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At the same time that he was delivering the Mere Christianity radio addresses to a war-torn England, C.S. Lewis penned a now-famous preface to an edition of On the Incarnation by Saint Athanasius. In this short preface, Lewis makes a memorable defense of reading old books, while also revealing some of his thoughts behind the concept of “mere Christianity.”

C.S. Lewis’ “On the Reading of Old Books” (free): https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/christina.hemati/phil1301/readings/lewis-on-the-reading-of-old-books/view

Athanasius’ On the Incarnation with C.S. Lewis’ preface (Greek-English): https://amzn.to/3zagHyR

C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652920

Michael Ward’s After Humanity: https://amzn.to/3pMzsFP

Plato’s The Last Days of Socrates: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140449280

A.E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad XL: https://poets.org/poem/shropshire-lad-xl

C.S. Lewis’ The Pilgrim’s Regress: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780802872173

Alan Jacobs’ The Year of Our Lord 1943: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780190864651

Learn to read Xenophon and Athanasius in Greek with the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/attic-greek/

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

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