Mere Christianity

MERE CHRISTIANITY C. S. LEWIS A revised and amplified edition, with a new introduction, of the three books Broadcast Talks, Christian Behaviour and Beyond Personality contents preface foreword v xv book 1. right and wrong as a clue to the meaning of the universe 1 2 3 4 5 the law of human nature some objections the reality of the law what lies behind the law we have cause to be uneasy 3 9 16 21 28 book 2. what christians believe 1 2 3 4 5 the rival conceptions of god the invasion the shocking alternative the perfect penitent the practical conclusion 35 40 47 53 60 book 3. christian behaviour 1 2 3 4 5 6 the three parts of morality the ‘cardinal virtues’ social morality morality and psychoanalysis sexual morality christian marriage 69 76 82 88 94 104 contents 7 8 9 10 11 12 forgiveness the great sin charity hope faith faith 115 121 129 134 138 144 book 4. beyond personality: or first steps in the doctrine of the trinity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 making and begetting the three-personal god time and beyond time good infection the obstinate toy soldiers two notes let’s pretend is christianity hard or easy? counting the cost nice people or new men the new men About the Author Other Books by C. S. Lewis Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher iv 153 160 166 172 178 183 187 195 201 207 218 prefac e The contents of this book were first given on the air, and then published in three separate parts as Broadcast Talks (1942), Christian Behaviour (1943) and Beyond Personality (1944). In the printed versions I made a few additions to what I had said at the microphone, but otherwise left the text much as it had been. A ‘talk’ on the radio should, I think, be as like real talk as possible, and should not sound like an essay being read aloud. In my talks I had therefore used all the contractions and colloquialisms I ordinarily use in conversation. In the printed version I reproduced this, putting don’t and we’ve for do not and we have. And wherever, in the talks, I had made the importance of a word clear by the emphasis of my voice, I printed it in italics. I am now inclined to think that this was a mistake—an undesirable hybrid between the art of speaking and the art of writing. A talker ought to use variations of voice for emphasis because his medium naturally lends itself to that method: but a writer ought not to use italics for the same purpose. He has his own, different, means of bringing out the key words and ought to use them. In this edition I have expanded the contractions and replaced most of the italics by a recasting of the sentences in which they occurred: but without altering, I hope, the ‘popular’ or ‘familiar’ tone which I had all along intended. I have also added and deleted where I thought I v p r e fac e understood any part of my subject better now than ten years ago or where I knew that the original version had been misunderstood by others. The reader should be warned that I offer no help to anyone who is hesitating between two Christian ‘denominations’. You will not learn from me whether you ought to become an Anglican, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, or a Roman Catholic. This omission is intentional (even in the list I have just given the order is alphabetical). There is no mystery about my own position. I am a very ordinary layman of the Church of England, not especially ‘high’, nor especially ‘low’, nor especially anything else. But in this book I am not trying to convert anyone to