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C. S. Lewis

Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces

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C. S. Lewis

Written by: C. S. Lewis
Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
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About this listen

This is an extensive collection of short essays and other pieces by C. S. Lewis that have been brought together in one volume for the first time. As well as his many books, letters, and poems, Lewis also wrote a great number of essays and shorter pieces on various subjects. He wrote extensively on Christian theology and the defense of faith but also on various ethical issues and on the nature of literature and storytelling. In this essay collection we find a treasure trove of Lewis' reflections on diverse topics.

©1973 C. S. Lewis (P)2014 Blackstone Audio
Classics World Inspiring Classics Collection
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Terrific collection! Missing a table of contents!

Audible, please add the title of each chapter within the book itself. Impossible to find a specific text otherwise.

In the meantime, here's the list! This should help a Lewis reader to quickly find the famous speech / text they are looking for:

Essays
1) The Grand Miracle
2) Is Theology Poetry?
3) The Funeral of a Great Myth
4) God In the Dark
5) What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ?
6) The World’s Last Night
7) Is Theism Important?
8) The Seeing Eye
9) Must Our Image of God Go?
10) Christianity and Culture
11) Evil and God
12) The Weight of Glory
13) Miracles
14) Dogma and the Universe
15) The Horrid Red Things
16) Religion: Reality or Substitute?
17) Myth Became Fact
18) Religion and Science
19) Christian Apologetics
20) Work and Prayer
21) Religion Without Dogma?
22) The Decline of Religion
23) Unforgiveness
24) The Pains of Animals
25) Petitionary Prayer: A Problem Without an Answer
26) On Obstinacy in Belief
27) What Christmas Means to Me
28) The Psalms
29) Religion and Rocketry
30) The Efficacy of Prayer
31) Fern Seed and Elephants
32) The Language of Religion
33) Transposition
34) Why I am Not a Pacifist
35) Dangers of National Repentance
36) Two Ways With the Self
37) Meditation on the Third Commandment
38) On Ethics
39) Three Kinds of Men
40) Answers to Questions on Christianity
41) The Laws of Nature
42) Membership
43) The Sermon and the Lunch
44) Scraps
45) After Priggery – What?
46) Man or Rabbit?
47) The Trouble With X
48) On Living in an Atomic Age
49) Lillies that Fester
50) Good Work and Good Works
51) A Slip of the Tongue
52) We Have No Right to Happiness
53) Christian Reunion: An Anglican Speaks to Roman Catholics
54) Priestesses in the Church?
55) On Church Music
56) Christianity and Literature
57) High and Low Brows
58) Is English Doomed?
59) On the Reading of Old Books
60) The Parthenon and the Optative
61) The Death of Words
62) On Science Fiction
63) Miserable Offenders
64) Different Tastes in Literature
65) Modern Translations of the Bible
66) On Juvenile Tastes
67) Sex in Literature
68) The Hobbit
69) Period Criticism
70) On Stories
71) On Three Ways of Writing for Children
72) Prudery and Philology
73) Tolkein’s “The Lord of the Rings”
74) Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to Be Said
75) It All Began With a Picture
76) Unreal Estates
77) On Criticism
78) Cross Examination
79) A Tribute to E.R. Eddison
80) The Mythopoeic Gift of Rider Haggard
81) George Orwell
82) A Panegyric for Dorothy L. Sayers
83) The Novels of Charles Williams
84) Learning in War-Time
85) Bulverism (or, The Foundation of 20th Century Thought)
86) The Founding of the Oxford Socratic Club
87) My First School
88) Democratic Education
89) Blimpophobia
90) Private Bates
91) Meditation in a Tool Shed
92) On the Transmission of Christianity
93) Modern Man and His Categories of Thought
94) Historicism
95) The Empty Universe
96) Interim Report
97) Is History Bunk?
98) Before We Can Communicate
99) First and Second Things
100) The Poison of Subjectivism
101) Equality
102) De Futilitate
103) A Dream
104) Hedonics
105) Talking About Bicycles
106) Vivisection
107) The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment
108) Behind the Scenes
109) The Necessity of Chivalry
110) The Inner Ring
111) Two Lectures
112) Some Thoughts
113) X-mas and Christmas
114) Revival or Decay
115) Delinquents in the Snow
116) Willing Slaves of the Welfare State
117) Screwtape Proposes a Toast

