UECF Christian Book · Study Companion

Mere Christianity

C. S. Lewis · a UECF.NET Web Book · complete chapter-by-chapter study companion

About this book

Mere Christianity

Adapted from BBC radio talks Lewis gave during the Second World War, Mere Christianity sets out to explain and defend — without taking sides between denominations — the beliefs held in common by nearly all Christians at all times: what Lewis, borrowing a phrase from the Puritan Richard Baxter, calls “mere” Christianity. Moving from the moral law we all half-obey, to the person of Christ, to the shape of a transformed life, to the inner nature of the God who transforms it, the book is often named among the most influential works of Christian apologetics ever written.

Author: C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)
First combined edition: 1952 · Geoffrey Bles / Macmillan
Current publisher: HarperOne

4 Books
33 chapters
1 Preface
108-page source edition
English

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How to use this study companion

This is a guide to the book, not a copy of it. Mere Christianity remains in copyright, so its text is not reproduced here beyond a handful of short quotations; what you will find for each chapter is an original UECF.NET summary of Lewis’s argument, its key points, the illustrations and analogies he uses, a few notable lines, related Scripture where Lewis draws on it directly, and questions for personal reflection or group discussion. Read the chapter in the book, then use the page here to review, discuss and apply it.

Every page has Previous / Next links, the full contents, adjustable text size, dark mode, bookmarks, and search across the whole companion (press Ctrl K). Your reading position and bookmarks are saved in this browser only.

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Preface

IBook I: Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe

Lewis begins not with the Bible but with everyday quarrelling, arguing that everyone already assumes a real moral law which no one keeps — a clue, he suggests, to what lies behind the universe.

1The Law of Human Nature
≈ 4 min · Chapter 1 of 33 2Some Objections
≈ 5 min · Chapter 2 of 33 3The Reality of the Law
≈ 5 min · Chapter 3 of 33 4What Lies Behind the Law
≈ 5 min · Chapter 4 of 33 5We Have Cause to Be Uneasy
≈ 5 min · Chapter 5 of 33

IIBook II: What Christians Believe

Having argued that a Moral Lawgiver is implied by the Law of Nature, Lewis turns to the specifically Christian claim about who that Lawgiver is, and what He did about our failure to keep His law.

1The Rival Conceptions of God
≈ 4 min · Chapter 6 of 33 2The Invasion
≈ 5 min · Chapter 7 of 33 3The Shocking Alternative
≈ 4 min · Chapter 8 of 33 4The Perfect Penitent
≈ 5 min · Chapter 9 of 33 5The Practical Conclusion
≈ 5 min · Chapter 10 of 33

IIIBook III: Christian Behaviour

The longest section works out what a life shaped by Christian belief actually looks like — the cardinal and theological virtues, social ethics, marriage, forgiveness, pride, and the two kinds of faith.

1The Three Parts of Morality
≈ 4 min · Chapter 11 of 33 2The "Cardinal Virtues"
≈ 4 min · Chapter 12 of 33 3Social Morality
≈ 5 min · Chapter 13 of 33 4Morality and Psychoanalysis
≈ 5 min · Chapter 14 of 33 5Sexual Morality
≈ 5 min · Chapter 15 of 33 6Christian Marriage
≈ 6 min · Chapter 16 of 33 7Forgiveness
≈ 4 min · Chapter 17 of 33 8The Great Sin
≈ 5 min · Chapter 18 of 33 9Charity
≈ 4 min · Chapter 19 of 33 10Hope
≈ 4 min · Chapter 20 of 33 11Faith
≈ 4 min · Chapter 21 of 33 12Faith (continued)
≈ 5 min · Chapter 22 of 33

IVBook IV: Beyond Personality: Or First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity

Lewis's most ambitious section, attempting — cautiously, with illustrations rather than technical theology — to say something about the inner life of the God introduced in Book II.

1Making and Begetting
≈ 5 min · Chapter 23 of 33 2The Three-Personal God
≈ 5 min · Chapter 24 of 33 3Time and Beyond Time
≈ 5 min · Chapter 25 of 33 4Good Infection
≈ 5 min · Chapter 26 of 33 5The Obstinate Toy Soldiers
≈ 5 min · Chapter 27 of 33 6Two Notes
≈ 4 min · Chapter 28 of 33 7Let's Pretend
≈ 5 min · Chapter 29 of 33 8Is Christianity Hard or Easy?
≈ 5 min · Chapter 30 of 33 9Counting the Cost
≈ 4 min · Chapter 31 of 33 10Nice People or New Men
≈ 6 min · Chapter 32 of 33 11The New Men
≈ 6 min · Chapter 33 of 33

About this web book

Mere Christianity collects and revises three short books Lewis wrote from a series of BBC radio talks broadcast during the Second World War: The Case for Christianity (Broadcast Talks, 1942), Christian Behaviour (1943), and Beyond Personality (1944). Lewis combined and revised them into the single volume Mere Christianity, first published in the UK by Geoffrey Bles and in the US by Macmillan in 1952. It is one of the most widely read works of Christian apologetics of the twentieth century and remains in print today, currently published by HarperOne.

Author	C. S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis, 1898–1963)
First combined edition	1952, Geoffrey Bles (London) / Macmillan (New York)
Current publisher	HarperOne (an imprint of HarperCollins)
Structure	Preface + 4 Books (“Right and Wrong,” “What Christians Believe,” “Christian Behaviour,” “Beyond Personality”) + 33 chapters
Copyright status	Still under copyright (C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd. / HarperCollins)

A note on copyright. Mere Christianity is still commercially in print and under copyright, so this UECF.NET page is a study companion, not a copy of the book. Every chapter page below offers original UECF.NET notes — a summary, key points, the illustrations Lewis uses, a small number of short verbatim quotations (used under fair use), related Scripture, and discussion questions — written to help readers study the book alongside their own copy, not to replace it. We encourage every reader to obtain the book itself from HarperOne or a local bookseller/library.

This edition was checked page by page against a 108-page source PDF of the book to confirm that its complete table of contents, all four Books, and all 33 chapters are represented here in full, with nothing skipped.