Review: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

What I really want to read is The Screwtape Letters. 

But I thought Mere Christianity was an important prequel. It’s the book that lays out C.S. Lewis’ intellectual scaffolding about God and Christianity. Compiled from a series of radio talks, the book builds moral and philosophical cases for God, broadly at first and then narrowing in scope to the Christian view. Lewis was atheist before becoming Christian, but shares little of his personal journey.  

His path from atheism is apparent in how he first makes a rational case for Christianity viable, and he’s clearly speaking to non-believers in those moments. Later, Lewis takes on some misguided notions about living out faith, and acknowledges that the road is not easy. 

Two things stick with me from this book. 

The first is a theme Lewis hammers repeatedly: 

Our feelings aren’t reliable. 

We can’t base our faith on feelings alone. They come and go, and can betray you. Yes, we can feel love for and from God, but at times those feelings will be tested and frayed. We need an understanding of what we believe and what God asks of us—rigor we can lean on in times of questioning and doubt. Feelings matter, yes, but not as much as our own will and action.

Second, and the single most important takeaway for me, is this question Lewis poses:

“If you knew you loved God, what would you do?”

This question can never fail us, though we will fail the question. 

We will know the answer and still not do that thing, because we are human. But simply asking this question in any challenging situation increases the odds of taking right actions. It’s also a clear and simple framework for reflecting where we’ve gone wrong. 

Mere Christianity is valuable intellectual underpinning for many of Lewis’ other books. That’s what I went looking for. Surprisingly, I also came away with a practical and simple framework for my own actions: asking the right question, and leaning on conviction over emotion to make choices that are sometimes hard.