reading

Desperate for Home :: A Review of Till We Have Faces

January 17, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 36 Comments

I shall attempt to give my thoughts on C.S. Lewis’ book Till We Have Faces. I know this for sure; what little I can string together on the subject will be inadequate. This book left me stunned, ashamed and yet profoundly hopeful and longing. It’s a complex layered story that lays bare the human soul , exposing the depravity in us all and reminding us that our despair has been answered in the love and atonement of Another. Lewis forces the reader to lay down his weapons. To surrender the defenses with which we so violently protect ourselves. And he forces us, unarmed, bare, and vulnerable to look into the ‘mirror’ and face the hideousness that we see there. He reminds us that we can’t properly see till we have eyes, nor love till we have hearts; and we certainly cannot see His face, till we have faces.

Most of all, he leaves the reader longing—–for home.

This book is profoundly different from his other works, was claimed to be his favorite of his own books and was his last and—- in the opinion of many, including me—his best published work. He retells the story of the greek myth of Cupid and Psyche but from the perspective of Orual, who is Psyche’s older, hideous-looking sister. The book is, in essence, Orual’s complaint to the gods, about her life and the sometimes unfortunate, horrible situations in which she was placed. Lewis tells the story in the first person and describes Orual’s journey of self-discovery and how, though she is often abused and oppressed, finds time and time again that she is the oppressor herself. Though she was like a mother to her sister Psyche and loved her intensely, she learns that her love was laced with selfishness and self-preservation.

Orual later becomes a wise and beloved queen and is praised for her many skills. She wears a veil to conceal her ugliness and after many years, the people began to spread rumors, that perhaps she wears a veil because she’s too beautiful to show her face. She, however, knows the truth and is shown by the ‘gods’ that despite her outward appearance of success, she is destitute.

She says,

“I would set out boldly each morning to be just and calm and wise in all my thoughts and acts, but before they had finished dressing me I would find that I was back in some old rage, resentment, gnawing fantasy, or sullen bitterness. I could not hold out half an hour . . . I could mend my soul no more than my face.”

{sounds so oddly and clearly familiar to my every morning}

Orual’s journey of self-discovery comes full circle when she finally comes face to face with the gods. As she makes her complaint, she realizes the absurdity of her words, the uselessness of all the cover-ups and disguises. {It occurred me how often I’ve played a litany in my head of excuses and justifications and complaints to God and how childish it all must have sounded}

Orual says,

” When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you’ll not talk about the joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?”

After making her complaint to the gods and realizing the wretchedness of her own soul, she must now face the gods’ complaint against her and she must do it un-veiled. And miraculously, in a most wondrous picture of Christ’s vicarious atonement for us, she is revealed as beautiful—-she is given the beauty of Psyche and when the gods judge her, they see only Psyche.

This book will not leave you pointing fingers to how others have been at fault for what’s wrong in your life. Or even how God has deserted you. It will boldly set a mirror in front of you and bid you see clearly. And it will give you hope, that when we are clothed with Christ, God, our judge, sees only Him and his perfect life and love and obedience on our behalf. His beauty overtakes our sin. We exchange our hideousness for His love and perfection, as a beautiful and gracious free gift. Lewis leads us to despair of ourselves and to ultimately find our true joy and hope in Another.

Lewis is brilliant in his ability to strip down the readers’ defenses, forcing us to look at ourselves for who and what we really are. And we are nothing, if not, desperate…….for home.

Note: This book is deep and rich and must be read and re-read. It will sucker punch you and leave you almost out of breath at times. I’ve read certain sections more than ten times and am still reeling from the truths that can be found here. But beware, this book will get under your skin and gnaw at all your presuppositions.
{After reading the book, there was something at its’ essence that reminded me of Matthew Mayfield’s song Open Road. I’ve included the lyrics and installed the song at the top of this post–just above the date. Just push play and let your defenses wash away}

Open Road
Lay me down on
shores of the whitest sand
soft like that woman
with the fight of a thousand men

and if you find the key
would you set me free?
if you find the key
would you set me free?

I’m screaming to God
‘would you come and save
what you’ve either forgotten
or you’re strengthening
I’ve finally paid the toll
and it’s all open road
just trying to find a home
take me home’

Violet iris
and lilies in bloom for spring
enticing—the silence
a song that we all can sing

and if you find the key
would you set me free?
if you find the key
would you set me free?

