Previous
The Piano
Like many Christian writers, Lewis associates the state of Christianity with light. To be a good, pious Christian, is to “see the world for the first time,” illuminated by the light of faith and salvation. Thus, light represents the inner peace, joy, and profound wisdom that the worship of Jesus Christ affords the human race.
Light Quotes in Mere Christianity
The Mere Christianity quotes below all refer to the symbol of Light. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 2, Chapter 1
Quotes
Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Book 4, Chapter 11
Quotes
Imagine a lot of people who have always lived in the dark. You come and try to describe to them what light is like. You might tell them that if they come into the light that same light would fall on them all and they would all reflect it and thus become what we call visible. Is it not quite possible that they would imagine that, since they were all receiving the same light, and all reacting to it in the same way (i.e. all reflecting it), they would all look alike? Whereas you and I know that the light will in fact bring out, or show up, how different they are.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Mere Christianity LitChart as a printable PDF.
Light Symbol Timeline in Mere Christianity
The timeline below shows where the symbol Light appears in Mere Christianity. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 3, Chapter 12: Faith (Part 2)
...but where they are simply filled with goodness, like a mirror that is “filled with light.” But, Lewis admits, it is difficult for us to talk about salvation, since “no one’s...
(full context)
Book 4, Chapter 11: The New Men
...a group of people blundering around in the dark, none of whom have ever seen light. If one were to explain to this group that a light was about to turn...
(full context)
