Thursday, February 23, 2006
Book Review
I just finished listening to a book on CD that J-Go gave me -- it is "The Narnian" by Alan Jacobs. It is a biography of C. S. Lewis, the Oxford don and author of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", among many other books. He was also the subject of the movie "Shadowlands" which was out a few years ago.
It was a really good book -- I think Jacobs has a lot of insights, and an obvious appreciation for Lewis' remarkable life. He particularly focused on analyzing Lewis' faith, which was very strong and very rational.
One point that I found very interesting came from his explanation of why Lewis stopped being a Christian apologist and was first drawn to writing childrens' books. For a number of years, Lewis would go to meetings of a group that would debate for and against Christianity. He was the main "pro-" voice at these meetings, and was famous for again and again defending his faith against atheists. He commented that it is much easier to challenge someones faith than it is to defend it, since the attacker has nothing to lose, and the defender has everything to lose.
All in all, it was a description of a great life, but a challenging one. It stripped away the idea that Lewis had it easy all his life, and showed him to be a complex and flawed person, but a magnificent scholor and mind who left an impression on the western world.
I say check it out!
It was a really good book -- I think Jacobs has a lot of insights, and an obvious appreciation for Lewis' remarkable life. He particularly focused on analyzing Lewis' faith, which was very strong and very rational.
One point that I found very interesting came from his explanation of why Lewis stopped being a Christian apologist and was first drawn to writing childrens' books. For a number of years, Lewis would go to meetings of a group that would debate for and against Christianity. He was the main "pro-" voice at these meetings, and was famous for again and again defending his faith against atheists. He commented that it is much easier to challenge someones faith than it is to defend it, since the attacker has nothing to lose, and the defender has everything to lose.
All in all, it was a description of a great life, but a challenging one. It stripped away the idea that Lewis had it easy all his life, and showed him to be a complex and flawed person, but a magnificent scholor and mind who left an impression on the western world.
I say check it out!
// posted by Guy @ 8:37 PM 
