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 PrintableVersion Genius, Grief and Grace: A doctor looks at suffering and successPersonalitiesGENIUS, GRIEF AND GRACE: Is it just me, or are you too frustrated with most Christian biography? Many biographers are like over-zealous morticians. They present their subject so perfectly that close relatives don't recognise them. The effect is to glorify the person, and subtly to rob God of his glory. Gaius Davies has done us a great service in sketching the real lives of a number of great Christians. His aim is to explore their unique psychological makeup, and to show how God by his grace can turn painful handicaps and disabilities into glory. The book first appeared in 1992 under the title Genius and Grace. Christian Focus have reprinted it with a new introduction and two extra essays on Frances Ridley Havergal, and Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Unfortunately the reprint shows signs of having been carelessly scanned into a computer and is full of typographical errors. These are often irritating and sometimes hilarious, but only occasionally obscure the sense of what is written. The essays themselves are rich and fascinating. Davies starts by looking at Martin Luther, and shows how his discovery of God's grace liberated him from the worst effects of his obsessive-compulsive personality. John Bunyan is a second example, while William Cowper serves as an example of a man wrestling with depression. Other, less positive examples are also studied. Gerard Manley Hopkins was prejudiced against the very truths that would have helped him find peace. Christina Rossetti never seems to have discovered the liberty of Luther, seeing her life as a long toil of submission. She asked in a famous poem: 'Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end'. Davies's overall theme is that God does not change our personality, but by his grace he can liberate us from the worst effects of weaknesses, and use them greatly. In a harsher hand these warts-and-all portraits could read as character assassinations, but Davies has an affection for them all and the psychiatrist's strong sense that God loves to use his imperfect sons and daughters. Perhaps the essay which will arouse the most interest is on Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Davies himself was once an unquestioning disciple who grew out of his childish idolatry. Though continuing to admire and appreciate Lloyd-Jones, he is critical of his tendency to brook no opposition, and his sometimes pugnacious and aggressive style. Such an assessment will undoubtedly arouse strong emotions, as the pages of this news-paper have recently witnessed! The effect of this book is to magnify the glory and grace of God, something that every one of its subjects would have rejoiced to see. All those whom God uses know that God's power is made perfect in weakness. Peter Comont, Magdalen Road Evangelical Church, Oxford© Evangelicals Now - April 2002 |
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