Descent of the Dove
By Charles Williams
According to the title and general introduction, this was supposed to be a history of the Christian Church and the influence of the Holy Spirit. While parts of it are simply dates and lists to the point of being almost entirely devoid of meaning to most people, a lot of it is somewhat disturbing. The not-so-normal parts of Church history are often suppressed, and Williams gleefully discusses what is usually tactfully covered up.
This book covers quite a lot of the sort of thing you would usually hear about, but which were driving forces in the foundation of Christianity and in influencing the doctrinal trends. I will admit that this book includes long sections of rather dull explanations which I am sure would be very exciting to someone who knew more about the events and people mentioned, but as to which Williams does not pause long enough to explain why he is mentioning them. This is an intriguing book for someone who has grown up in the Church and gotten rather comfortable in it-– Descent of the Dove will elicit exclamations such as “what have I gotten myself into?” For new Christians I would recommend avoiding the book, as it might be confusing. Be careful whom you give this book to as well, because handing it over to an elderly Southern Baptist might not be a good idea. I would also recommend not suggesting the book to those who already have rather progressive ideas and are prone to heretical notions.
Charles Williams proves once again that, while keeping to the narrow straight path is good, you can’t black out what is happening all around. He recommends walking the path, but stopping to look at scenery and maybe help a bird who is hurt by the road, rather than plowing ahead staring at the ground– you’re apt to run into a tree branch or take a wrong turn. I have included below some excerpts from the book I found particularly intriguing to give a flavour of it.
“In some sense, the Gnostics avoided any “scandal” to the mind and soul. The stones they offered fitted the corners of many temples; only not of the City of Christendom.” (25).
“The Roman past was rejected; the effort of the Middle Ages was begun. Intellect was accepted; marriage was accepted; ordinary life was accepted…the nature of the Church had not changed, and only fools suppose that it had. It remained reconciliation and sin redeemed; “my Eros is crucified”; “Another is in me”…it had become a Creed, and it remained a Gospel” (48-9).
“The great pagan chieftains had to become Christians before they could become citizens…they became, sometimes, the wrong kind of Christian; they accepted, sometimes, the wrong kind of dogma” (81).
“The end of the Middle Ages can be variously regarded as a break-down, a break-up, or a break-through. The last is the least probable; the Middle Ages were not so precluded from intelligence that the discovery of a number of new facts or even of other methods of enjoyment need have much destroyed their balance. They were not, as we now realize, enclosed in narrow dogmas; the dogmas in which they were enclosed were as broad as creation, as high as the top-most movement of the soul, as deep as the genesis of the blood, and as remote as Adam and the Day of Judgment…It is true that there were certain things the Middle Ages did not stress, and perhaps the lack of those things contributed to their wreck; as, for instance, they did not habitually encourage the principle of disbelief. The faith of the Middle Ages accepted Reason as implicitly as it accepted Christ…all this, however, hardly supports sufficiently the image of the Middle Ages “breaking through” into a happier intellectual state. nor do we normally now believe that they did” (127-8).
Works Cited:
Williams, Charles. The Descent of the Dove. Vancouver: Regent UP, 2002.