Letters
118) The Conditions for a Just War
119) The Conflict in Anglican Theology
120) Miracles
121) Mr. C.S. Lewis on Christianity
122) A Village Experience
123) Correspondence With an Anglican Who Dislikes Hymns
124) The Church’s Liturgy, Invocation, and Invocation of Saints
125) The Holy Name
126) Mere Christians
127) Canonization
128) Pittenger-Lewis and Version Vernacular
129) Capital Punishment and Death Penalty

Short Stories
130) The Man Born Blind
131) The Dark Tower
132) The Dark Tower (continued)
133) The Dark Tower (continued)
134) Ministering Angels
135) The Shoddy Lands
136) After Ten Years
137) Forms of Things Unknown

Performance is ok. Not a fan of Ralph Cosham (lacks enthusiasm in my opinion, though his relatively monotonous tone fits the academic tone of the texts). For a great CS Lewis performer available on audible, see "The Great Divorce" or "Screwtape Letters", where performers bring energy to the text. Still--very easy to listen to if you'd rather listen than read.

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Lewis is genius

its a shame there is only 39 hours here... cs lewis was a gift and treasure and these writings, unfinished though they may some times be, are wonderful.

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C.S. Lewis, One of the Greats and a Must Read

From atheist to devote Christian C.S. Lewis has transcended all others in his interpretation and explanation of Christianity. This frumpy intellectual has taught me more about love then any shallow hollywood type could ever. If you want to understand love listen to this man.

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another wonderful book

the narrator trails off at the end of every sentence, but besides the half you miss it is worth a listen

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A wild ride!

A fascinating collection, thoughtfully written, quite well read, and very long. Somehow, after 39 hours, I want more.

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So much Lewis

This book is a must for hard core C.S Lewis fans. It contained a large amount of Lewis's apologetic work and many less known works like the Dark Tower as well as some very interesting correspondence with various groups. If you love Lewis, you will love this book. #Audible1

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must have

loved it. Great reading and has tons of content, including the weight of glory and the dark tower, which I don't believe is worth buying as a book, it's quite incomplete, but listening it here was quite interesting to hear.

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Great audiobok

Great audiobook. Was very interesting and informative, as well as entertaining. Mr. Lewis shows so much insight within his essays on different aspects of the christian faith, and his non-fiction stories are quite entertaining and filled me with wonderment. Some of the stories, near the end of the audiobook in particular, really grabbed my attention and I was sorry to learn they had never been finished; I still think of them and wish I could hear the ending!

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Index badly needed

This collection is in desperate need of titles to the chapters. To help with that, this is an index written by an Amazon.com reviewer named "chuck":

