Cherston......

I have seen CK Cherston mentioned many times here and also by Lewis. I'd like to read some of his work. Which of works would be good to start with?

Also, I googled George MacDonald. He was a character in "the Great Divorce" that was an actual author who greatly influenced Lewis. Have any of you read his work?

G.K. Chesterton. Joe is more familar with his books than I am.

George McDonald was a writer of novels, kids books and theology. I am most familar with two of his books for kids "The Princess and the Goblin" and "The Princess and the Curdie." They are fairy tales with Christian underpinnings. I am not even sure most of his works are in print anymore.

I have about 25 of his books, and as many of these are from the Collected Works and include more than one book in each volume, I've probably read closer to 40 or 50 books of his. And honestly, I've read all of them twice, some of them three times.

The first book I read by GKC, which is the first most people encounter, is his book Orthodoxy, which is from around 1910 or so. In 1908, he'd written a book called Heretics about many of the modernist heresies (political and social as well as religious) that were current then (and still current now). In response to the book, a publisher said, "so, you're happy telling us all what a bunch of heretics we are about what we believe. Why don't you tell us what you believe?" And that was the beginning of Orthodoxy.

For my money, it is the best book of the twentieth century. Yeah, I said it. When I picked up Lewis' Mere Christianity, much as I loved it, I heard time and again him rehearsing stuff Chesterton said thirty years earlier.

After Orthodoxy (and yes, Heretics is an awesome read too), the next text a reader interested in religion might read is The Everlasting Man, his book on the uniqueness of Christ (circa 1925). Another book that turned my head completely around.

For someone who's read Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man, there are some fantastic options that open up. His autobiography is amazingly engaging and funny and wise--I couldn't put it down. Too, he's got some fantastic collections of essays. He's got a couple of works on his conversion to Catholicism in 1922 or so. They made me love the church even more. He has a charming biography of Aquinas and a charming bio of Francis of Assisi, as well, and these you can find bound together in a single volume.

I've never read anyone more prophetic, more humane, more wise, and more delightful to spend time with.

If it sounds like I'm gushing, that's because I am. I often compare books to rides. I think, "I spent two dollars for that roller coaster ride, and five dollars for that book that gave me infinitely more pleasure." Knowing what I know now, I'd spend as much money as I have to lay my hands on Orthodoxy. You can actually get it free online, but it's the kind of book you'll want to read and re-read and underline and write passages out of into a notebook, so it's also not bad to drop a ten on it.