Mere Reading

Named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year Mere Reading argues for a return to the foundations of literary study established nearly a century ago. Following a recent period dominated by symptomatic analyses of fictional texts (new historicist, Marxist, feminist, identity-political), Lee Clark Mitchell joins a burgeoning neo-formalist movement in challenging readers to embrace a rationale for literary criticism that has too long been ignored-a neglect that corresponds, perhaps not coincidentally, to a flight from literature courses themselves. In close readings of six American novels spread over the past century-Willa Cather's The Professor's House, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and The Road, and Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao-Mitchell traces a shifting strain of late modernist innovation that celebrates a species of magic and wonder, of aesthetic “bliss” (as Barthes and Nabokov both coincidentally described the experience) that dumbfounds the reader and compels a reassessment of interpretive assumptions. The novels included here aspire to being read slowly, so that sounds, rhythms, repetitions, rhymes, and other verbal features take on a heightened poetic status-in critic Barbara Johnson's words, “the rigorous perversity and seductiveness of literary language”-thwarting pressures of plot that otherwise push us ineluctably forward. In each chapter, the return to “mere reading” becomes paradoxically a gesture that honors the intractability of fictional texts, their sheer irresolution, indeed the way in which their “literary” status rests on the play of irreconcilables that emerges from the verbal tensions we find ourselves first astonished by, then delighting in.

From the Author: C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity is the obvious inspiration for the title of this book. In that book, Lewis uses the example of a person standing in a hall that is lined on both sides by rooms: Each room represents a different Christian tradition. He wanted to get readers into the hallway and let them choose for themselves whether to enter Christianity by the door of Anglicanism, Catholicism, and so forth. Mere Christianity brilliantly focuses on what essentially all Christians agree upon; namely the Creed, the canon of the New Testament, etc. However, many of the great controversies between Protestants and Catholics are purposely not discussed. There were ecumenical reasons for avoiding topics like papal primacy, purgatory, Marian devotions, and so forth. But, by avoiding these sorts of topics, Mere Christianity can be read as Mere Protestantism. I wrote Mere Catholicism to address some of those missing topics. Even though I am both intellectually and emotionally convinced of the truth of Catholic Christianity, I am indebted to C. S. Lewis (an Anglican) for helping me better understand how Christianity offers the most compelling raison d’être. His work and I hope my own is an exploration of “faith seeking understanding,” to quote St. Anselm of Canterbury. Contents: PrefaceIntroduction: Christianity in the Third Millennium1. Faith and Reason2. Freedom and Responsibility3. Work and Prayer4. Sin and Salvation (Hamartiology and Soteriology)5. Suffering and Love6. God (Theology)7. Jesus (Christology)8. Mary (Mariology)9. Saints and Angels (Hagiology and Angelology)10. The Church (Ecclesiology)11. The Bible (Bibliology)12. Humankind, Creation, and Last Things (Anthropology and Eschatology)NotesAbout the Author

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Let C.S. Lewis inspire and equip you to share your faith. Evangelism is an extraordinary task; it’s what God uses to bring people from death to life. But it has always been difficult. C.S. Lewis was used by God in the conversions of countless people, from friends and acquaintances in his own lifetime to modern-day readers of books such as The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity (the most influential Christian book of the 20th century). As Tim Keller comments, "C.S. Lewis was incredibly skilled at getting Christianity across in a way that’s powerful to thoughtful people." So, if we want help with evangelism, there is much we can learn from the clarity and imagination of this hugely influential Christian writer. You may feel inadequate to the task; after all, there is only one C.S. Lewis. But evangelist Randy Newman skillfully helps us to apply the methods Lewis used (storytelling, humor, imagery and more) in our own conversations. You will be equipped to talk about your faith and engage with unbelievers wisely, whatever their attitude towards the Christian faith.

The word 'mere' is used in the title of this book in its Middle English sense as an adjective 'nothing less than, complete'. This book is about schooling for a fair and vibrant society; it is about an education of hope, education that completes a person.In 'The Magician's Nephew' (1955), the first in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series, Digory and Polly are dragged back through time into a world that is

Studies show that one in four young adults claim no formal religious affiliation, and church leaders have long known that this generation is largely missing on Sunday morning. Hundreds of thousands of "church leavers" have had a mentor and pastor, however, in Michael Spencer, known to blog readers as the Internet Monk.

A memoir of homeschooling.