Books for Kids

C. S. Lewis begins his book The Abolition of Man by bemoaning the fact that too many intellectuals are unaware of the importance of children's books.  We usually think of children's literature as mere stories without any long-term consequences for the kids who read.  We see their main purpose as merely to entertain kids and inspire in them a general love of reading so they'll be ready to tackle the really important stuff in high school and college.

I agree with Lewis that the kind of reading we do as children will implicitly aid in the formation of our intellectual and moral character.  Every story is about people of certain character (either good or bad) who make choices (either right or wrong) that form the basis for the story's plot.  And quite frankly, there are many children's books out there today that actually celebrate characters with questionable personal qualities, making choices of dubious merit.  They certainly are not the kind of stories to which I want my young son Cyrus exposed. 

Thankfully, my wife is something of an expert in the field of children's literature.  She owns over one thousand children's books, and she shares my concern for exposing our son to good, uplifting stories that can inspire him to be a man of intelligence, integrity, and moral courage.  Here are just a few of the books that I personally evaluate as good literature for children.

[It should be assumed that The Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit are not mentioned in this particular list because those books are in a class unto themselves.]

• Anne Holm, I Am David.  An inspiring story of self-discovery, depicting a young boy who escapes from a Communist gulag in Eastern Europe and heroically navigates through dangerous country in an attempt to find his mother. 
• Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time.  An intriguing fantasy/science fiction story about three children who are transported to another galaxy by three mysterious ladies.  Meg, the main character, is on a quest to find her lost father...but in the process she is called upon to fight a great evil that threatens to overtake the entire universe.
• Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain.  This is historical fiction at its finest, set in Boston during the onset of the Revolutionary War.  Johnny, an independent and daring young man, gets caught up in the conflict between the Bostonians and the British, and he learns how to put his courage in the service of a great cause.
• Marguerite de Angeli, The Door in the Wall.  This story is set in late-medieval England.  The main character is a young boy named Robin who had dreams of being a knight, but during the Black Plague he became permanently handicapped.  With the help of a pious monk named Brother Luke, Robin learned that studying can take you places that your legs can't, and that you don't have to be a knight to display true courage and strength.
• E. L. Konigsburg, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  A young girl named Claudia feels unappreciated by her parents and decides to run away, joined by her younger brother Jamie.  She ends up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and takes an interesting walk through history, learning that she needs to do some appreciating of her own!
• Any of the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Encyclopedia Brown mystery stories.  I'm a huge fan of mysteries, and I grew up loving these stories.  As an adult, I can see why they are such great stories.  The main characters are presented as heroes not because they are cool, popular with their peers, or athletic.  Rather, they are heroes because they use their intelligence and skill to solve problems and help others; they display moral courage and have a real sense of right and wrong; and they earn the respect of their parents and other adult figures by acting mature and responsible. 

These are just a few.  But here are three common themes that I find in all of these novels:

• They are well-written stories.  They use language artfully and tell a story in an exciting, inspiring way.
• They present a view of the world as a benevolent place: while the characters have problems, they learn that they can overcome those problems and that life basically makes sense.  They are not victims of a fate beyond their control.
• The main characters model for the readers the values of honesty, intelligence, compassion, courage, self-discipline, and maturity.

Thanks to my beautiful wife for reminding me of the joy of reading children's books!  Happy reading!

Dueling with Words

"Because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to vomit you out of my mouth." - Revelation 3:16

Because of my last post (see Something More than Life, below), I became involved in a debate on Facebook with a self-described atheist/agnostic. This individual and I have been friends for a decade, and though we haven't really seen each other in a few years, our conversations always avoid the polite chit-chat or typical fluff about the weather, sports, or the past, and we engage in serious conversation about real ideas. In this latest debate, my friend once again displayed his razor-sharp intellect and quick wit. His weighty comments required of me more than the usual "pat answers" that Christians often give to skeptics; it was a genuine meeting of the minds, and I sensed a mutual respect even in the midst of our fervent disagreements.

This reminded me of a novel written nearly 100 years ago by G. K. Chesterton. Entitled The Ball and the Cross and set in Victorian England, it is the story of a fervent Christian Theist who challenges an equally fervent Modern Atheist to an illegal duel. They meet to fight to the death, but keep getting interrupted and end up dueling with words. Word of their saber fight gets out and they begin to be chased by interested commoners as well as the police. Over the course of their interaction, they begin to develop a liking for one another, and they slowly come to realize that they are not enemies. In fact, they are fighting the same battle: a battle against a world in which people no longer believe in anything enough to stand up and defend it no matter what the cost. I won't give away the ending, but let's just say that eventually, their swords do cross!

