While I was in Portland for the Tcl/Tk Conference, I naturally went to Powell’s books; and given my current interest, I raided the theology shelves. One of the books I found, with glee, was Frank Sheed’s Theology for Beginners.

I discover authors in two ways: sometimes I’ll just pick something up while browsing, and sometimes I’ll go looking for something because I’ve seen positive mentions from a number of different sources. And sometimes in the latter case, the book or author in question is hard to get a hold of. In Sheed’s case, I’d seen him mentioned by a number of writers whom I’ve come to trust, but I simply never found any of his books at the bookstore, and (having lots of other books to read first) never got sufficiently motivated to look on-line. Besides, there’s the thrill of the chase: it’s fun to hunt for things.

So anyway, I found it at Powell’s, read a few pages, and snapped it up, along with Sheed’s Theology and Sanity (which I’ve not yet read). And I am singularly impressed.

First of all, Sheed writes with the clarity of C.S. Lewis. It’s a clarity he earned, speaking and fielding questions in Hyde Park, and learning how to get across to all kinds of people. Second, where Lewis was inclined to emphasize “Mere” Christianity in his writings, Sheed is trying to convey the richness of Catholic Christianity in all of its fullness—and he does so clearly, thoroughly, and not at all dryly. Many things that I’ve come to understand in dribs and drabs over the last two years are all laid out neatly and in order. The book is fifty years old (and thus pre-dates Vatican II) but except for a handful of references to details of the Latin Mass it doesn’t feel dated at all.

Lewis famously described Christianity as a house with many rooms, and “Mere” Christianity a description of the whole house, or perhaps of the hallway between the rooms. If you’re a fan of C.S. Lewis you’re curious what they believe in the Catholic room, you could hardly do better than start this one book (which, I’ve just discovered, is available from Amazon).