Start Essay
00:00:00 1) The Grand Miracle
00:21:25 2) Is Theology Poetry?
00:55:35 3) The Funeral of a Great Myth
01:26:52 4) God In the Dark
01:39:14 5) What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ?
01:50:53 6) The World’s Last Night
02:25:09 7) Is Theism Important?
02:35:45 8) The Seeing Eye
02:57:58 9) Must Our Image of God Go?
03:01:23 10) Christianity and Culture
04:05:30 11) Evil and God
04:14:07 12) The Weight of Glory
04:45:44 13) Miracles
05:18:54 14) Dogma and the Universe
05:42:43 15) The Horrid Red Things
05:51:58 16) Religion: Reality or Substitute?
06:10:10 17) Myth Became Fact
06:22:22 18) Religion and Science
06:29:46 19) Christian Apologetics
07:04:21 20) Work and Prayer
07:12:02 21) Religion Without Dogma?
07:55:00 22) The Decline of Religion
08:08:09 23) Unforgiveness
08:16:37 24) The Pains of Animals
08:43:20 25) Petitionary Prayer: A Problem Without an Answer
09:06:28 26) On Obstinacy in Belief
09:36:03 27) What Christmas Means to Me
09:40:18 28) The Psalms
10:19:15 29) Religion and Rocketry
10:35:42 30) The Efficacy of Prayer
10:49:29 31) Fern Seed and Elephants
11:25:59 32) The Language of Religion
11:58:42 33) Transposition
12:34:04 34) Why I am Not a Pacifist
13:12:04 35) Dangers of National Repentance
13:19:02 36) Two Ways With the Self
13:24:01 37) Meditation on the Third Commandment
13:32:29 38) On Ethics
14:06:13 39) Three Kinds of Men
14:09:30 40) Answers to Questions on Christianity
14:40:31 41) The Laws of Nature
14:48:58 42) Membership
15:15:03 43) The Sermon and the Lunch
15:26:43 44) Scraps
15:29:49 45) After Priggery – What?
15:39:21 46) Man or Rabbit?
15:51:47 47) The Trouble With X
16:02:00 48) On Living in an Atomic Age
16:17:21 49) Lillies that Fester
16:48:51 50) Good Work and Good Works
17:06:20 51) A Slip of the Tongue
17:18:44 52) We Have No Right to Happiness
17:32:08 53) Christian Reunion: An Anglican Speaks to Roman Catholics
17:39:16 54) Priestesses in the Church?
17:53:30 55) On Church Music
18:07:12 56) Christianity and Literature
18:33:28 57) High and Low Brows
19:07:54 58) Is English Doomed?
19:16:58 59) On the Reading of Old Books
19:31:50 60) The Parthenon and the Optative
19:39:56 61) The Death of Words
19:47:06 62) On Science Fiction
20:21:27 63) Miserable Offenders
20:33:09 64) Different Tastes in Literature
20:50:18 65) Modern Translations of the Bible
21:00:28 66) On Juvenile Tastes
21:07:02 67) Sex in Literature
21:14:00 68) The Hobbit
21:17:03 69) Period Criticism
21:27:16 70) On Stories
22:10:34 71) On Three Ways of Writing for Children
22:40:43 72) Prudery and Philology
22:49:41 73) Tolkein’s “The Lord of the Rings”
23:07:31 74) Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to Be Said
23:15:38 75) It All Began With a Picture
23:17:54 76) Unreal Estates
23:40:58 77) On Criticism
24:16:38 78) Cross Examination
24:33:39 79) A Tribute to E.R. Eddison
24:35:15 80) The Mythopoeic Gift of Rider Haggard
24:44:59 81) George Orwell
24:53:37 82) A Panegyric for Dorothy L. Sayers
25:03:24 83) The Novels of Charles Williams
25:20:03 84) Learning in War-Time
25:43:51 85) Bulverism (or, The Foundation of 20th Century Thought)
25:55:13 86) The Founding of the Oxford Socratic Club
26:01:56 87) My First School
26:09:37 88) Democratic Education
26:19:09 89) Blimpophobia
26:26:26 90) Private Bates
26:34:16 91) Meditation in a Tool Shed
26:43:55 92) On the Transmission of Christianity
26:57:30 93) Modern Man and His Categories of Thought
27:11:02 94) Historicism
27:46:59 95) The Empty Universe
27:58:36 96) Interim Report
28:12:12 97) Is History Bunk?
28:21:26 98) Before We Can Communicate
28:29:54 99) First and Second Things
28:39:32 100) The Poison of Subjectivism
29:05:59 101) Equality
29:14:25 102) De Futilitate
29:52:43 103) A Dream
29:59:49 104) Hedonics
30:11:13 105) Talking About Bicycles
30:22:01 106) Vivisection
30:33:41 107) The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment
31:07:08 108) Behind the Scenes
31:17:41 109) The Necessity of Chivalry
31:26:45 110) The Inner Ring
31:50:26 111) Two Lectures
31:58:20 112) Some Thoughts
32:06:47 113) X-mas and Christmas
32:13:42 114) Revival or Decay
32:23:06 115) Delinquents in the Snow
32:33:40 116) Willing Slaves of the Welfare State
32:48:10 117) Screwtape Proposes a Toast

Start Letters
33:24:21 118) The Conditions for a Just War
33:30:18 119) The Conflict in Anglican Theology
33:31:11 120) Miracles
33:33:12 121) Mr. C.S. Lewis on Christianity
33:35:19 122) A Village Experience
33:36:50 123) Correspondence With an Anglican Who Dislikes Hymns
33:39:56 124) The Church’s Liturgy, Invocation, and Invocation of Saints
33:48:49 125) The Holy Name
33:50:36 126) Mere Christians
33:52:16 127) Canonization
33:55:08 128) Pittenger-Lewis and Version Vernacular
33:57:01 129) Capital Punishment and Death Penalty

Start Short Stories
34:01:01 130) The Man Born Blind
34:12:31 131) The Dark Tower
35:16:16 132) The Dark Tower (continued)
36:15:57 133) The Dark Tower (continued)
37:07:58 134) Ministering Angels
37:31:23 135) The Shoddy Lands
37:49:13 136) After Ten Years
38:38:46 137) Forms of Things Unknown

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