Till We Have Faces

I had suggested to a few friends at one point making this blog a place for book reviews but then I slowed reading for a while or read books that I was unsure of how to review. So I'll give this a try and I expect to read a lot from now until December at least so this should work out. Welcome to the new place for book reviews!


I went camping to Ruidoso, NM a few weekends ago and took along "Till We Have Faces" by C. S. Lewis. Let me set the stage for you a little to make this more interesting: sitting on a camping bag chair in the "porch" of a camper trailer with background noises of children, pugs, and rain. This book is essentially the retelling of a particular event in mythology regarding Cupid and Psyche. But even more basic, this book is about love, two types of love to be exact: sacred and profane.
When I picked up this book I knew nothing about it whatsoever. I was expect another great Christian metaphor like Narnia or The Great Divorce however the obvious metaphors in this book were about pagan religions and Greek rationality. The premise is quite scriptural however coming out of 1 Corinthians 13:12 "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." This verse is what the whole book points toward.
The discussions on love I found quite convicting. The end left me pondering what it means to love as Christ loves. And the most obnoxious thing about this book that I also found true of "The Great Divorce" is that I really want to read it again now that I know where it is going. I want to see the story in light of the end.
You do not have to know the story of Cupid and Psyche to understand this story. Lewis gives all the necessary knowledge as the story unfolds. I recommend reading it outside with a lemonade or on a rainy day with a cup of fresh Fair Trade coffee. And as always, if you know me then feel free to come over to the Gerber house and borrow it off my shelf.

Searching

I realize a new chapter in my life of genuinely searching for God perhaps initiated or instigated by higher education and frequent travel with exposure to true beauty and rich truth. I have been in contact with both evil and love. I now desire to possess the truth of these events. I want to find God. I will search this world to its farthest reaches not strictly for the pleasure in travel but to experience the faces of God. I will continue to consume books that use intellectualism to reflect and point toward Christ. And in the end I expect to make a full circle and realize the great paradox that perhaps I encountered God far away, still He has been making himself known to me from the very beginning, I didn't have to leave the room I inhabit to encounter God.

I'm in a theology class that feels more like a philosophy class at times. We have answered the question of the meaning of life. We ask why shall we strive to succeed. Also we redefined freedom in terms that I'm struggling to make peace with.

All this to say, I'm about to begin a search of where the Church of Christ developed their theology from. Unfortunately I feel like I am offending or dishonoring my great grandfather by going on this journey to undermine his beliefs. And it's not that simple, he has spent his life shepherding his family to be Christians but in this 'denomination' a person cannot belong to another flock and still be true and unfortunately they (the great grandparents) take that seriously. Anyway, I just got a call that he had a heart attack and is in the hospital. I'm really glad that I got to see him again this last week and I really want to see him again but I know he has given up on life. He is content with the life he has lived and doesn't want to live by medicine.