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4.0 out of 5 stars
Spiritual Side of a Genius, Nov 12 2001
"[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.
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