Have you, as I have, been blessed by the classic Mere Christianity? Probably the greatest apologetic book I know of, and certainly grist for the mill for your deepest thoughts, the story of the series of events that precipitated this volume is fascinating.

Can you imagine what this book proposal must have looked like laying on the publisher’s desk? A book not about the whole of C. S. Lewis’s life, but just the the particular years when this classic was birthed, as well as the horrors of war in the blitz on London. The background of the BBC is heavily worked into the story too. Believe it or not, this improbable volume works.

In short, Lewis gave several sets of talks on the BBC during the worst of the war in England that captured the attention of listeners at a time when religious broadcasting as a whole fell on bad times. In no time at all, Lewis had more correspondence than he could handle. Here were writings (broadcasts) that went beyond the trivial or any of the hokum that was simply insufficient in the carnage of war. It resonated in a time of great need.

Beyond the confluence of factors that made Mere Christianity so influential, this volume works on the level of biography as well. There is the war, its agonies, and impact on lives that is well described. Then there is C.S. Lewis the man: his industrious output, his tenderness, his family issues, and his humility. You like him better, even if, as me, he has a few beliefs you could not follow.

This book is a pleasant, worthwhile read!

em>I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.