Preserving our Christian Heritage since 2001.
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Preserving our Christian Heritage since 2001.
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| Title: A Third Testament |
| Author: Muggeridge, Malcolm |
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Format: Paperback: 172 pages |
| Publisher: Orbis Books (February 2004) |
| ISBN: 1570755329 |
| Review Date: July 1st, 2007 |
| Buy this Book from Amazon.com. |
Rating: |
| Book Description: Malcolm Muggeridge describes six men who influenced his search for truth. |
Review:
Malcolm Muggeridge, I feel it is a shame that I had never heard of this author until recently. But I am glad I found him now. What do you get when a drunken, womanizing, British journalist becomes a Christian after publicly pontificating his opinion on just about every topic for decades? You get Malcolm Muggeridge!
The first thing to understand about A Third Testament is that it is autobiography billed as biography. Sure it is about St. Augustine and Pascal, but it is about how they influenced the life of Muggeridge, and the lessons he learned from them.
His working theory in the book, is that God uses spies much like the Allies used them in the Second World War. During WWII, the spies would blend into the society around them, adopting the manners and methods of the culture, all the while secretly working against the very culture the were emulating. As he points out, these Spies for God, being a part of their culture, often did some strange things, and he openly acknowledges that some of them even had heretical tendencies. But the point is that God used them despite their heretical leanings.
He has some telling stories, in his chapter on Kierkegaard, he says that Kierkegaard's first run in with the establishment was with the Clown. Many people do not realize that the Clown is as much as part of the establishment as the other more visible members that are often railed against. He can say this authoritatively too, as he was the editor of the humor magazine Punch for many years. Being in the media himself, he is not one to back down on his accusations against the media's misuse of power.
Muggeridge also had a love for William Blake. Blake is what I would call a guilty pleasure. I find his drawings beautiful and intriguing, in a strange sort of way, but I find his theology very bad at times. (Most of the time?) Muggeridge points out that people often misunderstand Blake because they forget his was a Christian, and that at times he said the things he did so he would purposefully upset or anger other Christians. He would do this to shake them from their complacency.
As an autobiographical book, there is little to analyze in the way of theology. So while one may disagree with Muggeridge's assessment of things, I recommend this book, so you may at least be captivated by Muggeridge's command of the English language, as it is a beautifully written book.
