Box Number Seven

 

So the other day I had the FedEx guy drop off my highly-anticipated CS Lewis Bible.  Anyone with even a modicum of knowledge about this blog and/or me, knows he stands far and away, as my favorite writer in the world.  I could literally write a book on the man, and one day, I might.

Chesterton runs a close second.  And if they ever decide to run headlong into an ESV version with his imprint on it, I’m buying that one, too.

In short, this is neither a commentary, nor a study Bible of any merit.  A group of trusted scholars (which, believe me can be a highly-suspicious pejorative, knowing that in 1995, a rogue crew of crypto-intellectuals also took this same, New Revised Standard version of the bible and neutered all gender references to God. I reviewed it back then, and my review is so incendiary, I might just have to update it and run it here) have selected over 600 passages from Lewis’ works and letters, and interlaced them with relevant places in the scripture.  Most of the passages are calibrated to reflect on certain biblical passages.

A plethora of the quotes are extracted from his magnum opus, Mere Christianity –possibly one of the greatest defenses of the faith I have ever read–even if he makes certain doctrinal claims in the end with which I do not agree.  God in the Dock also makes many appearances, along with Miracles, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and A Grief Observed--perhaps one of the most poignant books ever written, cast in the immediate cloud of the death of his wife, Joy.

If there is one glaring disappointment to be had, it is the fact that only one reference is culled from the entirety of his most famous fictional offering, The Chronicles of Narnia. Ironically the only passage taken from any of them are from The Magician’s Nephew, where the account of the Creation of the world is articulated. It is the first reference placed in this volume.

So the chief complaint from those like me, would be to wonder why they did not, at the very least, include the side bar on the death Aslan for at least one of the Gospel accounts on Golgotha.  How Lewis’ famous, and arguably allegorical parallel eluded these super smart people is beyond me.

I preferably bought the soft-bound “leather”edition.  There is a hardcover edition as well, for the tabletop erudite.  Either way, there is a magic to the arrangement that is neither haughty, nor meant to create an atmosphere of competing texts.  Lewis was a beautiful writer, who had the ability to take the simplest of words and make them feel multi-dimensional–a great allegorical comparative to THE Word–that was with God, and . . . was.