06/02/2025
C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity in Everyday English
WHY THIS BOOK?
C.S. Lewis, the renowned Professor of English at Oxford University, was a literary giant. He authored many famous novels including the Chronicles of Narnia series and The Screwtape Letters. The most recent estimate for sales of his books is in excess of 200 million copies.
Lewis was born in 1898 in Belfast, Ireland, while I came into the world fifty-three years later in Worcester Park, England. Lewis endured the horrors of trench warfare at the Somme during World War I. I was conceived six years after the end of World War II. Lewis found solace in Christ at the age of 33, deeply influenced by his dear friend J.R.R. Tolkien and other spiritual companions. Similarly, it wasn’t until I reached the age of 35, also influenced by friends, that God broke through my hard, prideful shell and radically changed my life.
In 1973, I embarked on a new chapter by emigrating to Canada. It was there that I encountered the captivating Canadian accent, which I grew fond of during my time working with friends in London. Upon arriving in Canada, I diligently shed my English accent and embraced this “new language” as my own. Sometimes, when we throw a party, I delight in presenting a list of thirty everyday words from my native tongue and watching people try to guess their meanings.
Now here I am, someone who flunked high school English, daring to revise C.S. Lewis’ most significant work, which has practically become a sacred text. Why, might you wonder? Let me explain.
When I first read MERE CHRISTIANITY, I couldn’t help but ponder if the average North American reader could fully grasp the essence of this book without an English-to-“English” dictionary at their side. I even found myself Googling the meaning of some of Lewis’s colloquialisms from the 1940s. Even Lewis acknowledged the shifting nature of language and word usage over time, and I’ve taken the liberty to present you with an original paragraph of his work, alongside my own “simple English” interpretation. I have also added several footnotes for further clarity.
ORIGINAL TEXT:
The word gentleman originally meant something recognisable; one who had a coat of arms and some landed property. When you called someone "a gentleman" you were not paying him a compliment, but merely stating a fact. If you said he was not "a gentleman" you were not insulting him but giving information.
A gentleman, once it has been spiritualized and refined out of its old coarse, objective sense, means hardly more than a man whom the speaker likes. As a result, gentleman is now a useless word. We had lots of terms of approval already, so it was not needed for that use; on the other hand, if anyone (say, in a historical work) wants to use it in its old sense, he cannot do so without explanations. It has been spoiled for that purpose.
REVISED TEXT:
The word “gentleman” originally had a clear meaning. It referred to someone who had a coat of arms and owned land. When you called someone “a gentleman,” you were not complimenting them but stating a fact. If you said someone was not “a gentleman,” you were not insulting them but providing information.
A gentleman, once it has been spiritualized and refined beyond its original, objective sense, becomes little more than a person the speaker likes. Consequently, “gentleman” is now a meaningless word. We already had plenty of terms for approval, rendering it unnecessary for that purpose. On the other hand, if someone wishes to use it in its original sense (e.g., in a historical work), they would require explanations because the word has lost its significance.
https://thrivebooks.ca/product/mere-christianity-in-everyday-english/
Also available for purchase at Pharmasave Huntsville
