C. S. LEWIS AGAIN

The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis, Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1960, $3.75.

The hallmark of C. S. Lewis’ prose is its clarity and charm; the hallmark of his thought is its good sense and relevance. He is up to par in both respects in his latest religious study, The Four Loves.

Beginning slowly, Lewis labors to distinguish carefully between Need-Love and Gift-Love. He runs in low gear in the first two chapters, but it is wise to do no skipping; this is his preparation for racing off in high through the rest of the study.

He writes of Affection, Friendship, Eros, and Charity, the four kinds of love man deals with among his fellows. All four chapters are rewarding, but the one on Friendship is matchless. Longer than the rest, it alone is worth the book’s price. Lewis shows why it is that people who most urgently “want friends” are the very ones who often fail to get them, because the condition of having friends is that we shall want something else even more. Anyone who values friendship highly enough to want to understand its psychology will treasure this essay.

Almost as good is the chapter on Eros, or sexual love. Lewis feels that mankind takes it far too seriously. The comic spirit is inherent in the doings of Venus, he says; she is forever laughing at us behind her hand. Forces older and less personal than ourselves are working through us; this gives sexual love an almost sacramental character. But a cold or a blister may be enough to remind us that all this is helplessly dependent upon our bodies and their frailties; remembering this can bring a saving comic relief.

Lewis’ overall thesis is that each kind of love has to be ruled by a higher commitment, love for God and His purpose. otherwise, each kind of human love turns rancid. As he puts it, “Only those into which Love Himself has entered will ascend to love Himself.”

In a splendid passage, Lewis cautions that “to love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrong and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. . . The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”

To read this book thoughtfully is to learn how to love more wisely, redeeming every human emotion by linking it irrevocably and sacrificially with the love of God.

Robert Meyers                  

The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis, Geoffrey Bles, London, 1956, $2.00.

This is not a new book, but it has not been previously presented to our readers who have learned to appreciate C. S. Lewis. First published in 1946, it has gone through three reprints. The volume we have for sale is an attractive publication directly from England.

Mr. Lewis takes his reader on a journey from hell to heaven, and lets him listen in on the damned souls that do not have to return to hell, but choose to because they are not equipped to enjoy what they see in heaven. The great divorce is therefore the gulf that separates heaven and hell.

The Manchester Guardian wrote as follows about this book:

The divorce of the title is between Heaven and Hell, and Mr. Lewis is using here, as in The Screwtape Letters, his unique talent for subtle and revealing imagery to bring home to a generation that has almost forgotten it the meaning of those two words. To hint at this imagery would spoil the enjoyment of a book which will not be put down until it is finished.

Leroy Garrett                  

The Screwtape Letters and Screwtape proposes a Toast, C. S. Lewis, Geoffrey Bles, London, 1961, $2.50.

This is a new edition of the famous Screwtape Letters with an additional essay on Screwtape Proposes a Toast. There is also a new preface in which Lewis tells some interesting things about the reactions he has had to the book. The Screwtape Letters has now gone through 23 editions in hardback and 8 editions in paperback. It is now recognized as a milestone in the history of popular theology. In these letters Lewis gives a startling, unique, and powerful presentation of the old problem of the continuous battle for the soul of man between the insidious forces of evil and the triumphant forces of good. Screwtape is an official of Satan who writes to Wormwood, a junior devil on earth, instructing him how to corrupt the human heart. The book sparkles with wit and reveals on every page a penetrating understanding of man’s struggle toward the City of God.

— LEROY GARRETT

PAPERBACK COMMENTARIES

Layman’s Bible Commentaries, Balmer H. Kelly, editor, John Knox Press, Richmond, 1960, $2.00 per volume.

These are non-technical, practical commentaries that are filled with a lot of good stuff and written by some of the world’s greatest scholars--and in language that makes sense to us all! We can offer four of these volumes to our readers: Psalms by A. B. Rhodes (an interesting treatment is given of every Psalm), Jeremiah by Howard T. Kuist (one of this reviewer’s old profs at Princeton), Genesis by C. T. Fritsch (my old Hebrew prof at Princeton), and Hosea to Jonah by Jacob Meyers (an outline is given for each of these minor prophets with meaningful comments on their message to us.) These are attractive, colorful, easy-to-handle paperbacks that average about 150 pages each. They are packed with good, readable, understandable stuff. Fritsch in Genesis warms your heart as he describes such stories as Jacob’s vision of angels and Abram’s call from Ur of the Chaldees. The entire Bible will be covered eventually.

— LEROY GARRETT

(Order any or all of these books from Restoration Review, *1916 Western Dr., Alton, Illinois at prices stated above, which include postage.)

* Current Contact Information:
Leroy Garrett, 1300 Woodlake Drive, Denton, TX 76205
leroy.ouida@worldnet.att.net