasy, sci-fi, non-fiction...

[Julie in MN]

My dh and I have listened to this on audiobook a lot of times. It's one of his fave books ever , and he's given it as a gift to lots of folks.

 

But like you, when I first got it (I asked for it as a gift once), I just could never get past the dense beginning where CS tries to explain where he's coming from.

 

What really helped me was skipping past all that intro and getting into the Q&A from the radio broadcasts. I think the radio broadcast style is what really appealed to dh. We both like listening to a couple topics and then chatting. Maybe you could try skipping past the intro and just chatting about a few of the topics at a time?

 

With a boy on the young end, I might also get him into the author with a movie like Shadowlands or the Biography episode on CS. Or just tell him that this was a good friend of Tolkien :)

 

Julie

Edited May 4, 2011 by Julie in MN

[AuntPol]

Interresting, Ambleside lists MEre Christianity as a 7th grade read for Religion. I was going to use it. I've read it but it's been years and I wasn't reading it w/ intention to see if my kids could read it LOL. Is it too tough for 7th grade? I was planning on it taking a year.

[Nissi]

Our library had this on CDs and so we listened to it before we read it and I think that helped them to comprehend easily.

[jamajo]

Thanks everyone!

[Melanie]

Interresting, Ambleside lists MEre Christianity as a 7th grade read for Religion. I was going to use it. I've read it but it's been years and I wasn't reading it w/ intention to see if my kids could read it LOL. Is it too tough for 7th grade? I was planning on it taking a year.

 

My son read Mere Christianity in 8th grade, and my daughter will read it in 7th grade. (My son took just a few days to get through it, and I'm budgeting two weeks for my daughter.) I think it just depends on the child and what he or she has already studied. It can't hurt to try - there's always next year. :)

[Grace is Sufficient]

Is this new? I didn't realize Notgrass had an ancient history curricula.

[jamajo]

I'm sorry it's Notgrass' World History Curriculum not Ancient History.

 

I had to go on record to say I jumped the gun on this book. I can scarcely put it down now. I think I had to get through Book I (The Meaning of the Universe) which is different from Book II & III (What Christians Believe and Christian Behaviour). I guess C.S. Lewis had to explain himself in Book I before he just start writing his opinions....

 

Sorry to jump the gun. :lol:

[Greta Lea]

But I will say that when I tried reading it years ago, I was NOT in the habit of reading anything that made me think or that harder language or sentence structure. I've been reading a lot of classics over the past couple of years, which I think has helped me handle Mere Christianity better. It's a favorite book now.

 

I also gave it to my son to read when he was 14 or 15 (which ever year we tried Notgrass World History...didn't last). He didn't make it past the first couple chapters.

 

It's on his reading list for next year. He'll be an older jr. (17yo) who has now read loads of great classics and will be reading in that sense to handle MC.

 

Also, I think a student needs some very developed logic/thinking skills to handle MC. He wasn't ready in that area either when he tried reading it earlier. Now he is.

 

I'd save it for jr. or sen. year.

[Julie in MN]

Same here. I found MC to be a total bore. Logical?? Give me a break. But then again, I think CS Lewis was a complete blowhard, so perhaps that makes sense. Being a "good" homeschool mom, I tried to read Narnia to my son. He later told me hated it. Smart kid!!

 

Perhaps you expected perfection? Not gonna find that. During a time when his nation was suffering some faith-stretching losses, he was asked & willing to publicly share his thoughts on the details of his faith -- something not a lot of folks do even at home, let alone on the radio, so not sure what your word "blowhard" means but when one is asked to speak, I'm not sure it would fit the definition.

 

I think your language is harsh on a thread where many of us enjoyed the book. Liking Narnia has nothing to do with liking this book.