We’re tired and changing
heartbeats are fading
our days are numbered
the clocks, they keep ticking
I’ve been deserted,
my feelings perverted
by a pissed off and ripped up machine cycle circus
when we look in the mirror
it shatters with shame
our faces are bloody
and sour with disdain
I have seen what you are
and I have seen who I am
and we are desperate, we’re desperate, we’re desperate
for home…
home….

lay me down on
shores of the whitest sand
soft like that woman
with the fight of a thousand men

Books Read in 2009

January 13, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 13 Comments

All the President’s Men
Harry Potter-Chamber of Secrets
The Glass Castle
Harry Potter book 1
West Oversea (Lars Walker)
The Abolition of Man
Toqueville’s Democracy in America
Heaven on Earth
Glen Beck’s Common Sense
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Year of Wonders
How to Read Literature Like a Professor
March
John Lock’s 2nd Treatise of Gov’t
Into the Wild
Beautiful Boy
Out of the Silent Planet
The Centurion’s Wife
The Secret Life of Bees
A Philosophy of Education
The Hidden Art of Homemaking
Plato’s Republic Book 1-4
A Thomas Jefferson Education
Night
The Life of Pi
The Abolition of Man
The Great Divorce
Basket of Flowers
All Rivers Run to the Sea
Phantastes
The Education of a Daughter
Brave New World
Surprised by Joy
The Autobiography of Ben Franklin
Founding Brothers
Eight Cousins
The Problem of Pain
A Grief Observed
St. Teresa of Avila
Amusing Ourselves to Death
Dumbing Us Down
100 Years of Solitude

The Theology of Harry Potter

November 20, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 48 Comments

::Spoiler Alert::

Though I’m guessing that most of you who are going to read them

have already!

The first Harry Potter book, The Sorcerer’s Stone, was released in 1997, when my son Taylor was 7 years old. I bought the first book and we read the first five or so chapters aloud before I began to hear the siren calls that the book was demonic, full of witchcraft, and ought to be renounced by christians. I obeyed the cry of James Dobson and others to keep the book safely from my children—–until last Monday. I’m also ashamed to say that I likely criticized J.K. Rowling during the last twelve years without knowing much about her and certainly without reading the series or watcing the movies for myself—all the while, secretly wondering if I was misguided in my uneducated summation of her work. In retrospect, I don’t think that was a very academic or even a very christian thing to do. I’ve had to do a similar sort of eye-opening on many subjects since I’ve become Lutheran, so I’m accustomed to the routine of relearning, of challenging old dogma that once ruled the day in my life.

So, after twelve years in exile, I resurrected the first book and the little girls and I are reading it ravenously. Perfect for the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays. I’m not sure what first kindled my interest in Harry Potter again but I think it has something to do with the fact that I’m taking my 17 year old to see New Moon tonight—-another series of books with themes that some have called ‘questionable’ for christians. You can listen to a distintively christian review of the Twilight Series at Issues Etc, which I highly recommend, but that’ll have to be another post for another day.

Imagine my surprise when I find this series of interviews between Todd Wilken and Dr. Rick Stuckwisch on the Harry Potter books; both of whom are Lutheran pastors I highly respect. And whether or not you’ve read the books or renounced them from your lives, I think you’d find the interviews enlightening. First, J.K. Rowling is not only an extremely well-educated and brilliant writer, but she is a christian. She has openly admitted to the christological themes in the books and not unlike C.S. Lewis, has purposely set out to be subtle with these themes so that the books would have a broader reach and appeal—possibly to engage those who would otherwise be repulsed by a book with overtly christian ideas. Furthermore, she has been harshly criticized for using magic {which she uses as a literary device—akin to the use of technology in the Star Trek series} by the same christians who gladly let their kids read Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkeins’ Lord of the Rings; both of which are full of ‘miracles’ and magic.

And given her christian heritage, it shouldn’t surprise us that in the 7th and last book {the number of completion in the Bible} Harry dies, giving himself up out of love and mercy for others—-then rises again—-not unlike Aslan in the Narnia series. It also seems that even without the themes of mercy and self-sacrifice, the story is compelling in its’ own right—-a story of an orphan boy who grows up in a world full of good and evil and his journey in learning to navigate his often treacherous circumstances.

