Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
CAUTION: This book may ruin your vacation!, October 26, 1999
By A Customer
First of all, let me qualify my comments by saying that I am an ARDENT and DEVOTED C.S. Lewis fan. I have two shelves in one of my six sagging bookcases exclusively devoted to C.S. Lewis' works alone. Long ago, I committed myself to reading at least one book by Lewis each month of the year, and I have faithfully kept up this practice for many years now. I say all of this only to introduce myself as a somewhat enlightened Lewis-monger. When I greedily approached the book "C.S. Lewis: Mere Christian" I was no stranger to the world and writings of C.S. Lewis. But this book by Kathryn Lindskoog opened up realms (literal "realms") of understanding about the man and his thought that I could not possibly have held together and formulated on my own. Her knowledge of each area of Lewis' thought is not only the knowledge of a well-read enthusiast (as mine may perhaps be), but here in her work one gets the sense of a profound scholar who has actually met the man. She speaks with such authority that each summary dazzles the reader, awakening an important point hitherto unrealized. Here you will not find a boring half-hearted amalgam of foot-noted facts, but a living and cohesive STORY worthy of the depth and consistency of C.S. Lewis. For instance, in my favorite chapter, entitled "Prayer" the author cites Lewis' marvelous poem of the same name, and comments that "he warned readers not to take the last line too seriously." This is an allusion to Lewis' own comments in a later book of his own, entitled "Prayer: Letters To Malcolm". Not many of us are blessed with such a concordance-like Lindskoogian grasp of Lewis' thought. And truly, that is the beauty of her achievement here. As you are gripped by her easy flowing writing style, you almost forget that you are getting a Ph.D. in Lewisology. Reading this book is like cramming forty topically-arranged C.S. Lewis books into your head with the ease and delight of sipping a cup of coffee. And this brings me to my vacation. When I took "Mere Christian" along with me to Vancouver Island one fine summer, I found that instead of enjoying the ocean as much as I should have... too often I was rather tucked away in some coffee shop... taking notes on napkins, looking up only long enough to see that the sun had gone down. C.S. Lewis died thirteen days before I was born. I have often wished, and wished sincerely, that I could have talked with this man who has meant so much to me in my life. I look forward to doing so in heaven. This book is the closest I have come to doing so on earth.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like a Detailed Map of the Alps, December 18, 2003
Kate Lindskoog's masterful synopsis of Lewisian thought is like a detailed map of the Alps. You can enjoy the Alps without a map, and you can enjoy Lewis without Lindskoog. But you understand the terrain so much better with the map! I have been saturating in C. S. Lewis's books for the past six months and this is one of the most helpful books I have come across. It is a topical guide to C. S. Lewis, but more than that, it is also a commentary. Lindskoog's documentation is thorough and each chapter ends with suggestions for further reading about the given topic. Perhaps the most delightful aspect of this book is Lindskoog's mastery not only of Lewis's apologetics, but of his fiction. She deftly illustrates the former with the latter, and therein reveals the incredible unity in Lewis's own work. Excellent!!!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Could ruin your vacation... it's that good!, February 21, 2003
No C.S. Lewis fan can possibly live a meaningful life without this book.
When I greedily approached "C.S. Lewis: Mere Christian" I was no stranger to the world and writings of C.S. Lewis. I've been studying his work for over a decade. But Lindskoog's book opened up realms of understanding about the man and his thought that I could not possibly have held together and formulated on my own. Her knowledge of each area of Lewis' thought is not only the knowledge of a well-read enthusiast (as mine may perhaps be), but here in her work one gets the sense of a profound scholar who has actually met the man. (And she did, by the way). She speaks with such authority that each summary dazzles the reader, awakening an important point hitherto unrealized. Here you will not find a boring half-hearted amalgam of foot-noted facts, but a living and cohesive story worthy of the depth and consistency of C.S. Lewis himself.
For instance, in my favorite chapter, entitled "Prayer" the author cites Lewis' marvelous poem of the same name, and comments that "he warned readers not to take the last line too seriously." This, I realized much later, is an allusion to Lewis' own comments in a book of his own, entitled "Prayer: Letters To Malcolm". Not many of us are blessed with such a concordance-like Lindskoogian grasp of Lewis' thought. And truly, that is the beauty of her achievement here. As you are gripped by her easy flowing writing style, you almost forget that you are getting a Ph.D. in Lewisology. Reading this book is like cramming forty topically-arranged C.S. Lewis books into your head with the ease and delight of sipping a cup of coffee.
And this brings me to my vacation.
When I took "Mere Christian" along with me to Vancouver Island one fine summer, I found that instead of enjoying the ocean as much as I should have, I was more likely to be found tucked away in some coffee shop... taking notes on napkins, looking up only long enough to see that the sun had gone down.
This book makes you crazy like that.
C.S. Lewis died thirteen days before I was born. I have often wished, and wished sincerely, that I could have talked with this man who has meant so much to me in my life. I look forward to doing so in heaven. This book is the closest I have come to doing so on earth.
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