If I Had Lunch with C. S. Lewis: Exploring the Ideas of C. S. Lewis on the Meaning of Life

Written by Alister McGrath

Narrated by Ralph Lister

Have you ever wondered…

• Whether God exists?
• Whether life has meaning?
• Whether pain and suffering have a purpose?

This audio book is my invitation to sit down with C. S. Lewis and me to think about some of the persistent questions and dilemmas every person faces in life. We'll explore Lewis's thoughts on everything from friendships to heaven, from the reasons for faith to the power of stories.

Lewis is one of a small group of people who both learned from life's challenges and were able to pass on his wisdom elegantly and effectively. So why not see Lewis as a mentor and coach?

- Dr. Alister McGrath

©2014 Tyndale House (P)2014 Oasis Audio

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oasis Audio
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781621883555

Alister McGrath

Alister E. McGrath is Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. He is also the author of several books, including A Fine-Tuned Universe , C. S. Lewis: A Life, Surprised by Meaning, and The Dawkins Delusion.

Reviews for If I Had Lunch with C. S. Lewis

[Bobbie Osterberg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read/listen to me first! An exceptional way to learn about C.S. Lewis. This book gives the reader/listener important insight into Lewis to better understand the man, the time and what was going on in his life and the world when he wrote some of his most popular and important works. I wish I had read it before I dove into Screwtape.

[Adam Shields · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

McGrath has written of the two or three best biographies of CS Lewis, so in my ongoing quest to read more and more by or about Lewis, I was eager to pick up McGrath's newest book, Lunch With Lewis, especially since it was free on Kindle and the audiobook part of my free trial of Scribd.

The preface laid out exactly I was looking for, Lewis is the type of person that many people would say they would like to have lunch with out of a host of historical characters. And so McGrath wanted to imagine what type of things Lewis would talk about and what type of wisdom we could gain if we did have lunch with him. So McGrath set out 8 weeks of lunches, and a chapter for each.

The problem is that the actual book did not live up to the promise. Instead most of the chapters were more biography or book report. The first chapters is on the meaning of life. The second was on friendship (which was mostly about Tolkien and the Inklings.) The third was on the importance of stories in shaping our life and meaning (with significant overlap from the first chapter.) The fourth chapter was on Aslan and how he was and was not Christ. And it continued on, apologetics, education, the problem of pain, heaven and hope.

None of the content was bad, it just was not really what was promised by the title or the preface. McGrath is a real scholar, he has a very good biography on Lewis as well as a more academic work on Lewis. This seems to be more of an introduction and/or young adult or college-age finding yourself oriented book. And most of it seemed to be McGrath telling us what Lewis would think instead of really illustrating it either through story of Lewis or quotes from his writing.

I think I was probably negatively affected by the narrator of the audiobook. The quality of the speaking and recording was fine and he would probably be a good narrator for others books. But there was a sense of condescension the whole time. You are the learner and I am the guide, so listen to me. That condescension is probably why it feels like a young adult book to me. That tone may not have carried through to the printed book.

On the whole this would be a good introduction if you have not read much by or about Lewis. But I would suggest that you read one of regular biographies instead. McGrath's or Sayers' general biographies, or one of the specialized ones, like Devin Brown’s look at Lewis’ spritual development or Alan Jacob’s look at Lewis as a writer are good introductions to Lewis and all four of them cover much of the same territory as this book, but without the condescension and with a broader look at Lewis' life and work.

I was ready to stop at about the third chapter. But because this book was fairly short and I was listening to it on audiobook and hoping it would get better, I soldiered on. There really are good isolated thoughts scattered throughout, but if I had to do it over again, I would have stopped at the third chapter.

[abbieriddle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If I had Lunch with C.S. Lewis, Alister McGrath
C.S. Lewis has always fascinated me. His books have long been on my shelves as required reading for our home schooling adventures as well as personal reads. This one adds a whole new depth to understanding and incredibly complex man who's views and writing have shaped many generations and will continue to do so in the future. This book is written as if the author has gone to lunch with C.S. Lewis and what that would be like as they discussed certain issues and ideas. Though at times a little slow to read it is over all a great book. I think that reading more than one "lunch date" at a time might be more than a reader can handle as much of Lewis' thoughts on things needed to be chewed on slowly and considered in depth - allowing them to sink in and give the reader time to contemplate them and form their own opinions. I found the book to be an excellent resource to add to our home school library but would certainly recommend it to any lover of C.S. Lewis who wants to know why he wrote the way he did and how Christianity influenced his life. It is always fascinating to me to understand the thinking of a self-proclaimed Atheist turned Christian - I am always interested in the impact of Christ on a life of a person who is an advocate for Atheism since this is such a huge deal right now and really always has been. C.S. Lewis thoughts on Nazism and Public education were especially thought provoking to me as a home school mom who teaches a biblical world view to her children while the majority of our friends kids are washed in an educational system of a secular and unbiblical world view that threatens to undermine the teachings of the church. This is not a long book at all, but is best read in small sections and enjoyed. It is a great conversation starter for older children to discuss these sometimes deep topics and you may find that it drives them to the scriptures to support their views and to further understand the rock on which Lewis based his views after conversion to Christianity. Excellent read and a special thanks to the publisher Tyndale and the blog review team who sent me this free review copy in exchange for an unbiased review of this book.

[mirrani_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The whole idea of having lunch with Lewis is appealing to so many people. What might be talked about is partly covered in this book of imagined meals shared between the listener and the author. Each pretend meeting is centered around a topic that will be discussed, which is a part of Lewis's life. These sections are like mini lectures or studies on his past and the beliefs, friendships or moments that helped inspire some of his writing.I found it interesting but I didn't think the concept of lunches was carried out to its potential. I would have preferred a more personal, one-on-one feel to each section, as if the reader really were sitting down to share food and conversation. That does create the possibility of partly fictionalizing what Lewis would be "saying," but not if great care were taken to quote him directly. If we are researching his beliefs and history, is there not a way to rewrite this history into something that would more resemble a conversation than a lecture? It was still enjoyable in its own way, but I felt the premise and title needed to fit each other a little more for the reading to feel whole based on my expectation from the title.