As I thought about all the hype surrounding these books, especially ten years ago, I found it sadly ironic that had I chosen to continue with the series at the time, I might have found more theological truth in them than I found on any given Sunday at the church I attended. {I’ve since changed churches}. At the very same time that I was so critical of Harry Potter, I tolerated regular preaching and teaching that more often than not, was much more pop psychology than it was Christ-centered theology. I condemned Harry Potter—who turns out to be somewhat of a Christ-type character while sitting by unaffected, watching the oprafication of my church take place. “7 Steps to a Better You” or “40 Days of Purpose” is not the gospel. If I had been as critical of the handling of God’s Word as I was of Rowlings’ handling of magic, I might have spared myself some years of agony. But then the themes of the scripture that run so clearly through our lives, and often so clearly in good literature, are unchanging. We struggle for truth. We wage war—-often at the wrong enemy. In the end, it is only in dying that we are raised to life. The true enemy is defeated. Not with swords. Or magic. Or by ‘my best life now’.

But by the vicarious atonement of Another.

Redemption is really the only story of mankind. {to paraphrase C.S. Lewis}

And perhaps we should rejoice wherever we find it.

* I saw these owl cupcakes online after doing a google search and just used chocolate cupcakes decorated with oreos for eyes, pecans covered in chocolate icing for ears and candy corn for nose. The Hogwarts students often have owls for ‘pets’.

Confessions of a Bibliophile

August 31, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 10 Comments

I bought this sign from My Sweet Savannah a few months back for our anniversary. It’s traveled a bit around the house and finally landed over our bed. I enjoyed it as I sat for long stretches of time and read this weekend. I’m reading The True End of Civil Government by John Locke and a wonderful historical novel by Geraldine Brooks titled March. The latter is the story of Mr. March, the father of the characters of Little Women. Brooks is a fascinating writer and the book is oozing with historical detail about the Civil War and the antebellum South. I would add it to a must read list. However, if you saw my most recent Amazon order, you might be suspect of my reading list advice. Here are a few of the titles:

How to Read Literature Like a Professor
Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
Isaac Newton’s The Principia
Mortimer Adler’s How to Think About the Great Ideas of Western Civilization

It’s confirmed. I’m a bit nerdy. With an uncanny love for words.
Be they in a book or on the wall.
Or almost anywhere at all.

Happy Monday!

Furniture which shouldn’t be spray-painted and books which shouldn’t be neglected….

July 10, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 13 Comments

“No sooner doth the truth come into the

soul’s sight, but the soul knows her to be her first

and oldest aquaintance.”

I should first tell you that I am still working on the ‘beauty’ post. I get hamstrung by reading a lot of great writers and then feel completely inadequate with my own summation of the important points. I guess the old adage that we should listen twice as much as we speak is holding true for me. I can‘t stop listening(reading) long enough to speak (write).
I also wanted to tell show you what else I’ve been up to lately. By a stroke of luck, or by my estimation, divine appointment, I wandered into a ‘high-end’ furniture store at the end of their ‘store closing’ sale. I also just happened to have insurance money that had to be spent on furniture replacement in order to be fully reimbursed. Long story short, I feel like I’ve just won the lottery. Most of the furniture ended up being 75-90% off. For instance, I bought a $1000 kilim rug for $89. And so on. So, to prepare my house for delivery next week, I’m rearranging everything. ( or as JamieKnoxville and I affectionately call it…..’tuggin’ and pullin’).

Yesterday, in a burst of hulk-strength, I moved this large china cabinet from my dining room to the breakfast room—to make room for the $4500 mahogany sideboard that I bought for $619! It really doesn’t exactly fit here, so it may end up in my bedroom holding clothes and shoe displays. On 2nd thought, my bedroom is on the other side of the world, so it will likely stay here for awhile.

To help me celebrate this rare joyous occasion, the crepe myrtles are blooming. So kind of them. ( I love how they poke through the fence)

I also have an insatiable reading appetite lately as I’ve been preparing the last two blog posts in this series. And if you are homeschooling, you must read this Charlotte Mason book “A Philosophy of Education”—it goes right along with the Thomas Jefferson book I’ve been giddy about, and is much better than reading someone else’s summary of what Charlotte Mason said.

She reitirates the fact that self-education is the key, and that we as teachers, are to inspire and help to ‘awaken the soul’ so that children have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

And Plato? This stuff is fantastic. I’ve been printing off maps of Greece and taking copious notes. It’s not as hard as I thought. I read the sparknotes summary of it first, which helped, then I read a historical introduction, which really helped, and then I dove in, headfirst. It must be contagious because in the antique store the other day, my 7yo got really excited and said, “Mom, I just found a book about Plato!” We were all excited about the beautiful little volume with dainty gold lettering, but mostly, I was thankful that she had been paying attention to what we were reading.

And that little notebook at the bottom? That’s a collection of lots of fun stuff—-paint swatches (I’m painting my living room—which has been the same color for a record EIGHT years—-before the new furniture arrives), magazine clippings of things I love, articles I want to read, my much neglected calendar, my somewhat neglected bible reading schedule, notecards, address labels, and so on.

