Customer Reviews

He Came Down from Heaven and The Forgiveness of Sins

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This volume collects two books that are oddities among Charles Williams' writing. They don't fit easily into the categories of fiction, plays, poetry, history or biography. Although they were well-known and oft-quoted in CW's day, they slipped out of print in ours. Although brief, they are not his lightest or easiest to read books, mainly because he often alludes to a topic or idea to make a point without explaining it, which limits his audience. On the other hand, he goes to great lengths delving into other topics, sending readers first to the dictionary and then to the library.

Forgiveness of Sins is a study of the idea of forgiveness in the Bible and in Shakespeare (a uniquely Williamsesque approach). He Came Down from Heaven takes its title from a line in the Church of England/ Catholic Creed about the Incarnation. In publishing together these brief volumes the publisher has done a great service for those readers who having read the odd CW book are eager for more, and helped bring him in range of the wider reading public.

Williams was an associate of and inspiration to C.S. Lewis.

He. like Lewis was a wordsmith. The things he has to say about eternity invading mankind in the person of Jesus Christ are not only biblical but creative. The way he says the things he says are remarkable,

Perhsps the greatest compliment a writer can give a subject is the way in which he articulates it. Williams was a devout Christian believer who did his Creator proud by the way he "worded" the Word.

The Incarnation of Christ is the kind of subject which demands fresh, creative articulation. What is said is nothing new but the way it is said is fresh and very enlightening.