Customer Reviews

Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

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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."

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.

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.")

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.

What can we say? Unquestionably, this is Lewis's finest book: his warmest, his calmest, his most pellucid writing. Cheerful meditations on liturgical reform, petitionary prayer, the Eucharist, purgatory, and Joy ("the serious business of Heaven"). A book to be cherished, a book to be taken to heart.

Even persons who are disinclined to venerate C S Lewis will be won over, I imagine, by this slender -- but infinitely magnanimous and supremely luminous -- offering. "One of the purposes for which God instituted prayer may have been to bear witness that the course of events is not governed like a state, but created like a work of art to which every being makes its contribution." This book on prayer is a work of art, salvific and salutary. And now we will be silent, lest our superlatives run away with us!

And I enjoyed every minute of it. This is, by far, one of the most complex books that I've ever read. Not necessarily in terms of structure - Lewis keeps the chapters mercifully brief. His vocabulary is immense, as is his knowledge of general philosophy and Christian church history.

Most of his points went above my head. I'm an amateur student, still new to most points of religious, literary and logical criticism. However, Lewis gives me hope that an intellectual as impressive as he can examine, understand and appreciate the Christian faith as real and authentic. Maybe, someday, I'll be able to read this again and understand more of it.

If you're ready for some mind-numbing theology and vocabulary, logic that will stretch your knowledge and thinking, read it. If you're looking for a simple guide or easy reading, this may not be for you.

The format of this book is in short letters to a friend on prayer. We are presented with only Lewis' side of the conversation, but his references to his friend's response or counterpoints is clear. I loved this book because it encourages us to pray, not to provide God with a grocery list of our problems or desires, but to draw into communion with God...and through that 'conversation' we learn about God and ourselves. Like other of Lewis' books (Mere Christianity)this book is short in length but long in wisdom. Also like Mere Christianity, you'll want to keep it in your library and read it again.

In his Christian works, CS Lewis tackles many difficult and important subjects--love, miracles, and pain, to name a few. For each of these topics, and for many others, Lewis uses a very straightforward technique, and explains things how he perceives them to be. With prayer, however, Lewis takes another approach. He was constantly writing and saying that he knew nothing on the subject, that he felt himself wholly inadequate to write about the subject. His solution was to offer his feelings on prayer in the form of informal letters to a friend, thus enabling him to explain his views without appearing to claim any knowledge on the subject.

For all his feelings of inadequacy, Lewis does a remarkable job with prayer. Like many of his other books, this short work provides many insights which simplify and explain otherwise difficult subjects. He speaks not only of how and when we should pray, but also discusses what he considers to be the most elevated form of prayer, and offers his opinion of just what God expects of us when we pray.

This short book can be understood without a background in Lewis's writings, as his ideas are not really dependent on his earlier theology (this was one of his last works). This book does lean toward the mystical at times, and can be somewhat difficult to follow, but the insights it provides on prayer are invaluable. This may not be the best introduction to prayer, but it is definitely worth the time for anyone wanting to benefit from the great Christian apologist's views on communication with God.

C. S. Lewis's twenty-two letters (to a fictitious friend, Malcolm)unveil his own personal questions and answers, failures and successes, struggles and perseverance with prayer. The letters are warm and insightful, and usually very, very helpful, covering a wide range of subjects related to prayer, including: corporate prayer and worship, "ready-made" prayers, the Lord's Prayer, petitionary prayer, "those embarrassing promises," pleasure ("patches of God-light"), determinism, soliloquy, intercession, purgatory (which Lewis believed in), praying for the dead (which Lewis practiced), and more.

Of course, I do not agree with nearly all of Lewis's conclusions. But he is a delightful writer and a warm-hearted spiritual director. The book was pure pleasure to read and helpful in many respects. It is, without doubt, one of the most helpful, practical books on prayer I have read.

Wow. nothing more can be said, just Wow. This guy is one of the deepest thinkers i have ever read. He has amazing observations, on many things too, not just prayer, though prayer is the main focus of the book. His ideas are very interesting, and he is able to prove many of his beliefs fairly well. Personaly, i found his discussion on creation to be enrapturing, just making you think beyond what you had before. This book is amazing, and has many truths, and also gives you a ton of stuff to think about. I would reccomend this book to everyone, except for the fact that he is so intellectual i think that many people would get lost. He has a massive vocabulary, so not only is is a good theology/philosophy type book, but it also gives you a challenge in reading, which you cant often find. Very good book