I also stumbled upon a lovely aloe plant and my girls have discovered hundreds of little boo-boos lately which most definitely require aloe. Hundreds. Thank you to my friend, the Nester, for introducing me to this beautiful way of displaying my succulents.

So, as I re-evaluate my decor, and pour over design ideas, do you have any advice for me? I’m painting my living room Woodrow-Wilson Linen (a very presidential cream color) in an effort to feature my new heirloom furniture. But I’ll find a way to ‘shabby’ it up a little I’m sure. Although I don’t know how I’ll adjust to furniture that shouldn’t be spray-painted. I can’t wait to show you.

Check out my tumblr site—a place where I store links and pictures I love. And if you have time this weekend, read the post I wrote at the blogfrog about my current thoughts on blogging.

Have a great weekend and I’ll soon return to my series!

"Surround Them With Books"

July 6, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 16 Comments

This is part two in a series entitled Creating an Environment of Learning for Your Children. We will explore the power of books as a guidepost to your child’s educational and spiritual development while inspiring them to a rich inner life that leads to greatness. I hope to give you some resources that will inform and equip you but most of all, I hope to encourage you and your children to read the great classic books of the past, and to use those books as a cornerstone for your life.

Our culture seems to have all but forsaken the written word. We live in an image-obsessed age where ‘screens’ have completely invaded every part of our lives. Even most of our churches have been invaded by the big screen. And when we do read, it’s usually something written in the last 2 years, or worse the last 2 days. We have become unfamiliar with and ungrateful for the wealth of great writers, intellectuals, and heroes that have shaped the very way of life we now deem so precious. And you might ask, what is so wrong with a society that has become subjugated to images? What about the old adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words?’ Gene Veith’s book Reading Between the Lines begins with a powerful first chapter on the importance of the written word.

As television turns our society into an increasingly image-dominated culture, Christians must continue to be people of the Word. When we read, we cultivate a sustained attention span, an active imagination, a capacity for logical analysis and critical thinking, and a rich inner life. Each of these qualities, which have proven themselves essential to a free people, is under assault in our TV-dominated culture. Christians, to maintain their Word-centered perspective in an image-driven world, must become readers.

Vieth quotes Neil Postman who wrote extensively on the subject of image-dominate media.

Postman explores the differences between the mental processes involved in reading and those involved in television watching. Reading demands sustained concentration, whereas television promotes a very short attention span. Reading involves (and teaches) logical reasoning, whereas television involves (and teaches) purely emotional responses. Reading promotes continuity, the gradual accumulation of knowledge, and sustained exploration of ideas. Television, on the other hand, fosters fragmentation, anti-intellectualism, and immediate gratification.

So, how do we ‘get back on track’? How do we turn back the tide and reclaim our children from the images that dominate our culture? The best way to is to set the example yourself. A Thomas Jefferson Education lays out a clear plan.

“Set the example by reading, pondering, writing about and discussing classics, sharing your love and ideas with your students (children). Then they get inspired, go to work, find the study difficult, and come back to you for encouragement.”

We NEED books. We must turn off the screens . We need to teach our children that reading is THE most important part of their education. Teaching them to read great books is likely the single most important thing you can do for their educational development and for their spiritual growth.

For Their Educational Development

1. Reading reinforces the truth that we alone are responsible for our own learning. We’ve been handed a pernicious lie in our society. We expect someone to teach us the things we need to know. We have been taught to pawn off the responsibility of our learning to someone else. We are taught the learn the bare minimum: the ‘Will this be on the test’ mentality. And this mind-set wreaks havoc on one’s desire and love for learning. Learning is hard work. It takes time, sustained concentration, and some solitude— three things we seem to all be in short supply of. We want ‘sound bites’ instead of depth and spoon feeding instead of the difficulty of ‘digesting’ difficult vocabulary and complex sentence structure.

2. Reading great books connects us with great minds and thinkers of the past, who have been where we are, faced what we face, and have often done so with a dignity and character that can rarely be found in modern society. We learn the stories of Cleopatra, Esther, Augustine, Prince Caspian, King Arthur, and Tom Sawyer; stories of redemption and adventure that inspire us to greater and nobler pursuits in our own life. Nothing personal against modern writers, but there’s little to inspire my 7 year old from a Junie B. Jones book. She can learn disrespectful language almost anywhere. But introduce her to the sisters of Little Woman or the adventures of Joan of Arc and then watch the magic begin. Next thing you know, she’s staging tea parties and pretending to ride on horseback, and without ever verbalizing it, she’s creating a rich inner life. Where her thoughts and dreams become entangled with those of the heroines she’s read about; where she begins to come alive and believe that she is part of a grand story.

