thegrowingpain asked:
Hi! Love your blog! I would like to start reading C.S. Lewis but I don’t know where to start. I see that you quote him a lot so my question is, what would you recommend I read first? Thanks 🙂
Hey thanks for the question!
I haven’t read all of C.S. Lewis’ work and I don’t necessarily agree with all he says, but here are my favorites by him. As always: read everything with discernment.
– Mere Christianity – His absolute seminal work on the Christian faith, written for both believers and non-believers. While I think the last couple chapters get a little weird, he perfectly explains our necessity for Jesus plus the shape of the Christian life.
– The Problem of Pain – Lewis tackles the moral problem of evil and suffering, attempting to reconcile the goodness of God with our broken world. Many of his ideas still stand the test of time.
– The Great Divorce – An awesome work of fiction about Heaven, Hell, dying, and faith. There are so many memorable, bizarre images here of flying creatures and strange worlds that you’ll pretty much smell them as you read.
– Surprised by Joy – A very sober, compelling look into Lewis’ childhood and his first moments of faith as a young atheist turned deist. I can relate. This book is also the closest we have to his testimony. His experiences at school are just as awesome as Hogwarts, and I was taken aback by his ridiculously expansive education, like reading mythology in their original languages.
– The Screwtape Letters – Another work of fiction, Lewis writes from the perspective of a demon teaching an apprentice how to tempt a man. This is a creepy, fun, hilarious work that is also somehow profound and incisive. I can also see why Lewis reportedly became depressed after writing it.
– The Abolition of Man – This is one of his tough reads, and not everyone will enjoy it. Lewis goes over postmodernism and how our current age has stripped away the aesthetic beauty of humanity. Despite its age, it’s still a great look into the evolution of human thought.
— J
J.S. Park: Hospital Chaplain 
MY favorite C.S. Lewis works are The Space Trilogy – philosophy couched in science fiction and absolutely brilliant – and Till We Have Faces – a reworking of the Psyche and Cupid myth from a Christian perspective (I had to read it 3 times over the course of about 15 years before I understood it). I also love A Grief Observed. Lewis is brilliant and worthy of reading!
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I’ve heard his Space Trilogy is amazing and quite an adult work. I really do think I’ve read and re-read his works the most of anything I’ve ever read.
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I would also recommend Till We Have Faces. Lewis deals with our capacity for self deception through a retelling of the story of Cupid and Phyche. It is my favorite Lewis book. I think I read somewhere that it was Lewis’ favorite also.
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I’m getting that one now!
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