The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849 [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Charles Dickens (Author), Gerald Charles Dickens (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Charles Dickens's other Christmas classic, with a new introduction by Dickens's great-great-grandson, Gerald Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens wrote The Life of Our Lord during the years 1846-1849, just about the time he was completing David Copperfield. In this charming, simple retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, adapted from the Gospel of St. Luke, Dickens hoped to teach his young children about religion and faith. Since he wrote it exclusively for his children, Dickens refused to allow publication.

For eighty-five years the manuscript was guarded as a precious family secret, and it was handed down from one relative to the next. When Dickens died in 1870, it was left to his sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth. From there it fell to Dickens's son, Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, with the admonition that it should not be published while any child of Dickens lived.

Just before the 1933 holidays, Sir Henry, then the only living child of Dickens, died, leaving his father's manuscript to his wife and children. He also bequeathed to them the right to make the decision to publish The Life of Our Lord. By majority vote, Sir Henry's widow and children decided to publish the book in London. In 1934, Simon & Schuster published the first American edition, which became one of the year's biggest bestsellers.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Charles Dickens wrote The Life of Our Lord around the same time he was finishing up David Copperfield, but to readers raised on a diet of Dickensian wit and indignation, his rendering of Jesus' life may come as something of a surprise. You won't find even the shadow of a Micawber or a Mrs. Gamp anywhere in this brief volume; no Pecksniffs, Podsnaps, or Mulberries, either. Instead, Dickens approaches his subject with simple reverence, retelling the New Testament in a manner suitable for his own young children--who were, in fact, his only intended audience. Indeed, he strictly forbade publication of The Life during his lifetime and begged his sister to make sure that they "would never even hand the manuscript, or a copy of it, to anyone to take out of the house." It wasn't until the death of Dickens's last living son that the manuscript was finally published in 1934. Though he left his trademark comedy behind, Dickens's liberal social conscience is still evident in what he chooses to emphasize about Jesus: "My Dear Children," he begins,

I am very anxious that you should know something about the History of Jesus Christ. For everybody ought to know about Him. No one ever lived who was so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for all people who did wrong, or were in any way ill or miserable, as He was.

This is a simple, straightforward account of Jesus' life and teachings, with an occasional touch of whimsy: "You never saw a locust, because they belong to that country near Jerusalem, which is a great way off. So do camels, but I think you have seen a camel. At all events, they are brought over here, sometimes; and if you would like to see one, I will show you one." Occasionally, Victorian attitudes and prejudices creep through--Dickens writes that the Jewish Sabbath was Sunday, that Jews were "very ignorant and passionate," and also that "they were very proud, and believed that no people were good but themselves." Fortunately, such comments are few and far between, and for the most part the author focuses on the miracles Jesus performed and on the lessons in charity, forgiveness, and compassion that Christians can take away from them. This may not be among the greatest of Charles Dickens's literary accomplishments, but it is certainly one of his most heartfelt. --Sheila Bright

From Kirkus Reviews

Dickens rivals Uriah Heep at his umblest in this mawkish rehearsal of the Christ story. The Victorian master novelist wrote it for his children in the late 1840s, when he was composing David Copperfield, and read it aloud to them every Christmas. His handwritten manuscript was passed down after Dickenss death in 1870 to his descendants, who also read it at Christmas and, at the authors request, delayed publication until the last of his children died (which happened in 1933). Though a bestseller at the time, it is way down on the list of rewrites of the life of Jesus that an adult would ever care to read. (One can imagine Dickens's grown-up sons and daughters suffering through it each Christmas.) Phrased with deliberate artlessness meant to woo children, the text pales in comparison to A Christmas Carol as a piece of holiday storytellingnot a fair comparison, perhaps, but it is fair to note its puzzling lack of any of the strengths Dickens is noted for. Well, that's not quite true. He decorates the Resurrection with Roman soldiers fainting as the earth trembles and shakes, while an angel, whose ``countenance was like lightning,'' rolls away the rock sealing the tomb. Piety for mopheads. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (November 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684865378
• ISBN-13: 978-0684865379
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Children's Books > Religions > Christianity > Biographies

