We first meet a young man who has lost his father and his childhood home. We walk with him through his memories. He’s searching for something to make life worth living, something good, and true, and beautiful. All the books he’s read tell him it’s found in great love. He’s heard that some have found it in the love of God, but that’s not for him – he doesn’t even believe in God. He’s too smart to fall for that fairy tale.
We learn right away that he does find a great love, and he
marries her, and then she dies. In fact, his wife’s death is given away on the
back cover. Most of the book is about “Davy” (Jean Davis), their friendship,
their love, their journey through a life of shared interests, seeking and
appreciating beauty in all things. Above all, it is a story about the greatest
love of all, being pursued by a living Savior.
At Oxford, these pagans meet philosophers and physicists,
intellectuals of all sorts, and some of them are Christians, but to Sheldon’s
surprise, he finds he likes them anyway. The joy of Oxford was that everything
could be debated, no subject was forbidden. They spent their days studying
great minds of the past and their evenings debating the great minds in their
midst. On the topic of Christianity, an unbeliever might scoff and say, “I just
don’t get how you can believe this cock & bull story about a resurrection
from the dead” and everyone would laugh and go on with a hearty debate about
the thing, always remaining in good spirits, and as good friends.
Those Christian friends encouraged Sheldon to read C.S.
Lewis, who happened to be a professor at Oxford at the time. When Davy
announces that she believes, and wants to go to church, Sheldon goes along.
They both enjoy the beauty of the cathedrals, the high church liturgy, and the
bells that ring throughout Oxford. But Sheldon doesn’t believe. He isn’t
convinced. He’s stuck on the Resurrection. How can it be? He writes to Lewis,
and Lewis in turn does more than respond, but invites him to lunch where they eat
and drink and debate theology. This friendship grows over many such lunches,
and many such letters.
Sheldon soon finds himself in a predicament. If Christianity
is false then he would be a fool to fall for it, but if it is true then he must
submit to it for to do otherwise would be to “reject my god.” Ever the
rationalist, he finds himself standing on a ledge over an abyss – the leap of
faith forward, without absolute proof, is foolhardy. But he also realizes that
to take the leap back to unbelief, without proof, would be a mistake far
greater. It’s an all or nothing crisis.
A Severe Mercy is a beautifully written story of one man’s
experience being pursued by a relentlessly loving God.
