42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deep and Personal, June 27, 2002
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."
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Exchange Between Friends, December 9, 1999
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.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligent reflections on prayer, July 26, 2000
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.")
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