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Summary: Don't overlook Lewis' essay on "The Inner Ring."
Review: "The Weight of Glory", "Transposition", and other essays in this volume have been warmly received in the years since they were first preached. "The Inner Ring," by contrast, is less often cited. This is a pity, since "of all passions the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things."It is a frightening picture of ambition twisted and run amok, destroying the human person whom it infests. "Aristotle placed [friendship] among the virtues. It causes perhaps half of all the happiness in the world, and no Inner Ringer can ever have it."
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Summary: Two of the essays in this book are literally awesome.
Review: "Transposition" and "The Weight of Glory" are absolutely classic essays detailing a side of Christianity too rarely seen these days--the sheer joy one should get from thinking about our eternal home with God, and the longing--both in mind and heart--to share this joy with others. Mr. Lewis once again "hit the nail on the head," as it were, with this masterpiece. Great insight into some confusing moments in his fiction, too!
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Summary: If you like C.S. Lewis . . .
Review: . . . like I do, I strongly suggest We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. Like Lewis, Caldwell takes an intellectual aproach to the concept of Christianity. His novel is very much in the vein of The Screwtape Letters and The Great divorce. I highly recomend it for discriminating Christian readers.
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Summary: Stopped Me in My Tracks
Review: After reading this essay, I was convicted beyond imagination as to my responsibility as a school teacher. As Lewis says, there are no ordinary people, everyone I come in contact with is a eternal being who is on the path to either heaven or hell. Everything I do in the classroom is pointing my students either towards God or away from Him. And that, as Lewis states, is the Weight of Glory. Lewis describes glory as not in being noticed by others and seeking their approval, but being noticed by God. To hear that blessed phrase "Well done my good and faithful servant". Not just in seeing God's beauty, but passing into it and being a part of it. The weight of it is my responsibility to bear witness of that glory to others and help to bring them into it. Their salvation is my weight, my burden to bear. Isn't that the reason why believers are on this earth? To honor God, and to serve Him? Lewis is the master of imagery. He brings his readers to an either/or proposition. Either I am going to take responsibility for my neighbors salvation, or I am not. And once he gets you to that point, there is really no decision to make. Your neighbor's soul is your responsibility. This essay, more than anything I have read to date, has brought me to the realization as to what my responsibility as a Believer is. I need to read this at least once a month to remind me of how I should be living my life before others. No Christian should go without experiencing this challenge to holiness.
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Summary: Deeply Insightful
Review: C.S. Lewis has a knowledge and comprehension of christianity that is unparalleled by other contemporary christian authors. His laconic, yet deeply insightful commentaries on the fundamentals of eternal glory can only be described as "inspired."
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Summary: A clear examination of some Christian viewpoints...
Review: C.S. Lewis is the best writer I've found to tackle the considerable task of explaining Christian philosophy. His writing is crisp, clear, and his use of metaphor excellent. Anyone (like me) who has ever wondered why Christians think and sometimes act the way they do will find his writing illuminating. In this selection of unrelated essays, Lewis touches on disparate themes, from pacifism (you can be a Christian and support war), to suffering, to the value of being a Christian. Overall his writings illuminate for me just how little of Christianity can be easily understood without some kind of study on the subject. Lewis is a good starting point if you are curious about Christianity but unfamiliar with it. As a non-Christian, I don't agree with much of what he says, but I do appreciate that he explains the tenets of the faith in a way that is crystal clear and poetic. This isn't for everyone -- at times his style borders on stuffy, but if you are intestested in Christian philosophy, this is one of the best writers around.
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Summary: Best Essay I've Ever Read
Review: Can't speak to the rest of the book, but the essay THE WEIGHT OF GLORY is purely edifying, greater than any other 20th century work I know of.
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Summary: Pulling it All Together
Review: I have to admit that the first time I read Weight of Glory was before I had read any of Lewis' other works. Since then I have had a chance to read many of his other works, both fiction and non-fiction. I can say with certainty that having read Weight of Glory helped immensely with all of his other books. The same threads that Lewis weaves with throughout his other works in various degrees, all show up here in Weight of Glory, completely undisguised. In The Silver Chair Lewis talks about many issues using fictional characters and situations, and in the Abolition of Man Lewis again deals with some of these same issues in a very (overly???) analytical way, but in The Weight of Glory those same issues are presented in a way that is easy to understand and wonderfully illustrated by means of Lewis' amazing ability paint pictures with words. This is a great book for anyone interested in understanding more of what Lewis is saying throughout his other books. One will find that Lewis keeps chasing many of the same subjects and ideas around throughout many of his books, and this is a great place to start the chase.
Rating:
Summary: Pulling it All Together
Review: I have to admit that the first time I read Weight of Glory was before I had read any of Lewis' other works. Since then I have had a chance to read many of his other works, both fiction and non-fiction. I can say with certainty that having read Weight of Glory helped immensely with all of his other books. The same threads that Lewis weaves with throughout his other works in various degrees, all show up here in Weight of Glory, completely undisguised. In The Silver Chair Lewis talks about many issues using fictional characters and situations, and in the Abolition of Man Lewis again deals with some of these same issues in a very (overly???) analytical way, but in The Weight of Glory those same issues are presented in a way that is easy to understand and wonderfully illustrated by means of Lewis' amazing ability paint pictures with words. This is a great book for anyone interested in understanding more of what Lewis is saying throughout his other books. One will find that Lewis keeps chasing many of the same subjects and ideas around throughout many of his books, and this is a great place to start the chase.
Rating:
Summary: Lewis is the master of 'deep, thought-provoking' writing.
Review: If you are looking for a book that consumes the spiritual and emotional imagination then you have found it. I am now reading this book for the 4th time. C.S. Lewis reflects on all sorts of ideas and relationships. If you are hungry for a fresh spiritual feast then this book is the banquet that has been prepared in your honor. Bon appetit!
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