Fern-Seed and Elephants and Other Essays on Christianity [Paperback]

C. S. Lewis (Author), Walter Hooper (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Fontana (September 29, 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006240682
• ISBN-13: 978-0006240686
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,306,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963), known as Jack to his friends, was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably the most influential Christian writer of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. His major contributions in literary criticism, children's literature, fantasy literature, and popular theology brought him international renown and acclaim. Lewis and his good friend J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of the The Lord of the Rings, were part of the Inklings, an informal writers' club that met at a local pub to discuss story ideas. Lewis's fascination with fairy tales, myths, and ancient legends, coupled with inspiration drawn from his childhood, led him to write The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one of the best-loved books of all time. Six further books followed to become the immensely popular The Chronicles of Narnia. The final title in the series, The Last Battle, won the Carnegie Medal, one of the highest marks of excellence in children's literature. His other distinguished and popular accomplishments include Out of the Silent Planet, The Four Loves, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Redundant, September 4, 2001

By 

Bowen Simmons (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fern-Seed and Elephants and Other Essays on Christianity (Paperback)

Lewis's shorter works were generally originally composed as speeches or as articles for periodicals. Various sets of them were collected and published in book form both during his life and after his death. Trying to determine what works are in what collections is difficult - most works appear in more than one collection, some works appear under more than one title, and some collections appear under more than one title.

To aid readers, in this review I've listed the works in this collection, with notes indicating other collections they have appeared in. Where a work has appeared under more than one title, I give both titles separated by a slash.

Table of Contents:

"Membership" (1), (2)

"Learning in War-Time" (1), (2)

"On Forgiveness" (1), (2)

"Historicism" (2), (3), (5)

"The World's Last Night" / "Christian Hope - Its Meaning for Today" (2), (4)

"Religion and Rocketry" / "Will We Lose God in Outer Space" (2), (4)

"The Efficacy of Prayer" (2), (4)

"Fern-Seed and Elephants" / "Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism" (2), (3), (5)

Notes:

(1) also published in "The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses" / "Transposition and Other Addresses"

(2) also published in "Essay Collection & Other Short Pieces"

(3) also published in "Christian Reflections"

(4) also published in "The World's Last Night and Other Essays"

(5) also published in "The Seeing Eye and Other Selected Essays from Christian Reflections"

Recommendations:

This is an unnecessary collection. It will overlap almost any other collection of Lewis' shorter writings on Christianity you might buy, and will give you no work you cannot get elsewhere. Don't buy it.

So what should you get?

If you are interested in Lewis's shorter works, my best advice is to get "Essay Collection & Other Short Pieces", which, as of the time of this writing, is available from Amazon UK but not Amazon US. That collection consists of about 130 short works by Lewis. The works in that collection are mostly, but not exclusively, Christian.

If your interest in Lewis's shorter works is restricted to those on Christianity, and your budget or enthusiasm does not run to "Essay Collection & Other Short Pieces", then my second-best advice is to get any or all of the following (they don't overlap significantly, and between them they include most of Lewis's shorter Christian writings):

"God in the Dock - Essays on Theology and Ethics"*

"The World's Last Night and Other Essays"

"Christian Reflections"

"The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses"

* Be careful - there is a UK Fontana paperback lurking about called "God in the Dock - Essays on Theology" that is substantially shorter than the "God in the Dock - Essays on Theology and Ethics" collection. A full version of "God in the Dock - Essays on Theology and Ethics" was published in the UK under the title "Undeceptions - Essays on Theology and Ethics".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fern-Seed and Elephants, June 2, 2010

By 

Charles L. Beauchamp (Charleston, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fern-Seed and Elephants and Other Essays on Christianity (Paperback)

The essays were thought provoking, logical and comprehensive for the subject addressed. I can say no more about C.S. Lewis than has already been written. The collection filled a need for me by peeling away preconceived ideas formulated by the educational environment and reducing them to easily grasped concepts that we experience and witness in our day to day lives. For instance, the acceptance of any renowned commentators interpretation must be viewed in the light of contemporary influence if that interpretation implies a knowledge of the thought process and meaning of an authors statement that real time or personal communication to conclude its meaning is required. Mr. Lewis clearly explains the difference between commentary of the written work as opposed to commentary that alleges insight of background motivation of an author from a culture and time that requires experiential knowledge to define. Examining any written work from the perspective Mr. Lewis proposes leads one to inescapable conclusions about our purpose and value in life regardless of the time we have in which to exert that purpose.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Find, June 25, 2005

By 

Karl B. Erickson (Salem, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fern-Seed and Elephants and Other Essays on Christianity (Paperback)

I bought this out-of-print book because I was researching the issue of the ordination of women, which C.S. Lewis opposed. The bad news is that this issue is only hinted at in such essays as "Membership". (I should have been looking for "God in the Dock".) The good news, however, is that this is a fantastic collection of incredibly insightful essays--mainly on issues of religion. If you have read and enjoyed Weight of Glory, this will be a valuable addition to your collection. In the collection's final essay of the same title as the work itself, Lewis is warning Anglican seminary students that, if they fail to change the direction of the church and set its anchor again in the rock of Christ, members will begin to leave for the Catholic Church. Something tells me, if Lewis were alive today, he would have already made this leap--as our family has done.