• C. S. Lewis

  • Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces
  • By: C. S. Lewis
  • Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
  • Length: 38 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (716 ratings)

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C. S. Lewis

By: C. S. Lewis
Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
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Publisher's summary

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
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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Here is the missing Table of Contents

Any additional comments?

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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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great book if you want to hear more C.S.Lewis

What made the experience of listening to C. S. Lewis the most enjoyable?

The content of this book is comprised of C.S. Lewis’ lectures, sermons, magazine articles, etc. and I believe written based on the assumption each respective audience was well educated. One result of this appeared to allow him to freely use quotes in their original language. Given the nature of its content, the reading by Ralph Cosham was so superb that I really felt I was listening to Mr. Lewis speak. Mr. Cosham’s accent, inflection, rhythm, intonation, emphasis, and pronunciation, especially of when applied to quotes in a foreign language were remarkable.

What does Ralph Cosham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Cosham’s accent, inflection, rhythm, intonation, emphasis, and pronunciation, especially of when applied to quotes in a foreign language were remarkable. He brought Mr. Lewis to life in the presentation and made listening truly enjoyable.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. it was easily broken into its various parts, given the nature of the compilation of writings.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

All You'll Ever Need As Far As Lewis' Essays Go

What made the experience of listening to C. S. Lewis the most enjoyable?

Lewis' fine mind, even though I disagree with him as an Atheist.

What did you like best about this story?

See the above comment.

Have you listened to any of Ralph Cosham’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. It was another Lewis audiobook, I think. He is a consistently excellent reader.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but it is *way* too long to do that.

Any additional comments?

C. S. Lewis is the greatest Christian apologist of the 20th Century.... hell, of *any* century. Whether you're a Christian who agrees with him or an Atheist like me, you'll appreciate his great intellect and fine use of the English language.

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71 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Most valuable in my library

Would you listen to C. S. Lewis again? Why?

Less than twenty times and you haven't heard it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lewis himself

Have you listened to any of Ralph Cosham’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Lost instructions to thinking.

Any additional comments?

Dear God! Are there no men like this anymore?

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49 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A THINKING PERSON'S COLLECTION

Very interesting material. You really have to listen to Mr Lewis, unlike other author's, or you will find yourself wondering what he is talking about. Recommend even though some of the material in this collection I've already purchased in shorter collections. The only real problem I had with this book is that I had to listen to it on my computer because Mr. Cosham's voice is so low I had a hard time hearing him on my kindle fire.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Treasure Trove of CSLewis Literary Genius

What did you love best about C. S. Lewis?

Clarifies philosophical/scientific/theological reasonings, logical conclusions, ponderings of the Great Minds of all ages

What was one of the most memorable moments of C. S. Lewis?

There are many - a MOST memorable manifesting one of CSL's significant contributions is his revealing a deep study encompassing thoughtful insights regarding literary-affectiveness-relationships on rmoral-behevior attendant to scripturally-based ordinations. This is a one-Hour+ Chapter 10 of 136 in the Essay Collection edited by Lesley Walmsley and read by Ralph Cosham.

The subject is very important to the concerns of those believers in THE WORD who would educate and be educated in secular setting, home-school setting, and for that matter any non-ordained scriptural stimulus. The chapter has Huge implications directly related to the universe of God's people..the eternal Church and its greatest enemies!

What about Ralph Cosham’s performance did you like?

seamless accurate and astoundingly non-biased performance throughout

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

not practical ... needs absorption over time and often many patient repetitive listenings.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent work a feast to the ear and heart

This is a terrific book with absolutely everything for the C. S. Lewis fan. It will expand your mind, open your heart, and thrill your soul. I highly recommend this work. #inspirational #essays #CSLewis #thinkingpersonsread #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great compilation; poor packaging.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This is missing a table of contents regarding each essay. As this is an academic work used by the world of acadamia, this is of vital importance. Luckily, there exists one on a review vis-a-vis amazon's book store. Somehow a patron that check the audio version out at the library called the publisher of the audio work and managed to get a table of contents complete with time stamps.

What did you like best about this story?

N/A

How could the performance have been better?

Table of contents

Did C. S. Lewis inspire you to do anything?

Used this in a research project.

Any additional comments?

None.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great book.

a wonderful book very educational on both ends I would recommend to everyone and anyone who is looking to get the educational and biblical view of religion and Christianity. LOVED IT.

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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
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    4 out of 5 stars

If you want more of CS Lewis look no further!

This Audio book contains the fullness of both Christian Reflections and God in the Dock. I love it. I would however like to point out that there are no chapter headings. This I would say is the most disappointing part about the audio. An audio book this long should have tittle headings so one can go back and forth between essays. I hope Audible can soon update that. In the meantime what I did was create a note using the clips and bookmark tab in the app and pasted the following. I hope it helps those with the same concern.

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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