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(More customer reviews)I'm a compulsive C.S. Lewis collector and, if you're even thinking about buying this book - I'll bet it's not the first volume of Lewis that you'll place upon your shelf, either. His life was so complex, his imagination so expansive and his faith so deep that I find myself drawn toward his often strange and ultimately triumphant life over and over again. I've collected virtually all of his books and nearly all of the main titles written about him over the years. I even own the big 3-volume collection of his letters.
So, why buy this new book if your "Lewis shelf" looks even a little bit like the overflowing Lewis section in my library?
I think there are a couple of reasons that this book is a great new offering: First, most of us are hesitant to purchase, let alone slog all the way through, the big 3-volume set. I'll admit that, while my set of the letters has some turned-down corners here and there - I haven't waded through those volumes cover to cover to cover to ... Well, you get the point.
Second, we love reading letters, don't we? Letters are foundational in the world's great religions. Our revelations come to us, quite often, in the form of epistles. The New Testament books are mostly letters. As a journalist and editor myself for more than 30 years, I've written thousands of letters (now Emails and posted epistles) and I've received, edited and published thousands of readers' letters. I can tell you this - there are few books with the impact of a well-written, well-timed letter.
And, third, Paul F. Ford has pulled into these nearly 400 pages a most intriguing, sometimes troubling and always fascinating thematic collection of "Jack" Lewis' letters concerning "spiritual direction." In a very brief introduction, Ford outlines his choices as falling into three categories: "spiritual companionship" (letters to friends on spiritual matters), "spiritual discipleship" (letters Lewis wrote seeking advice) and "spiritual direction" (letters in which Lewis gave advice).
Ford turns this book into a great choice for seasonal reading - forming a kind of pathway of letter-shaped stepping stones out of Lewis' expansive and, quite often, very messy life. Ford is handing us a book that small groups, including Sunday-morning classes, could divide into chunks for at least a two-month study of Lewis and the spiritual legacy of such letters.
Curiously, HarperOne gives Ford precious little space in this book - or perhaps Ford chose not to step too prominently into the path of readers who are eager to encounter Lewis, rather than the editor. Nevertheless, it's important, especially if you're thinking about buying this book, to realize that you're in the hands of widely acknowledged Lewis scholar.
Ford has feet firmly planted both in Catholic and Protestant worlds. He likes to point out that he was the first Roman Catholic in the doctoral program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena - and he now is a professor of theology and liturgy at St. John Seminary in Camarillo, California. In his spare time, he rolls out Lewis books that I - among thousands of others - keep picking up and enjoying.
He's the creator of one of my own most-thumbed Lewis volumes, the thick little paperback, "Companion to Narnia." I also recommend that book - if you're jumping into that delightful fantasy realm along with millions of other Americans in this era of Narnian revival.
The important point here is that whatever your religious orientation may be as you think about Lewis - and think about this book and its themes - you're in firm hands here whether you're a newly minted evangelical, a curious mainliner or an active Catholic hoping to stir up your parish's adult education program.
Finally, let me point out a couple of personal "favorites" within this new collection.
I love the final section of the book. It's quite well known now among Lewis fans that he died on the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated half a world away. JFK's passing completely eclipsed Lewis' passing in global media. And, oddly enough, reading these letters that Ford has excerpted for us -- notes scattered throughout the months of Lewis' demise - I suspect that Lewis himself wouldn't have cared an iota that his death dropped from the front pages. Oh, Lewis loved the media limelight. But, for Lewis, at the actual point of his death -- his own story already had unfolded. His final letters clearly make the case that he had enjoyed the great adventures of his life and settled matters peaceably as he approached these final days.
There's a 1963 letter to a friend here in which he writes that preparation for death "means stripping off that body which is tormenting you: like taking off a hair-shirt or getting out of a dungeon. What is there to be afraid of?" Amazing. Death as "getting out of a dungeon," penned by a dying master of dungeon lore.
And, then, leaping back into the middle of the book: Some of this may be a revelation to you if you haven't read many contemporary spiritual memoirs (and I'm thinking here of the writings left behind by saints such as Dorothy Day). But, in the heart of the book, you'll find that Lewis' amazing life wasn't constructed as one continuous cruise through mystic inspiration. Quite the contrary! Real saints like Lewis, Day and others admit that spiritual life is full of fumbles, dead ends and silences.
I especially recommend a letter penned in 1948 in which Lewis begins by advising his friend: "I very much doubt if I'm good enough at prayer myself to advise others." And then, as he begins to offer his thoughts, friend to friend, he writes like this: "Of course it is very difficult to keep God only before one for more than a few seconds. Our minds are in ruins before we bring them to Him and the rebuilding is gradual."
This is a hefty little book at nearly 400 pages and perhaps not a typical choice for small groups - but I would urge you not to miss this great and often strange spiritual adventure with our old friend, Jack.
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