523 - The Joyful Christian

The Joyful Christian
By C. S. Lewis
New York, Macmillan Co., Inc., 1978. 239 pp. $7.95.

C. S. Lewis was a Fellow and Tutor at Magdalen College from 1925-54, and later Professor of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge. He has told the story of his conversion to the Christian faith in a volume, Surprised by Joy. Gifted with a brilliant and logical mind, as well as a lucid and lively style, he became one of the most influential and widely read Christian apologists of our time. Indeed, he is far more widely known for his little books on Christian faith (and for his Chronicles of Narnia) than for his published volumes in literary criticism. He died in 1963.

These 127 selections from 16 of his smaller works provide both an introduction to and a sampling of his lively apologetic. The selections are titled and arranged in an attractive format with a foreword by the editor and an appendix, including a bibliography of Lewis' published volumes and an index indicating where each may be found.

The largest group of selections (34) comes from Mere Christianity. The editor explains: "If sales are souls, then Mere Christianity is Lewis' most influential theological work." Other volumes eliciting the most quotations are Letters to Malcolm, Miracles, and of course The Screwtape Letters.

Those who have read Lewis know how delightfully he can express his faith with clarity, conviction, and whimsy. I have found in the selections many of my favorite passages. Writing this review in Cambridge, I note that several bookstores carry shelves of all Lewis' little books in paperback, a witness to the continuing popularity of these presentations of Christian faith,

Of course, selections have their limitations. While Screwtape, for example, is well represented, the cumulative power of these letters from an elderly devil in hell to his junior on earth is necessarily somewhat lost. Again, one may wonder whether Miracles is as persuasive a volume as the number of selections would seem to indicate. I am far more impressed with Pilgrim's Regress, from which no selections appear (understandably, because its format does not lend itself to snippets).

In any case, this edition includes many of Lewis' keenest observations. It can lead readers to the books in their entirety, as well as to an appreciation of these excerpts. Such a volume of selections is not alien to Lewis himself, for he did prepare a choice edition of the works of George Macdonald, by whom he was influenced greatly.

C.S. Lewis has provided refreshing testimony to the way in which the Christian faith can come alive for those seeking its meaning in their

524 - The Joyful Christian

lives. We all can learn from him that a sense of wonder can enrich the mind in its understanding of the gospel.

John F. Jansen
Austin Theological Seminary
Austin, Texas