Altar to an Unknown Love
Michael John Beasley
The Armoury Ministries
144 pages, £6.97
ISBN: 978-1-935358-08-4
Star Rating: 3
Michael Beasley has written this book to draw attention to a hypocrisy that evangelicals are probably unaware of. He stands firmly with those whose ire has been raised by the ‘Love Wins’ book written by Rob Bell. However, he argues that such antipathy does not sit comfortably with the fact that the despisers of Mr Bell can so easily accept the works of Mr Lewis without discernment.
He sets forth that Rob Bell consistently aligns himself with the thrust of C.S. Lewis in respect of the love of God. Beasley also notes that Lewis was following his mentor George Macdonald. The book is something of a wake-up call thereby for evangelicals to critically examine what C.S. Lewis was actually writing in respect of the Love of God.
For those interested in examining this issue this book is, no doubt, a welcome addition to the available literature. It has something of a feel of being for those with a specialist interest in looking at the works of Lewis. The material throughout is wholesome and sound. The footnotes add to a sense that here is a man who writes with some weight.
However, I have to say I found the main bulk of the book examining Lewis’s teachings a bit ‘stodgy’. What it did alert me to, however, was the fact that C.S. Lewis is not necessarily all that he seems to be. I must note as well that the appendix on ‘Love Wins’ was helpful.
If you are a Lewis specialist then read this book. If you are given to reading a lot of Lewis then read this book; it will sharpen your discernment. He writes in a compelling way to prove that too many people have been too easily taken in. As for the rest of us if we are to be discerning Christians we need to be aware of the message of the book while not necessarily reading it.
As a final note, the things revealed in the book show some of the benefits from the ‘Love Wins’ book. The book in different ways has caused evangelicals to examine where they stand with regard to many key issues. This book shows we need to stand carefully (and discerningly) as regards to C.S. Lewis.
Philip Venables,
Feltham
