Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer [Paperback]

C. S. Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2002

"We want to know not how we should pray if we were perfect but how we should pray being as we now are."

What are we doing when we pray? What is at the heart of this most intimate conversation, the dialogue between a person and God? How does prayer—its form, its regularity, its content, its insistence—shape who we are and how we believe? In this collection of letters from C. S. Lewis to a close friend, Malcolm, we see an intimate side of Lewis as he considers all aspects of prayer and how this singular ritual impacts the lives and souls of the faithful. With depth, wit, and intelligence, as well as his sincere sense of a continued spiritual journey, Lewis brings us closer to understanding the role of prayer in our lives and the ways in which we might better imagine our relationship with God.

"A beautifully executed and deeply moving little book." —Saturday Review

"[Lewis] is writing about a path that he had to find, and the reader feels not so much that he is listening to what C.S. Lewis has to say but that he is making his own search with a humorous, sensible friend beside him." —Times Literary Supplement

C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis (1898-1963), one of the great writers of the twentieth century, also continues to be one of our most influential Christian thinkers. He wrote more than thirty books, both popular and scholarly, including The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Screwtape Letters, The Four Loves, Mere Christianity, and Surprised by Joy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A beautifully executed and deeply moving little book." —Saturday Review

"[Lewis] is writing about a path that he had to find, and the reader feels not so much that he is listening to what C.S. Lewis has to say but that he is making his own search with a humorous, sensible friend beside him. That is writing that requires great literary skill … That this should be the last book that we shall have from C. S. Lewis is a matter of genuine regret."—Times Literary Supplement

"The unbeliever is likely to enjoy the book most for its shrewd asides…Opinions of this kind are expressed with the admirable directness and simplicity which characterized the style of this often indirect and highly complex man."—New Statesman

About the Author

C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis (1898-1963), one of the great writers of the twentieth century, also continues to be one of our most influential Christian thinkers. A Fellow and tutor at Oxford until 1954, he spent the rest of his career as Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge. He wrote more than thirty books, both popular and scholarly, inlcuding The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Screwtape Letters, The Four Loves, Mere Christianity and Surprised by Joy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (November 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156027666
• ISBN-13: 978-0156027663
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 50 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep and Personal June 27, 2002

By Jedidiah Palosaari VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is one of those books where I found myself taking an hour to read a paragraph, which I had previously read. I just needed to ruminate on Lewis' thoughts. It's not theological in the sense of Mere Christianity or The Four Loves- he is clear here and elsewhere that he does not want to write a devotional book and indeed thinks he has little to offer on the subject, as he is untrained in these areas. So while he covers the same areas as Richard Foster's Prayer, this book has a decidedly different feel. It is personal, as if it were a collection of real letters.

And thus these are just letters. Often Lewis doesn't fully explain his ideas in an understandable way, to make it appear as if he is not writing to the general public, but only to Malcolm- a friend with whom he has a lot in common, with that secret language that all friends have. I appreciated too how personal asides were imagined, like "Your son is very welcome. We do *not* dress for dinner normally." and "Please tell Betty I do not need a bed downstairs, I am feeling much better." and, contrary to what Walter Hooper would have us believe, references to his conjugal life with his former wife.

Lewis' musings have the advantage of coming at the end of his life, with the full wisdom available. I especially liked his thoughts on getting whatever we ask for in faith vs. Jesus prayer in Gethsemane, difficulties in prayer focus, and the effectatiousness of our prayers.... In the end, we want to be heard, even more than having our prayers answered. Lewis is simultaneously so deep and so clear. As he said, he wrote for the common man. So as I read him, I find myself constantly thinking, "Yes, I didn't believe that before, but I see that now." Read more ›

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Bookblog: Letters to Malcolm (from http://russreaves.blogspot.com) March 15, 2006

By Russ Reaves

Format:Paperback

As I left for vacation a few weeks ago, I wanted to take several books in case of rainy days. I read Piper's Don't Waste Your Life (see earlier post on that book) almost in its entirety on that trip and did not get around to the second book in the stack. I chose Letters to Malcolm because I could not decide if I wanted to read a C. S. Lewis book or a book on prayer. So, here I found both in one volume. This was C. S. Lewis's last book, written about six months before he died and published some time after his death. (Incidentally, he died the same day as JFK, 11/22/63).

Letters to Malcolm presents to the reader one side of a two way dialogue between Lewis and "Malcolm." We do not get to read Malcolm's letters, but Lewis's replies usually help us to know what in on Malcolm's mind. Many people often ask, "Who is Malcolm?" Some assume it is Malcolm Muggeridge (I think I have even taught this in the past). In actuality, it seems that Malcolm is a fictional character, with just enough biographical information given to make him believable, but not too much where someone might say, "Ah, I know who Lewis has in mind here." All we know of Malcolm is that he and Lewis have been friends since college, and have kept in touch over the years. We know he is an Anglican layman with a wife named Betty and a son named George.

It is hard to say if the "Lewis" who "writes the letters" is a characterized persona or if he is Lewis-proper. There are certainly readily recognizable streams of thought and biographical details that are consistent with the "real C. S. Lewis," but there are a few surprises thrown in to keep us guessing. The daily deluge of letters that Lewis received and wrote undoubtedly gave him plenty of fodder for his "letter-writing" books like this one and The Screwtape Letters.... It has been said that some of his most informative writing was in his letters, and we are thankful that so many of his letters have been preserved for us in print today.

