what a serious generalist thinks

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 11 | “The New Men” Question: What point did Lewis emphasize in the previous chapter? Answer: God is after transformation, not improvement. He used the illustration of a horse becoming a winged creature. Q: How might…

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 10 | “Nice People or New Men” Question: Lewis opens the chapter with, “He meant what He said.” What is Lewis referring to? Answer: His previous chapter where he said, “Those who put themselves in [God’s]…

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 9 | “Counting the Cost.” Question: Which words of Jesus that Lewis quoted in the previous chapter bothered people? Answer: “Be ye perfect.” Some thought this meant that unless we are perfect God will not help us.…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 8 | “Is Christianity Hard or Easy” Question: What does C.S. Lewis want to make clear as he opens this chapter? Answer: The topic of last chapter, “‘putting on Christ,’ or first ‘dressing up’ as…

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 7 | “Let’s Pretend” Question: What two stories does Lewis want to have in our minds at the beginning of this chapter? Answer: First, the story, Beauty and the Beast, where a girl “had to marry…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 6 | “Two Notes” Question: After the previous chapter, what question was Lewis asked by a sensible critic? Answer: “Why, if God wanted sons instead of ‘toy soldiers,’ He did not beget many sons at…

Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 5 | “The Obstinate Toy Soldiers” Question: Why did the Son of God become a man? Answer: To enable us to become sons of God. Q: What don’t we—or at least what doesn’t Lewis—know? A: “How things would have worked if…

C. S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 4 | “Good Infection” Question: What picture does C.S. Lewis want us to have in mind as he begins this chapter? Answer: Two books are stacked on top of each other on a table.…

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 3 | “Time and Beyond Time” Question: Why does Lewis suggest we might want to skip this chapter? Answer: This one may or may not be of use. He plans “to talk about something which may…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 2 | “The Three-Personal God” Question: What is the difference between begetting and making that Lewis wants to remind us of? Answer: “A man begets a child, but he only makes a statue. God begets…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book IV | Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity Chapter 1 | “Making and Begetting” Question: What warning is Lewis not heeding in Book IV? Answer: Everyone has told him “the ordinary reader does not want Theology; give him plain practical religion.” Q: Why has…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book III | Christian Behavior Chapter 12 | “Faith” [Part Two] Question: What does Lewis want his readers to “notice carefully” in this chapter? Answer: “If this chapter means nothing to you” or if it is answering questions you don’t have, then “drop it at once.” Q: Why does Lewis…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book III | Christian Behavior Chapter 11 | “Faith” [Part One] Question: What is the first way Christians speak of faith? Answer: Faith in the first meaning is thinking Christianity is true—accepting the beliefs of Christianity as true. Q: What used to puzzle Lewis about this? A. Why is faith…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book III | Christian Behavior Chapter 10 | “Hope” Question: What is hope? Answer: “A continual looking forward to the eternal world.” It is not “a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do.” And, “It does not mean that we…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book III | Christian Behavior Chapter 9 | “Charity” Question: What is Charity? Answer: Charity is one of the “Theological” virtues, along with Faith and Hope. Part of Charity is forgiveness, which Lewis wrote about in an earlier chapter. The meaning of the word has changed over time so that…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book III | Christian Behavior Chapter 8 | “The Great Sin” Question: What is the “one vice of which no man in the world is free”? Answer: Pride. Q: What are some things that are true about the sin of pride? A: We all struggle with it. We despise it…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book III | Christian Behavior Chapter 7 | “Forgiveness” Question: What does Lewis begin this chapter questioning? Answer: Which is the most unpopular virtue? He had said previously unchastity, but now we arrive at “this terrible duty of forgiving our enemies,” which may be harder. Lewis offers this great observation:…

C.S. Lewis | Mere Christianity Book III | Christian Behavior Chapter 6 | “Christian Marriage” Question: In the previous chapter, Lewis spoke negatively about the sexual impulse. Why doesn’t he want to speak “about its right working,” Christian marriage? Answer: Two things. First, “the Christian doctrines on this subject are extremely unpopular,” and two, Lewis…