Not much has changed in the past century. We see few Christian Theists like the one in Chesterton's novel (or like Paul at Mars Hill and Bonhoeffer in Nazi Germany). Most Christians prefer to believe in a bland, moralistic, therapeutic Deism (to steal the phrase originally coined by Christian Smith) in which religion is a matter of personal feelings and individual preferences, rather than a total devotion to a systematic worldview. Likewise, many modern atheists/agnostics hold views that are rooted in rebellious, nihilistic cynicism, rather than ones based on a rational appraisal of the facts of existence. They do not have the intellectual integrity of the atheist in the novel, or some modern unbelievers like Ayn Rand and others.

The majority of people today seem to be motivated by a desire to not say anything offensive, or to avoid being pinned down to any firm truth commitment. Even in churches, and (I'm sorry to say) in far too many pulpits, the motive to be popular and relevant seems to have eclipsed the motive to speak truth with conviction. Many Christians today are seeking after leaders with the look of a GQ model and the rhetorical flourish of a late-night talk show host, regardless of their intellectual seriousness or integrity. And what's worse, many Christians today seem to be getting what little theology they have from Christian rock music (which is annoyingly inferior to its secular counterparts) rather than from a serious wrestling with the truths of the faith. I'm not saying that every Christian ought to have the brain of a philosopher...but I do think that God is asking every Christian to use the brain he or she has to "support his or her faith with knowledge," to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," and to "always be prepared to give an answer for the hope we have within us."

If this comes off a bit judgmental, so be it. But I firmly believe that this is a telling symptom of the state of our culture, which has become so "lukewarm" about truth that it is literally making God hurl. I thank God for the many unbelievers He has led into my life, for whom I continue to pray and with whom I hope to continue to dialogue. They always engage me in honorable duels, sharpen my intellect...and we somehow manage to have fun in the process! En garde!

Something More Than Life

Since we are in the middle of Holy Week, I've been thinking a lot about the concept of resurrection, which is what we Christians celebrate at Easter. It's a bit farfetched these days to believe in anything like a literal resurrection and all that it entails: that death is not the final chapter of our lives; that we were made to live forever; indeed, that all of existence (which seems to show nothing but death and decay) will be remade according to its original glorious design. It's truly irrational and unbelievable.


In spite of this, it seems to be a universal hope.


Three of my favorite writers--G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien (why do they insist on being known by their initials??)--all made the same fascinating observation:


Throughout human history, almost every culture and religion has taught something akin to resurrection. Almost every ancient pagan religion has some myth about a god who is killed and then comes back to life. In Norse mythology, it was the god Balder. For the ancient Egyptians, it was Osiris. For the Celtic peoples of Britain, it was the god Lugh who was killed by being hung on a tree and then comes back in victory.


But then let's look at modern philosophies and worldviews: All of them, even the most atheistic and materialistic, do not merely tell you that life is good exactly the way it is. They all say that life will only be good in some unknown, ideal future when all the injustices and human failures are eradicated and the goodness of life is renewed. This is true of the socialism of Karl Marx, the Objectivism of Ayn Rand, and even the American Progressivism of Barack Obama and his allies. Eastern philosophies and religions do this as well.


Not one philosophy or religion of life has taught us that we must be satisfied with the world as it is. Every single human teaching avers that there is something more than life that is just beyond our grasp, something that gives our lives meaning and hope and renewal, and it exists either in some mythical past of gods and goddesses or in some undefined future that we have yet to see.


There is only one religion that teaches that the something more than life, for which we all hope, actually became a tangible, datable fact of history. That fact is that Jesus Christ lived and was crucified "under Pontius Pilate" (which even Greek, Roman, and Jewish historians attest) and that He rose to new life. The early Christians insisted on the historicity of the resurrection to the point that Saint Paul proclaimed, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (I Corinthians 15:14). He was willing to stake the entire Christian faith on the fact of Christ's resurrection as a historical event.


Christians do not believe that they are better than anyone else. What they do believe is that they have found a concrete answer to the deep desire that animates every human heart -- or rather, they believe that the concrete Answer has found them. Because of that, they are able to enjoy the something more than life even here on earth, and on their best days, they live their lives in a way that makes that something more than life visible to others.


If you are a Christian, take a moment to recognize that what you celebrate this Sunday is not merely a nice tradition or an orthodox theological dogma: it is the deepest truth that every human being desires, even if they can't admit it to themselves. May that recognition give added meaning to this season for you.


If you are not a Christian, I still challenge you to take a moment and celebrate this Easter. Celebrate the fact that deep down, you know that life as we know it is not enough for you. You want something more. Something that you may not be able to define. But something that you hope is real.


Have a blessed Easter!


(For more insights on this, I highly recommend G. K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man, J. R. R. Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories," and C. S. Lewis' book Miracles or his essay "Myth Become Fact." Great reading!)