Publisher: Dell Publishing
Copyright: 1962
Genre: Sci-fi and Young Adult
Recommended: Yes, but with qualifications
Imagine a cosmos with singing centaurs, disembodied brains, crystal balls, other-worldly creatures who can morph into whatever, super-boy geniuses, and of course tesseracts. It would be a crazy cosmos, would it not? But I guess ours is not so different. For at root A Wrinkle in Time is all about evil, love, and the human spirit. What does that mean J-Dub? I’ll explain below.
Madeleine L’Engle takes us on an adventure into the outer regions of our imagination through the point of view of a pre-teen, stubborn, and nerdy girl named Margaret or Meg Murry. She has a five year old brother, who happens to be quite the little brother as we find out, two older and average brothers, a mother who is both beautiful and a Doctor in microbiology, and a missing Father who is a Doctor in physics working for the government of the United States. These characters are then joined by Calvin, a basketball player with latent intellectual curiosities and the stand-in for Meg’s potential beau, three magical creatures that go by the names of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, and finally we are met with IT.
I’d rather not give too much away about the story, so I will commence to speak in generalities.
Madeleine’s writing is simple (Young Adult genre), fast-moving, and quite silly at times. This makes her book an easy read as well as an enjoyably entertaining read. Every now and then she throws in some scripture from the Bible (Romans 8.28, 30; 1 Corinthians 1.25-28; and Isaiah 42.10-12). She also talks about the power of darkness and the heroes who have fought it like: Jesus, Ghandi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bach, Shakespeare, Bhudda, Beethoven, St. Francis, Euclid, Copernicus, Schweitzer, Rembrandt, “And Pasteur and Madame Curie and Einstein!”
What a list, what a list, what an odd, odd list. But you see this is what happens when a progressive “Christian,” detached from the written word of God, writes a novel.
Eventually the reader finds out what the book is really about: the power of love, the love that is God, love is God. If you know me or if you have read my post on Spurgeon’s “Grace is God” mistake then you know where this is headed, if not then enjoy the ride. I’ll try to keep it short, but entertaining.
Love is not God! Get over it already! Jesus Christ is GOD! Not some mystical, disembodied, depersonalized, mis-defined characteristic called “love!” Whenever love is made God we mis-define both love and God. That is a HUGE mistake and it destroys lives. It destroys lives. And her attempt to enthrone love actually destroys both love and God. Jesus Christ is no longer God, but only a man. She emasculates God. He loses His God-hood.
I cannot stand it when people make our God into a pathetic creature. It sucks the air right out of my lungs: “You didn’t just do that, I know you didn’t just disfigure our God. There’s no way, not if you knew who our God is. There’s no way you would’ve done that.”
But she does and she did. She falls for the bad news, which does not save.
Our God is an awesome God. He is a jealous God. He is a God of love. He is a God who is just. And so much more. He is also: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He longs to be glorified because He is the source of love, beauty, and truth. And therefore He is the only source of absolute, eternal, and all-satisfying joy.
And Madeleine L’Engle sweeps it all away. She takes her broom and swipes the real God under the rug. Though this book was an enjoyable and entertaining read, it was not a soul-edifying read, except perhaps indirectly. She shows us at least one mistake not to make: never, never, never dethrone Jesus Christ as God and put something or someone else on the throne.
“Thanks for the rant J-Dub! I really needed that, thanks a lot!”
Sure, no problemo. :)
Author Bio: Madeleine L’Engle was born in New York, NY in 1918 and died in 2007. She wrote four sequels to A Wrinkle in Time including: A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. (Thanks Wikipedia)
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