Will I love The Abolition of Man?

The Oxford (and, later, Cambridge) literature scholar looks out at the shifting cultural landscape of post-war Britain in the late 1940s and prophesies the postmodern future we now inhabit. It is one of Lewis’s lesser-known volumes (he is the author of the Chronicles of Narnia and bestselling religious books such as Mere Christianity) and one of the shortest.

But this book packs a powerful punch that I have used in teaching law students about our culture three generations after Lewis wrote it. Why are people so confused about morality today and yet so strident in their opinions? Lewis helped… show more.

If I hadn’t read this book half a dozen times before, I would have put it as my top choice.

I use it to prompt discussions about religion, society, law, and education for a seminar I guest-teach at the University of British Columbia Law School. Rarely has an author addressed the issues of his day and anticipated the issues of tomorrow as well as Lewis does here.

No word in the book starts with “postmodern,” but the postmodern mood and mode are everywhere, and Lewis knows what is troublesome about it. He succinctly addresses the moral vacuity of his time… show more.