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Bible, Theology & Philosophy
Book Reviews
C.S. Lewis

The Abolition of Man “has proved very effective at alerting several generations of readers to the very idea that there is a substantive case to suggest that 1) humans don’t somehow create morality and 2) the human mind itself bears the imprint of a universal natural morality that doesn’t change.” - Samuel Gregg

Discussion

Sun, 08/22/21

I am currently reading C.S. Lewis’ Miracles, and have enjoyed it—slowly. :-) I’ve read only portions of The Abolition of Man and had been considering tackling that one next. The chapter “Men without Chests” in that book shaped the “critical lens” through which I evaluate today’s culture.
After reading this article, I immediately ordered a copy of author’s book, After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man. It will no doubt open to me many of Lewis’s insights that I’d be certain to miss without this sort of guide.
Kudos to the Sharper Iron review staff for posting this!

Philip Knight

Mon, 08/23/21

I’ve found that I benefit enormously from reading or re-reading some Lewis every year.

I read Abolition some years ago, and many of the observations in the article matched my impressions. Lewis wrote it with a particular context very much in mind and the surface context that made it into the subtitle tends to obscure the bigger ideas that are clearly much on his mind in the book.

So I’m curious about how that happened…

And there’s no question that, in typical Lewis fashion, there are statements and chains of reasoning that are a bit dense—in the sense of “taking some time to digest and understand.” So I’m sure Ward’s book is helpful with that. Sadly, it’s not available in audiobook format, which will make it tougher for me to work it into my reading schedule.

I read pretty much all day five days a week and the eyes aren’t what they used to be either, so audio books are precious to me!

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.