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Book Review
My God and I
A Spiritual Memoir
Lewis B. Smedes
Wm. B. Eerdmans 2003, 179p
Review by Ray Hoekzema
This memoir is about a ‘scrawny little nobody” (Smedes assessment) who
became a ‘hero of faith – a self-effacing giant’ (my assessment) to
people all around the world. Thousands of students, who attended his
lectures in philosophy of religion and in ethics at Fuller Theological
Seminary, have testified to that. A prolific writer, the author’s
Forgive and Forget has been read by over a million people. Writing it
gave the author a new understanding of the healing power of God. He
learned it by writing it, a million people by reading it – many telling
Smedes that it saved their lives. Formerly hugely down on himself, he
says that it persuaded him that he was a person of genuine worth, and
that his own feelings of unworthiness were neurotic distortions – not
from spiritual insight but from psychological blindness.
The author, of Dutch/Frisian stock, having migrated to the USA with his parents, studied at Calvin College and Theological Seminary. For his post-graduate studies he went back to the Netherlands to study under Prof Berkouwer at the Free university in Amsterdam. Smedes translated quite a number of his books in English, earning him some much needed income. He also spent some time with C. S. Lewis at Oxford, painting a picture of him, other than the one most of us know. Finally, he spent some time with another giant, with Karl Barth in Basel, Switzerland.
This memoir depicts a man that throughout his
growing years experienced a full range of thoughts and feelings,
speaking of them frankly. A series of delightful but brief anecdotes on
all the major aspects of his life, show how he was a man without
pretenses, plenty of doubts, but never without hope. I guarantee that
you’ll ENJOY READING this memoir and in the process LEARN how some
wonderful spiritual truths work out in practice. It is a most
encouraging read! You’ll love it!
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