3. It inspires us to be creative, industrious, and virtuous. I cannot count on my hands the times this year my girls have read a great book and then been inspired to make or invent something or to draw and paint or to bake and sew. It’s true for me too. Great books change us. They change the way we look at the world. They change the way we see ourselves. They move us to stretch our minds, to challenge our assumptions, to grow, and to refuse to stop learning.

For Their Spiritual Development

1. Christianity is a faith based on WORDS. We have a historic tradition that has been handed down to us as words on a page. We, of all people, must be people who read and value the written word. Our very life and faith depends on it. God warned His people early on about ‘graven images’. Pagan societies have always been image-centered and we seem determined as a culture to let images be our master. Veith says this tendency toward image and emotion has invaded our church life as well:

As evangelicals, we too are tempted to conform to the world rather than to the Word, just as the children of Israel were tempted by their neighbors’ graven images and the thought-forms these embodied. We too often stress feeling rather than truth. We tend to seek emotional religious experiences rather than the cross of Jesus Christ. Because we expect worldly “blessings,” we do not know how to endure suffering. We want to “name it and claim it”—instantly—rather than submit ourselves without reservation to the will of God. We are impatient with theology, and we dismiss history, thus disdaining the faith of our brothers and sisters who have gone before us and neglecting what they could teach us. We want entertaining worship services—on the order of a good TV show—rather than worship that focuses on the holiness of God and His Word. We want God to speak to us in visions and inner voices rather than in the pages of His Word. We believe in the Bible, but we do not read it very much.

2. Christians should be a well-informed and thinking people. Sustained serious reading, when modeled by parents, will teach children the value of personal discipline. It’s easier to watch Stuart Little than to read it. It’s far easier to watch Ben Hur than to read and memorize and meditate on the Ten Commandments. But as we know, anything worth having is worth working hard for. We must model for them the dedication and discipline it takes to educate ourselves. It will inspire them to seek truth on their own and equip them to identify falsehoods and posers.

The Practical Side—What to Do Now?

~Literally, surround them with great books. Start building a library of great books. Antique stores are often a great place to find classic books cheap. And most book stores have a section of classic literature and they are usually the cheapest books in the store. Try yard sales or Goodwill. The point of reading classics is that you’ll want to read them over and over again, so start accumulating your own copies.

~Visit the library often and monitor what they get—a few ‘fluff’ books won’t hurt them, but teach them to search out quality works too. I followed the Well-Trained Mind advice and make them get a biography, historical work, science-related book and then whatever else they want–each week.

~Give books as gifts—it teaches them that you truly value the printed word.

~Read to them, have them read to you, provide ample opportunity to listen to audio books, memorize poetry, bible passages, or quotes. ie……WORDS are important. WORDS are AMAZING!

~Make reading fun. Snuggle with them, stop and talk about the characters, ask them anticipatory questions to see how their logical skills are developing, and most of all, pick great books. Do interesting projects based on the books you read. Cook food from the time period or country from which the book was written. Use online cliff notes such as sparknotes to aid in your own understanding of plot, setting, and character analysis.

~ Having a plan for your reading will increase your success. I use The Well-Educated Mind to educate myself. It lays out a reading plan that can be tailored to meet your time constraints. I even started a bookclub based on this book and you can join us online this fall, as we tackle great thinkers like Plato, deToqueville, and Thomas Paine. If you don’t have a group to read with, join us this fall. It’ll at least give you a deadline, which is key for me finishing difficult books.

So, if we can agree that we should read, the next question is what to read. All books are not created equal. What is a great book? There are many definitions, but any book that can be read over and over again without you wanting to poke sharps objects through the your eardrums is usually a great book. And as much as I loved reading Twilight, I never once thought of reading it again. You can easily ‘get it all’ in the first time through. Not so with The Hobbit. Or Treasure Island. Or even Beatrix Potter.

There are many available lists of recommended books for children. I like this one, which you might argue contains only books written at least 90 years ago or longer. This one is very much more comprehensive and is broken down by ages, starting from birth.

My most important advice, open a classic and keep turning the pages. Great books are challenging, but as you exercise that part of your brain, it gets stronger and more fit for the task. There is no substitute for reading the great works of the past.

Happy Reading!

P.S. I just posted a new post for Rhoda’s thrifty treasures party. Visit here to see everyone’s ‘finds’.