Customer Reviews

The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849

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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.

"[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.

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.

I never knew of this book's existence until a friend of mine, a fellow book lover, told me about it. What I love most about the book is that Dickens wrote it for his children--not for the public at large. How many fathers would write a book just for their children? Dickens seems like such a tender hearted person. And you can sense that there is a lot of love put into this book.

It's nice to have the gospel of the Savior unfold in such a smooth narrative, in a language that is closer to modern English than the language of the King James Bible. Of course, Dickens fills in a few gaps, and puts his own spin on things--but all in all he is very faithfull to the four gospels.

I am thankful to my friend for telling me about this wonderful book!

Other great holiday reads:

Christmas Gifts, Christmas Voices--a story that is both gut wrenching and (thankfully) heartwarming.

Finding Noel: A Novel--yet another marvelous Evans book!

I liked it because you can tell that it wasn't proofed and edited before printing. It gave me an insight to Charles Dickens that I had not had before. It would be best not to sit down to "read" the book in one setting. Really enjoyed it.

Though not entirely scripturally acurate, this is a nice little book. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John first so that you can catch the errors in Dickens story before you read it to your children.

This slight book is Charles Dickens' written interpretation of the Gospels, a gift meant for his children. It was only to be published after his death. In the retelling of Christ's life Dickens gives his children the most precious gift...his testimony. This is a treasure of a book, a witness to the beliefs Dickens held dear.

My daughter really enjoyed reading this book. I started reading it to my two girls (8 and 3) and at the end, my now 9-year-old finished reading it on her own. Really nice way to introduce Bible stories into your child reading.

I made the big mistake of borrowing this book from a friend at church, and starting to read it to my children. From page one, Dickens shows his hand as a liberal Christian of the moralist stripe. In reading three chapters, and scanning the rest of the book, I could find no indication that Dickens believed that Jesus was actually divine; literally the son of God.

Read the "Search Inside!" excerpt, and you can see for yourself. Page 18 (second page of the narrative) Dickens says "His father's name was Joseph, and His mother's name was Mary." No mention of the virgin birth, conception by the Holy Spirit, or any hint of divine genesis. At the bottom of the same page, the angels announce: "There is a child born to-day in the city of Bethlehem near here, who will grow up to be so good that God will love Him as His own Son." Over and over, Dickens throws out these creepy euphemisms that seem to avoid any assertion that Jesus is God incarnate.

I searched the end of the book, and could find no connection between the cross and forgiveness; although Dickens narrates the Passion and Resurrection, the closest (I could find) to an understanding of WHY, is that the Pharisees wanted to kill him because they were jealous of his following.

"Search Inside!" this book for "sin" (rest assured, there are very few occurrences), and you will get to the last page, where you will find this entirely unhelpful definition:

"Remember! -- It is Christianity TO DO GOOD always -- even to those who do evil to us. It is Christianity to love our neighbors as ourself, and to do to all men as we would have them do to us. It is Christianity to be gentle, merciful, and forgiving, and to keep those qualities quiet in our own hearts, and never make a boast of them, or of our prayers or of our love of God, but always to show that we love Him by humbly trying to do right in everything. If we do this, and remember the life and lessons of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and try to act up to them, we may confidently hope that God will forgive us our sins and mistakes, and enable us to live and die in peace."

In other words, Dickens' definition of Christianity is "If you try hard (enough), God will forgive you for your shortcomings." Check this out: the word "sin" appears 5 times in the whole book, three of which are simply quoting Jesus." The word "faith" appears a grand total of ZERO times! The only two occurrences that show up are from the Front Flap and Front Matter (i.e. not part of what Dickens himself wrote)!

I don't know how anybody could think they have defined Christianity without ever using the word "faith", but I'm pretty sure that any such attempt would be "another gospel", and it should be anathematized.

So if you don't believe that the co-eternal Son of God is the word made flesh; if you think it is silly to believe in conception by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin birth; if you don't want to focus on sin and redemption; if you just want your kids to think of Jesus as a good man, good teacher, and good example, then by all means buy this book.

But if you're a Christian, stay away.

I love this audible reading of the life of Jesus. Hearing a message highlights details one may have skipped when reading. The reader speaks very clearly and interestingly. My 3-y-o daughter asks me to turn on the story when we ride in our automobile. She repeats what she hears the speaker say, and she asks questions.