The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings from C. S. Lewis [Paperback]

C.S. Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 5, 1984

A journey through the ecclesiastical year with Christianity’s most eloquent and inspiring spokesman.
“A potent anthology” (Los Angeles Times).
Edited and with a Preface by Walter Hooper.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) gained international renown for an impressive array of beloved works both popular and scholarly: literary criticism, children's literature, fantasy literature, and numerous books on theology. Among his most celebrated achievements are Out of the Silent Planet, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, The Four Loves, and Surprised by Joy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (July 5, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156148633
• ISBN-13: 978-0156148634
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,540 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall, a Good Read, May 12, 2000

By 

Bethany McKinney (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings from C. S. Lewis (Paperback)

Of course, in an ideal world, where we all had tons of free time to read, a book of C.S. Lewis excerpts like this would be useless. But, in the actual world, where sometimes reading has to come next to things like working, grocery shopping, and sleeping, a book like this one is quite helpful. It doesn't compare to reading each of his great works in their entirety, but the excerpts are organized very well, often by theme and/or work taken from, so there's a feeling of continuity and thoroughness. Another great thing about this book is that often with C.S. Lewis' works, the density of things to think about within the pages is so great that a lot of the cool thoughts and ideas get missed in a normal read-through. But generally in this book, each daily reading expresses a singular idea, so there is more time to really let the weight of the thought sink in, and to spend some time intellectually and emotionally digesting his words. So if you're a C.S. Lewis fan, or even just a fan of filling your brain with interesting concepts and insightful analogies, this is a must-have.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Collection of Dailing Readings . . . But . . ., November 27, 2003

By 

T. B. Vick "T.B.V." - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings from C. S. Lewis (Paperback)

This is a nice collection of readings from C.S. Lewis, edited by Walter Hooper. However, it suffer from the same "illness" that most, if not all, daily readings text suffer - lack of total context.

The topics of the readings range from 'Aquinas' to 'When the World Drama Ends.' As he always, Lewis writes with precision clarity; most Latin scholars do.

As far as merely a readings text, it is hard to go wrong with Lewis: he is one of the greatest thinkers from the 20th century. However, if you purchase this text with the intention of having a devotional work, then you might be disappointed. Don't misunderstand me, Lewis' writings are quite devotional in one sense, but are quite rigorous, which runs contrary to most if not all devotional work. This would be more of a serious food for thought work.

However, if you are wanting a broad spectrum of Lewis' thought wrapped up in small 'tidbits' then you will love this work - but keep the lack of context in mind (it is always best to read the whole and not just a part to gain a full grasp of what any writer is trying to say). I would also recommend Lewis' "Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good C.S. Lewis Sampler, December 6, 2002

By 

Paul M. Dubuc (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings from C. S. Lewis (Paperback)

This is a very good sampling of C.S. Lewis' writings on many different topics, from various previously published sources, broken up into digestible pieces. If you've read most of Lewis' work and want to refresh your memory and meditate variously on their insights, this book might be helpful. It might also be helpful for those who have very little exposure to Lewis and want to start with a shallow sampling before deciding where to dive in deeper. Each selection has its source listed in the back. Please do go on to read some of the original sources. A sampling like this doesn't really do them justice.

The only criticism I have of this book is about its format. It's intended to be a devotional calendar with a reading for each specific date of a year with appropriate readings for special days in the church year. I don't think it succeeds very well in this format. For one thing the selections for the special days don't always seem relevant. The feast of St. Andrew, for example, on November 30 doesn't have anything to do with that particular Apostle. But the main reason it doesn't seem to work well as a devotional calendar is that long passages are often broken up into a sequence of separate sequential readings that span several days. If you stick to reading each selection one day at a time, you could easily lose the train of thought and have to pick it up again each day. There is no hint as to where one broken up passage ends and another begins unless you look at the list of sources in the back. I think the book would work much better if it were simply organized by topic into series of passages of varying lengths without trying to fit them in a daily calendar template.