More About the Author

One of the grand masters of Victorian literature, Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He died in Kent on June 9, 1870. The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation,but also the horror of the infamous debtors' prison and the evils of child labor. A turn of fortune in the shape of a legacy brought release from the nightmare of prison and "slave" factories and afforded Dickens the opportunity of two years' formal schooling at Wellington House Academy. He worked as an attorney's clerk and newspaper reporter until his Sketches by Boz (1836) and The Pickwick Papers (1837) brought him the amazing and instant success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. In later years, the pressure of serial writing, editorial duties, lectures, and social commitments led to his separation from Catherine Hogarth after twenty-three years of marriage. It also hastened his death at the age of fifty-eight, when he was characteristically engaged in a multitude of work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sincere Sweetness, December 5, 1999

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849 (Hardcover)

This book is so different from Dicken's other works. It is a simple, but beautiful testimony of faith written by a father to young children. It is a book that we hope to make part of our family Christmas traditions and one that anyone who loves Christmas will treasure.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual Side of a Genius, November 11, 2001

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Kendal B. Hunter (Provo, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849 (Hardcover)

"[A Christmas Carol] is Dickens's widely acclaimed masterpiece of Christmas. But his The Life of Our Lord, written in a very personal way, without adornment or flights of fancy, and written for the children he loved, carries with it not only a beautiful narrative but a compelling admonition: 'Remember!--It is Christianity TO DO GOOD always--even to those who do evil to us.'"

"Such is the simple telling of a beloved author. In his time and during the generations that have followed, his great novels have been read by millions upon millions. But his story of Jesus' life, written with Dickens's own pen, and without editing of any kind, was for 85 years a family treasure and secret. Printed with all of the editorial mistakes of the original writing, it has delighted many others beyond his family."

President Hinckley, Ensign, December 1994

I have heard Pres. Hinckley, world leader of the Church of JEsus Christ of Latter-day Saints, talk about this book, and believing that there is some merit in reading the same books that the president of the Church reads, I picked it up.

This book may be considered a follow-up to his immortal classic "A Christmas Carol," where, instead of an allegory dealing with three spirits working on the Scrooge-of-all-Scrooges, he retells the story of the life of our Lord.

The book was geared for his children, so it is a quite easy read. Having read "A Tale of Two Cities," "Hard Times," and "A Christmas Carol," I was impressed with Dickens's flexibility. In fact, it is almost as if we are reading a transcript of a fireside chat. So this book is very readable for anyone of any age. It would be an ideal gift for a child between five and ten years old, or helpful to someone with a learning/reading disability. You could conceivably kill two Goliaths with one stone: get them familiar with the life of the Savior AND expose them to great literature!

The only drawback with the book is the theology, but that is understandable since we are of different faiths. Dickens focuses mainly on the ethical aspects of Christ's life, which is good, but incomplete. Another presdeint of the Church of Jesus Christ, President Howard W. Hunter, once gave a talk called, "Ethics Alone is not Sufficient." If you remember in "A Christmas Carol," Scrooge makes a conversion to ethical ideal, but not a conversion to Christ. He is going in the right direction, but not far enough. But it is a great book nonetheless.

The cover is stellar! It looks as important as its contents. The internal organizing and lay are also up to the stature of the author. It is nice to see that books are returning to their former glory of being both functional and beautiful. It would makes a great gift book, or a beautiful addition to any Postum table.

This book had been submerged for a long time due to Dickens's desire to keep his beliefs uncommercialized. I am glad that his estate has published this book, so we see the complete man.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dickens as a dad, August 30, 2001

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Blah (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849 (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful summary of the Gospels by Charles Dickens. Basically he tells the story with a few of his own instructive comments inserted for the benefit of his children's benefit. It was never pulished in his lifetime and he never really intended for it to be published and in part because of this it is quite different from his other works. It is a easy and quick read (very different for his other works). The reader is also given great insight into the character of Charles Dickens particularly his love for the Savior and his children. The work is both touching and warm hearted.