Miracles

By: C. S. Lewis

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

"The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares the way for this, or results from this." This is the key statement of Miracles, in which C.S. Lewis shows that a Christian must not only accept but rejoice in miracles as a testimony of the unique personal involvement of God in His creation. Using his characteristic lucidity and wit to develop his argument, Lewis challenges the rationalists, agnostics, and deists on their own grounds and makes out an impressive case for the irrationality of their assumptions by positing: "Those who assume that miracles cannot happen are merely wasting their time by looking into the texts: we know in advance what results they will find for they have begun by begging the question." - from Miracles

©1947 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Christianity for

This book requires you to leave children's Sunday School behind and have your mind stretched so you can start to experience an intelligent, mature, and insightful way of thinking about what Christianity is really about. As for agnostics and atheists they should spend their time critiquing this book instead of targetting Christian's who think like children. Lewis's use of language and metaphor, make his piercing logic very entertaining. The reader sounds like a bit of an arrogant Englishman but does a good job and as with all the good audiobooks the narrator drifts into the background as the ocean of ideas surges forth. Another under appreciated book by Lewis, the Problem of Pain, is an excellent companion to this. How I wish Richard Dawkin's (of The Selfish Gene) and his followers were arguing with CS Lewis and not the modern, superficial christian evangelicals. All concerned would be so much better off!

A book to think about

As a retired Physicist who taught at a University, and worked for the Government, I am skeptical about miracles. This book does not directly attempt to assert that miracles happened, but rather examines the rational basis for examining the evidence for and against them. C.S. Lewis had philosophical training as part of his background, as well as a deep understanding of logic. He applies the techniques of each to the question of whether miracles can exist, and how to approach the problem. If you read this book without preconceptions, either for or against the central thesis, you come out with a lot of material to think about. If you are skeptical about miracles, this is a good book to read to at least open up your mind. If you already believe in miracles, then this would be worth reading to introduce some skeptical thoughts into your mind to cause you to think, and perhaps reinforce your beliefs after the thought process.

One of the best I've ever read

This book is not intended for those who want easy, light hearted, non-demanding reading or listening. It requires you to engage fully and intelligently, to pause, contemplate and study. But in the end it is one of the finest analysis of the differences between the worldview which embraces nature as the totality of existence, naturalism, and one which perceives and grasps a worldview with a force beyond nature, labeled by Lewis as super-naturalism.

His arguments are compelling as they stem from an intellectual depth of critical reasoning at which most of us can only marvel.

A difficult "listen" compared to other CS Books

Any additional comments?

I think CS Lewis gets so deep sometimes that he is hard to follow. I just had a hard time following this one, not saying it is a bad book, just difficult.

Thought provoking

This book is one of the most influential books that I have read. I listened to this one many times without tiring of the message. This book has depth.

Great book, changed my understanding

This book showed me a perspective and thinking on the actual existence of the supernatural. The book does not assume prior knowledge and builds up from the ground its argument, without being condescending - it's mostly easy to follow, and there is nothing too daunting.
In my life it has opened the door for a more complete understanding of everything - not that I understand everything, but God seems less like an invention of human imagination and more like a reasonable explanation of reality.

Excellent

As a longtime fan of C.S. Lewis, I found this book both challenging and rewarding. Because I find the subject really absorbing, I wasn't able to use this book for just zoning out. In fact I debated whether I wanted to drive while listening. But it was well, well worth the listen, and I plan to hear it again soon.

Hard to follow

I feel the information and the observations back and forth were enjoyable but it was hard to follow the logic at times. I do not recommend th audio however the book it's self may be more enjoyable when you have time to absorb the arguments.

Deeper and more philosophical than other Lewis

I have worked my way through a number of works by Lewis this month. This work begins with quite abstract philosophical reasoning. That makes it somewhat tough going compared to other works by Lewis. I found the resort to insistent logical reasoning somewhat tedious, to be honest. The use of binaries early on (e.g. you are either "naturalist" or "supernaturalist") rather annoying and unnecessary, but maybe that just suggests the datedness of the work, or my own predispositions. On the whole, it offers a strong argument in favour of the incarnation, resurrection and ascension. As such, it sets up the challenge of miracles as a central issue for accepting or rejecting the Christian faith. Lewis does (as elsewhere) make the alternative perspectives seem most unreasonable, even foolish, in such a way that is hard to deny.

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