The Screwtape Letters: Annotated Edition (HarperOne)

The Screwtape Letters is a masterful work of Christian fiction, allegory, and satire that is recognized globally. However, I have found it to be a hot-button piece with as many people loving it as hating it. I wouldn't say I fall into the "love camp," but I definitely have a great respect for it and C.S. Lewis for writing it. Parts of the book still send chills up my spine, and it took a special author to go that dark place in his mind and write a book of this nature. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of C.S. Lewis' death, HarperOne published an Annotated Edition of this book.

For those unfamiliar with the Screwtape Letters, I will provide some background information on it. It was first published in 1942. The format of the book is a series of letters from Screwtape (a senior demon) to Wormwood (Screwtape's nephew). Screwtape is trying to train Wormwood on how to claim the soul of a man (referred to as The Patient) for Satan. The setting is Britain during World War II. What makes the Annotated Edition special, apart from being a sturdy hardcover with nice sized font, is that there is tons of notes (in red font to contrast the black font of the actual text), which reference Scripture and other Lewis writings. There are also interesting facts about his life in these notes. Also included in this book is "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," which is a brief sequel that is a criticism of public education.

I would classify this book as one for the serious lovers of C.S. Lewis. To those who want to dig deeper into this text, and read the texts cross-referenced in the notes, this book will be invaluable as they will better understand why he wrote what he wrote. To those who just want to read this text for what it is, the notes will get in the way and perhaps be more distraction than help. I personally enjoyed all the notes, the two prefaces, and even the list of C.S. Lewis' favorite books. I feel like I have a better appreciation for both C.S. Lewis the man and C.S. Lewis the author. Plus, as I said earlier, it's a nice hardcover book, so it will stand the test of time. If you can get it for a good price, by all means get it. I read this book often enough, I'm glad I now own it in hardcover as my other edition was starting to show major wear.

This book was provided to me for free by HarperOne in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Jesus: A Pilgrimage (Harper Collins)

Within the Roman Catholic world, there exist a few "celebrity priests." I generally have mixed feelings on the "celebrity priest," as it is something that can lead to scandal if the priest is not properly grounded in the Lord. You might be asking, "Who exactly qualifies as a celebrity priest?" Fr. Pavone and Fr. Pacwa are the first that come to my mind due to their extensive work on EWTN. Three more recent additions to the ranks include Cardinal Dolan, Fr. Barron, and Fr. Martin have been added to this list though. I first learned about Fr. Martin watching "The Colbert Report," and I wasn't sure how I felt about him at first. I have since warmed up to him after reading several of his Harper Collins' works, A Big Heart Open to God and Jesus: A Pilgrimage, the latter of which I will be reviewing today.

Jesus: A Pilgrimage begins with an introduction that clearly lays out what the book is and more importantly, what the book is not. I point this out because, I generally go in with preconceived notions of what I expect or want from a book. Fr. Martin is quick to point out that this book is not a theological discussion on who Jesus is, nor is it a Bible commentary. This book, however, is a look at Jesus, as we see Him in the Gospels, through the viewpoint of Fr. Martin's education, experience, and a recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. If we keep this in mind when reading the book, we can give it a proper review.

Each chapter is laid out in the same format. Fr. Martin first mentions the place he is going to visit. He then describes the journey there. Details from this include the actual process of travelling to the location, scenery along the way, and bits of the culture and environment he encountered. Then, comes the heart of each chapter - his reflections. Mixed with theology, history, tradition, and Fr. Martin's wisdom and wit, we put ourselves in the exact moment and location of Jesus and try and picture what it must have been like for both Jesus and those around Him. We then end with the Scripture passage which served as the basis for the site Fr. Martin visited.

The most interesting chapter in this book to me was entitled, "Nazareth." In this chapter Fr. Martin talks about the "Hidden Life" of Jesus. This term refers to the period of Jesus' life, age 12-30, that is absent in the Bible. Fr. Martin, like many, are drawn to this period of Jesus' life because they imagine it is a lot like our lives. "None of us is going to be preaching and performing miracles – at least not as Jesus did – but all of us live everyday lives, as Jesus did in Nazareth, being taught and cared for by our parents, loving and squabbling with our families, playing with our friends, learning what it means to be an adult, and in time earning a living." I never thought of Jesus in this light, but it does make sense. In this chapter, I also learned about just how small and poor Nazareth was. Knowing this, it really puts into perspective the disparaging remarks people make regarding Nazareth. It also shows you the environment Jesus grew up in, and influenced his parables.

Fr. Martin is an excellent storyteller. He does a fine job painting pictures of the places he visited, and he draws out details in the Gospels that one could easily miss. There were, however, parts of this book that I didn't enjoy. The beginning annoyed me a little when he waffled about wanting to go to the Holy Land. (Really what Christian, wouldn't want to see the place of Jesus?!) I also got bored in the beginning reading about the trek to get to each of their destinations, and would think to myself, "Hurry up and get there." However, I eventually accepted that that was the nature of this book as a personal pilgrimage. It would be incomplete to ignore the journey and focus solely on the destination. Those complaints aside, I still enjoyed the book. It was quite interesting to see Jesus, the Gospel passages, and the modern day Holy Land through the eyes of Fr. Martin.

This book was provided to me for free by Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, click the link and hit Yes!

A Big Heart Open to God (HarperOne)

It's been several months since a controversial 12,000 word interview with Pope Francis was published by America Magazine. The media had a field day with it. As opposed to reading the whole interview, journalists extracted bits and pieces and interpreted them to suit their own agenda. Harper Collins has recently published the interview in book format, under the title of A Big Heart Open to God to read at your leisure.

A Big Heart Open to God  is an interview with Pope Francis by Father Antonio Spadaro. This interview was conducted in person over the span of three meetings during August 2013. Like all good interviewers, Fr. Spadaro had a list of questions to ask his interviewee. However, he instead chose to go off-list and asked, "Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?" opening up a level of humility in Pope Francis that we don't often see in global leaders. It takes the Pope some time to answer, but he replies, "I am a sinner," and "I am one who is looked upon by the Lord." We don't often think of the Pope as a sinner, but he is human too. And if the pope can acknowledge his sinfulness, we should be more keenly aware of our sinfulness.

Other topics addressed in this interview include the Jesuits, the role of the Church, Vatican II, and women's place in the Church. When this interview hit the papers, many media hubs extracted isolated comments about the woman's role, and  there was much speculation that Pope Francis favored the ordination of women, but let me assure, he did not say that at all! He did say that women are vitally important to the Church, and we must do a better job defining their role and allowing them to work within their roles. After the interview, this book includes reactions and responses to the Pope's words from people like Cardinal Dolan, Richard Rohr, and Karen Sue Smith. Unfortunately, most of these were not interesting to me, as they seemed lackluster in comparison to the interview that preceded them.

What I did appreciate was the spiritual reflections presented by Fr. Martin at the very end of the book. The reflection questions were both practical and fruitful, and it helped take the interview to a deeper level for me. Overall, I'd give this book 4 out of 5 stars. If you missed out on this interview when it was first published, or if the idea of staring at a computer screen that long to read it was unappealing to you, then I'd recommend this book for you.

This book was provided to me for free by Harper Collins in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click the link and hit Yes!