Seeing Through the Eye: Malcolm Muggeridge on Faith (Paperback)

~ Cecil Kuhne (Editor), William F. Buckley (Introduction)

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Malcolm Muggeridge was one of Great Britain's most well-known journalists and television personalities, having interviewed practically every major public figure of his time. He shocked the world with his conversion to Christianity later in life. "St. Mugg", as he was affectionately known, was clear in his new-found faith: "It is the truth that has died, not God," and "Jesus was God or he was nothing." These wonderful selections of Muggeridge’s writings and speeches cover a wide variety of spiritual themes, revealing his profound faith, great wit, and lively writing style. Topics include "Jesus: The Man Who Lives", "Is There a God?", "The Prospect of Death", "Do We Need Religion?", "Peace and Power", and many more.

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"The counter-countercultural declaration of Mr. Muggeridge’s conversion was especially eye-catching given the great legions traveling in the opposite direction. His larger public knew him through his work as a television host and critic. But all of literate England, and much of America, knew him as a learned and incisive journalist who had written Winter in Moscow, a searing exposé of Communism. His intellect and historical savoir-faire gave his criticisms a very long reach. In America he made regular appearances as book editor of Esquire magazine. No Englishman has a more mordant, more attractive wit."

—William F. Buckley, Jr. From the Introduction

Product Details

• Paperback: 241 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Press (October 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586170686
• ISBN-13: 978-1586170684
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #766,558 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fearful Symmetry, March 21, 2006

By	Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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As editor of the British humour magazine, Punch, and an inveterate journalist, Malcolm Muggeridge was a familiar face in Britain and to a lesser degree, in America, and often in the camera's eye. He is, however, one of the few journalists to wryly realize the irony of that and to comment endlessly on the absurdities of journalism. What poet William Blake called fearful symmetry he found everywhere, and never ceased to delight in racking up endless examples.

By what some might consider a happy accident, he began finding faith at the same time that collared clerics in Britain vocally announced that they were losing it. For a while the clerics' crisis proved newsworthy, but once interest waned, journalists turned to the odd story of one of their own swimming against the stream.

Cecil Kuhne cites as his reason for assembling this 240 page omnibus anthology the unavailability of many of Mugger's works, although many of them are finding their way back into print. While this is a good introduction for those who don't want to track down a half dozen books, it consists entirely of reprinted works, many of which originally appeared in a different form and are therefore somewhat out of context. Jesus: The Man Who Lives, for instance, was initially published in hardback with full color art plates. Jesus Rediscovered, a best-selling collection compiled by Lady Collins, collects musings from various stages of Muggeridge's spiritual journey, and thus seems to contradict itself. Other bits come from Vintage Muggeridge, Something Beautiful for God (his book on Mother Theresa), and Paul: Envoy Extraordinaire. William F. Buckley Jr., on whose TV program Firing Line Malcolm appeared, contributes an introduction, and the epilogue comes courtesy of Sally Muggeridge, president of the Malcolm Muggeridge Society in London (with contact information for those desirous of joining)

Ignatius Press' publication of this title will probably bring Muggers' thoughtful musings and acerbic wit to an audience that otherwise might not discover him, but it would be a mistake to pigeonhole him as a religious writer; you don't need a taste for devotional writing to read Muggers. For a different slant, see Ian Hunter's sampler, The Very Best of Malcolm Muggeridge or the anthology The Most of Malcolm Muggeridge. As Kuhne notes, some of his best books remain unaccountably out of print, namely his two volume autobiography, The Chronicles of Wasted Time, usually published as The Green Stick (vol. one) and The Infernal Grove (vol. two), but sometimes collected as one volume. At any rate, here's a great introduction to the trenchant wit of the tireless commentator who called himself, after St. Augustine, a "vendor of words". Readers dipping into this volume may be led by some happy accident or fearful symmetry to discover these other books and more Mugg.