Brendan

Essential

Revisado: 11-29-18

I've had the pleasure of attending one of Mr. Larkin's live training seminars and own most of his video material which I've practiced on and off with friends in small study group sessions. I also have a reasonably extensive martial arts background, so I would consider myself a relatively experienced listener, and I will say that hands down this is probably the best "self-defense" book on the market. It is approachable for the absolute novice and useful for the trained fighter. Mr. Larkin's reading of the book is enjoyable. His expertise and passion come through. If you're hesitating about buying this title, don't. It could literally save your life, and even if you never need the information contained herein, its a fascinating listen.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Starts brilliantly, gets tedious quickly

Revisado: 08-23-18

C.S. Lewis begins Mere Christianity with a passionate and logical defense of the philosophical proposition that some kind of mind like creator exists behind our experience of the being. He promises to lead his audience step by step from these general claims to the specifics of the generic Christian faith outside of any particular Christian denomination. While his opening salvo is excellent, this work very quickly devolves into well worn sentimental appeals and typical arguments in a circle, where a Christian premise is assumed but not mentioned and then the argument proceeds as if it were proven. This is not necessarily a problem for all readers / listeners, but it was for me.

If you are already a Christian, or are not a Christian but were perhaps raised a Christian and still find yourself drawn to Christianity, I imagine you will enjoy this book a great deal. The narration is excellent and Lewis' rhetorical defense of Christianity is refreshingly friendly and conversational. Since this work was originally aimed at the English people of a previous generation he can be forgiven for assuming a great deal of underlying sympathy for his point of view with his audience.

If, on the other hand, you are a curious outsider to the Christian faith you will probably remain an outsider after encountering this book. Lewis seems to conflate Christian metaphysics with metaphysics itself. For him, there appears to be only materialist atheism and Christianity and a kind of muddled apologetic middle ground. He quite effectively shows how a compromise position is not tenable, but remains trapped on the same atheist - Christian continuum. That other sophisticated views on god or ethics exist seem unknown to Lewis, or are at least unmentioned.

If you come from another birth faith, or are philosophically sophisticated, you are probably not the intended audience for this work. You may enjoy it or find it interesting, but I personally lost interest about half way through.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 5 personas