It seems that about ten years earlier, Lewis set out to write a book on prayer, but it was abandoned shortly after beginning. This is hinted at in Letter XII when he says, "But however badly needed a good book on prayer is, I shall never try to write it. Two people on the foothills comparing notes in private are all very well. But in a book one would inevitably seem to be attempting, not discussion, but instruction. And for me to offer the world instruction about prayer would be impudence." So, with Letters to Malcolm, Lewis is able to write that book on prayer, which is very instructional, although it comes across as a couple of friends ("on the foothills" means that they have not yet ascended the heights of spiritual greatness) just sharing their ideas.

As the two men dialogue (bear in mind, we only get to see half of the dialogue), we get to listen in and glean from their insights. Some of the discussion is practical, some philosophical, most theological, and some is even humorous (but you have to enjoy Lewis's sense of humor to pick up on this). On the practical level, Lewis deals with when, where, and how we ought to pray, whether or not we should use "ready-made prayers," and the pros and cons of having a prayer list.

There is rich theological insight given throughout the book. For instance, Lewis says, "We say that we believe God to be omniscient; yet a great deal of prayer seems to consist of giving Him information" (Letter 4). His description of how God answers prayer outside of time sounded much like Middle Knowledge: "I would rather say that from before all worlds His providential and creative act (for they are all one) takes into account all the situations produced by the acts of His creatures. And if He takes our sins into account, why not our petitions?" (Letter IX). The final letter finds a scathing attack on theological liberalism (the anti-supernatural liberalism of his day) which is as relevant today as it was when he wrote it. He writes, "A man who first tried to guess `what the public wants,' and the preached that as Christianity because the public wants it, would be a pretty mixture of fool and knave" (Letter XXII).

Conservative evangelicals will be uncomfortable with Lewis's discussion on several topics. He advocates a view of Purgatory, which though not the Roman Catholic view, is no less palatable to evangelicals today. He also advocates prayer for the dead, a practice that most evangelicals today would say belongs wholly in the Catholic camp. On the subject of the Lord's Supper (remember the Letters are "Chiefly," not exclusively, on prayer), Lewis vacillates between Catholic and Protestant positions saying he is uncomfortable choosing one to the exclusion of the others. While we bristle at his openness to such a diversity of viewpoints, one has to confess that it is refreshing to see such an appreciation for the various tributaries of our Christian heritage.

Refreshing is an appropriate word to describe Letters to Malcolm. Perhaps no part of it is more refreshing than the honest and candid confession found in Letter XXI about just how difficult prayer can be. He says near the book's end, "... by talking at this length about prayer at all, we seem to give it a much bigger place in our lives than, I'm afraid, it has. ... Well, let's now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a cross-word puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us." So prayer is for us a duty, a chore, an irksome task. But this is because we are in "the school-days." Soon these days will be past, and what we now view as duty will become spontaneous delight.

In the meantime, Letters to Malcolm just might help some reader to make the most of his or her prayer time by teaching us how to do it well, and how to understand just what happens when we do it. I would recommend it to anyone interested in reading on prayer, or reading C. S. Lewis's canon. Knowing that he died shortly after the ink dried makes it a sentimental read for Narnians like myself, even though I believe that he has smuggled in some strange ideas past the watchful dragons in this book. Read more ›

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An Exchange Between Friends December 9, 1999

By sue

Format:Paperback

This book by C. S. Lewis offers something his other books do not. Rather than being a work of fiction or an exploration of his thoughts on religion, this is an intimate exchange of letters between C.S. Lewis and his longtime friend, Malcolm Muggeridge. They discuss the nature of prayer, among other things, and the letters give us a glimpse into Lewis at his most thoughtful. He's not attempting to entertain or to present his case to an audience. He's exploring, with a friend, the most intimate feelings he has about religion. His frustrations, his most sublime moments communing with God, his feelings of inadequacy and much more are revealed in the form of letters to a dear friend. We can put ourselves in Lewis's place and travel the paths he travels, much as we would if we were writing the letters. This is Lewis at his most accessible. He's not the lecturer, the professor or the famous novelist. He's a man on the same search as the rest of we Christians.

Muggeridge is a perfect foil. More of a curmudgeon and skeptic, he nevertheless responds to Lewis's questions and wonderings with respect and sincerity.

Along with the Screwtape Letters, I find this to be one of Lewis's finest books about religion.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent reflections on prayer July 26, 2000

By Kim Boykin

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Lewis's letters to a fictional friend address many of the perplexities about prayer and inhibitions to prayer likely to plague anyone who's ever thought much about it, and his writing is, as always, a pleasure to read.

I'm from a non-religious background and found the practice of verbal prayer attractive but hard to make any sense of. This book helped me to get over some of my intellectual blocks to prayer and actually pray.

(Two other recommendations for the prayer-impaired or anyone wanting to enrich their understanding of prayer: Ann and Barry Ulanov's "Primary Speech" and Karl Rahner's "The Need and the Blessing of Prayer.")