Christianity par excellence
Christianity par excellence is the title under which the Christian - apologetic work of the British literary scholar and writer CS Lewis first appeared in German, whose original title is Mere Christianity and which is considered a classic of apologetics . Newer German editions are titled Pardon, I am a Christian and subtitled “My arguments for faith”.
History of origin
The book goes back to a series of radio addresses given to the BBC in 1943 by Lewis' avowed enemy of the medium as a moral contribution to World War II . In 1944, Lewis refused to continue the lecture series on the grounds that he had "said everything". The transcripts of his lectures were initially published in three volumes with the titles The Case for Christianity , Christian Behavior and Beyond Personality . It was not until 1952 that they were grouped under a new title.
intention
Lewis' intention was to bring out the common foundations of the often divided Christian denominations . This corresponds to the title of the original edition, the literal translation of which is “sheer Christianity”. In doing so, he addresses both people with a rather low level of education and the intellectuals of his time, from whose point of view the language of official theology had deviated from the actual content of faith.
Starting points
He assumes the existence of a “natural moral law ”, a “rule regarding right and wrong”, the basic features of which are intuitively known to all people and whose principles are generally accepted. He understands this law as a reality not created by man, but rather found, which, however, differs from a natural law in that man is able to ignore or break it. According to Lewis, this is the only law that man knows by himself and that does not first reveal itself to him through observation. As an example of the general awareness of the moral law at all times and in all cultures, Lewis cites that although the penalties for theft differ, nowhere and nowhere is the arbitrary appropriation of someone else's property not punished at all. According to Lewis, it is only the dismay that grips people when they understand that they are incapable of meeting the inexorable requirements of the moral law on their own, that enables them to understand the Christian faith at all . Without this insight, Christianity would then inevitably remain closed to man.
In addition, on the basis of the human experience of the numinous , Lewis puts forward the thesis that since the means to satisfy all other human needs existed, man could not long for God if God did not also exist.
literature
- CS Lewis: Sorry, I'm a Christian. My arguments for belief. 24th edition, Brunnen, Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-03848-088-4