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The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849

charles dickens gerald charles dickens

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In this charming, simple retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, adapted from the Gospel of St. Luke, Dickens hoped to teach his young children about religion and faith.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,1934

This edition

Format
128 pages, Hardcover
Published
November 9, 1999 by Simon \u0026 Schuster
ISBN
9780684865379
ASIN
0684865378
Language
English

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About the author

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charles dickens

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Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.

Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.

On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.

(from Wikipedia)

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Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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Jahra
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Excellent depiction of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ by Charles Dickens. It was written for his children because he wanted them to know of Jesus. This book was not published until the last of his ten children passed away.
It also has beautiful illustrations by Simon Dewey.
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Pazza85
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I can't decide whether to review this as a religious book or as a life-help book. As a religious book, it is not superb. It is completely silent on Christ's atonement and how we can be forgiven of sins. It says, "His father's name was Joseph ...", but quotes the guards at his crucifixion: "Surely this was the Son of God!" However, as a book to help one through life, it easily rates four or five stars. Dickens tells the story of the life of the Savior, as given in the scriptures. He emphasizes how Jesus taught and demonstrated that we must love all mankind and seek to relieve their suffering. "Remember-It is christianity TO DO GOOD always-even to those who do evil to us." He beautifully conveys how we must be humble and prayerful to be true Christians.

This edition includes beautiful illustrations by Simon Dewey. More than two dozen warm, personal paintings depict moment from His life. This is a wonderful volume that would surely serve as a family Christmas tradition.
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RisingRah
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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this is a easy read that's a great introduction to the life of Christ. I read some of it out loud to my husband.

I enjoyed the morals that Dickens shares about what we can learn from the miracles of Christ. I think this is a great book to introduce kids to the life of Christ.

However, I would use this as a starting point and would continue in more reading about Christ in the scriptures and more scholarly texts like Jesus the Christ by James E Talmage. Overall, an enjoyable read, great during the holidays.
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Ren0001
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I have mixed feelings about reading books that authors never intended to publish (I still haven't been able to bring myself to read Harper Lee's "Go Set a Watchman" for precisely this reason), but reading this narrative of the life of Jesus Christ by Charles Dickens was so moving to me, I could only be glad that while Dickens' children felt bound to respect their father's wish that it not be made available to the public, they did not feel obligated to put their own children under the same restriction. I really enjoyed it. I know there is not much too it. More than anything it just compiles all the stories of the New Testament into one narrative. But it is such a powerful narrative and there was something about considering its context (a father who happened to be a master storyteller, recounting this most important story to his children) that made the reading so special, such a tender delight. I loved reading it as one of my first "Christmas" books of the season and it felt especially timely given my plans to read the New Testament in the new year.

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"My dear children, I am very anxious that you should know something about the History of Jesus Christ. For everybody ought to know about Him. No one ever lived who was so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for all people who did wrong, or were in any way ill or miserable, as He was. And as He is now in Heaven, where we hope to go, and all to meet each other after we are dead, and there be happy always together, you never can think what a good place Heaven is, without knowing who He was and what He did."

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Tedbaxter
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I inherited a lovely first addition of this small book several years ago, and recently decided to read it, to see if it might be useful during Biblestudy with my children.

This was written by Charles Dickens, for his children, and was never intended for publication. It's written in simple, clear words, and is intended as a summary of the life of Jesus Christ.

Nearly right away, Dickens blatently denies the God-head of Christ. In supposedly quoting the angel's speech to the shepherds, shortly after Christ's birth, he writes: "There is a child born today in the city of Bethlehem near here, who will grow up to be so good that God will love Him as His own Son...and His name will be Jesus Christ; and people will put that name in their prayers, because they will know God loves it, and will know that they should love it too." He clearly states that God will love Jesus AS a son, completely denying that Christ IS God.

Later on, describing Christ's adult life, he writes: "And because He did such good, and taught people how to love God and how to hope to go to heaven after death, Jesus was called Our Saviour." Notice that, according to Dickens, we can only HOPE to go to heaven, based on our good deeds. He's not our Savior because his death delivered us from slavery to our sin nature. Instead, he's simply a moral man and good teacher. Not entirely sure how Dickens rationalized calling him a Savior, since apparently he didn't actually save anybody.

There are several other examples of this type of heresy throughout, but I'll end with this final one. The book concludes with two prayers Dickens wrote for his children to learn. One contains the following: "...and let me never be cruel to any dumb creatures, for if I am cruel to anything, even to a poor little fly, God, who is so good, will never love me..." There's no mention of forgiveness of sin, only moralizing based on fear of rejection.

Altogether, this book preaches social justice more than Christ ever did, meanwhile missing who He is entirely.

Needless to say, I will NOT be using this to teach my children.
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endlessphs
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Read this book in my senior year of college just before student teaching. I was surprised it was not on the school list of books to read in my 1st student teaching assignment. I know I have given it to other children and their parents as gifts and they said their children loved it and helped them understand scripture from a child’s understanding. I was touched that this great writer wrote it and shows a side of him few knew when I was younger! Would read again!
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HetaliaTrash101
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Since Charles Dickens never meant for this to be published (and was, apparently, quite adamant about it), I feel kind of bad writing a positive review about it in order to recommend it to others. But I'm going to cautiously do so anyway.

So, knowing that this comes from the great Charles Dickens, let me dispense with any expectations from the start: this is really just an abridged version of a condensed New Testament (the Gospels sections, at least) for children. In that capacity, it is fantastic. You breeze through the life and acts of Jesus Christ in its most simple, beautiful form. Regardless of religion, the philosophical message of acceptance and humility is inspirational. Even if you are not interested in those aspects of the book, it is at least intriguing to see the themes that the great author highlights and to muse on how those correlate with his themes in his classic novels.

All in all, it was a light, interesting, and inspirational read--and even if it was only meant for his children, I appreciate Charles's indulgence in allowing me a glimpse into his home life and teachings.
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sodamntired
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I had never heard of this until my mom passed her copy on to me this year. But then, that was the intent! According to the introduction, Dickens didn't want this book published, and he didn't want it known as a work of Dickens. He wrote it to instruct his children about the life of Jesus Christ at the time when his popularity was at its height. He knew that if it were published, it would become part of the Dickens oeuvre, and he didn't want that. The family, many years after his death, decided to publish it, the underlying message being that they wanted the world to see the Charles Dickens they had grown up learning about: as a devoted father and devout Christian.

This book led to some interesting discussions with my children, in that there are a couple of things that we as members of the Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that Dickens does not (he says, for instance, that Jesus was such a good man he was CALLED the son of God). But the language is so simple that it actually helped my kids understand some of the details about Christ's last days and crucifixion that the Bible is too obscure about.
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