Confessions of a Twentieth Century Pilgrim

by Malcolm Muggeridge

Confessions Of A Twentieth-Century Pilgrim, by Muggeridge, Malcolm

Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Christianity, Biography

150 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1988

About the author

Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was an English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist. During World War II, he was a soldier and a spy. In the aftermath of the war, as a hugely influential London journalist, he converted to Christianity and helped bring Mother Teresa to popular attention in the West. He was also a critic of the sexual revolution and of drug use.

Reviews

[Sherry Elmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I was curious about Malcolm Muggeridge, having heard Ravi Zacharias mention him very often. This may not have been his best book (which of course I can’t say, as this is my first), but it was certainly interesting. Muggeridge was a thoughtful, perceptive man who saw much in his lifetime. I appreciated reading about his spiritual journey, but I appreciated even more reading about his reactions to Stalin’s Russia, where he’d gone as a journalist and lived for some time with his wife, also visiting Ukraine and witnessing the devastating famine which came from Stalin’s policies. Of Russia he writes:
‘Liberal minds flocked to the USSR in an unending procession, from the great ones like Shaw and Gide and Barbusse and Julian Huxley and Harold Laski and Sidney and Beatrice Webb, down to poor little teachers, crazed clergymen and millionaires, driveling dons, all utterly convinced that, under the aegis of the great Stalin, a new dawn is breaking in the world, so that the human race may at last be united in liberty, equality, and fraternity for evermore…These Liberal minds are prepared to believe anything, however preposterous, to overlook anything, however villainous, to approve anything, however obscurantist and brutally authoritarian, in order to be able to preserve intact the confident expectation that one of the most thoroughgoing, ruthless and bloody tyrannies ever to exist on earth can be relied on to champion human freedom, the brotherhood of man, and all the other good Liberal causes to which they had dedicated their lives…
They are unquestionably one of the marvels of the age; the spectacle is unforgettable of them travelling with radiant optimism through a famished countryside, wandering in happy bands about squalid, overcrowded towns, listening with unshakeable faith to the outpourings of carefully trained Intourist guides, repeating, like school children their multiplication tables, the bogus statistics and monotonous slogans that are fed interminably to Soviet citizens….there scarred and worthy veterans of a hundred battles for truth, peace, and freedom, all, all chanting the praises of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, and of Stalin as its most gracious and beloved figurehead.’

How timely his observations are when we are once again faced with an astonishing number of people who speak as if socialism is the hope of the future, instead of a tragic plague whose ravages too much of the world did not survive.

3 1/2 stars

[L Gregory Lott · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading the author's memoirs "Chronicles of Wasted Time" (volumes 1 & 2) I read this book of his that I have in my library. This last book of Muggeridge bridges the gaps found in the aforementioned books. Muggeridge is one of my favorite authors because he is to me a superb writer and I find his word descriptions captivating. For those who have read the aforementioned memoir; and especially since volume two in my view ends rather abruptly, you really need to read this book to complete his memoirs and the direction of his life until his death in November of 1990. It is well worth pursuing indeed. I will end this review with what impacted me the most and is found on page 141. "In spite of my awareness of the depth to which human beings can descend without God, I firmly believe that we are given the choice of Love or power. The way of Love is the way of the Cross, and it is only through the cross that we come to the Resurrection."

[Dave Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The only ultimate disaster that can befall us is to feel ourselves at home on this earth."

Malcolm Muggeridge’s Confessions of a Twentieth Century Pilgrim” traces the author’s spiritual journey across nearly eight decades. Muggeridge was not a mere "vendor of words," as he described himself, but he was also a great English stylist, a lecturer, a debater, a journalist, a lapsed liberal, a World War II soldier and intelligence agent, a television pioneer, the Rector of the University of Edinburgh, and an agnostic who later became a committed Christian.

After his Cambridge years and brief teaching stints at a Christian college in India and at the University of Cairo, the author traveled to the Soviet Union at the behest of the "Manchester Guardian."

In Stalin's Russia of the thirties he noted that ‘Liberal minds flocked to the USSR in an unending procession, from the great ones like Shaw and Gide and Barbusse and Julian Huxley and Harold Laski and Sidney and Beatrice Webb, down to poor little teachers, crazed clergymen and millionaires, driveling dons, all utterly convinced that, under the aegis of the great Stalin, a new dawn is breaking in the world, so that the human race may at last be united in liberty, equality, and fraternity for evermore... It was as though a Salvation Army contingent had turned out with bands and banners in honour of some ferocious tribal deity, or as though a vegetarian had issued a passionate plea for cannibalism. ‘

As Muggeridge matured, he came to view the advent of the liberal mind as a movement which was neatly paralleled by the demise of Christianity. He wrote, ‘In the moral vacuum left by thus emptying Christianity of its spiritual or transcendental content, the great Liberal Death Wish has been able to flourish and luxuriate; the more so because it can plausibly masquerade as aiming at its opposite- life enhancement.

Despite the pessimism Muggeridge expressed toward mass political movements, the author remained steadfast. Looking at his own mortality, the author quotes Bishop Fulton J. Sheen: “Christendom is over but not Christ.” “Confessions” is succinct work that addresses the important things.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muggeridge has been on my to-read list for years, and now that I have finally gotten around to him, I have to read more. It’s interesting to connect the dots between current events (COVID, George Floyd, and the general decadence of society at large) and these writings. He is almost prophetic. But then again, so is the Bible, and Muggeridge is simply expounding truth here.

The discussion on liberation was insightful. According to Muggeridge, no overthrow of authority has ever resulted in more liberty. Take it or leave it, it’s worth chewing on.

Also, a golden thread woven throughout the book is the antithesis of love and power and Jesus’ ultimate example of incarnate, self-sacrificial, child-like, earthy love, completely void of worldly trappings and luxuries.

I loved the final chapter which deals with death and society’s desperate attempts to escape it or belittle it. On the contrary, he argues for dignity, acceptance of death as an entrance into life, an embrace of it.

Muggeridge May tend toward Gnosticism and mysticism, and I do not agree entirely with his Roman Catholicism, but his points are valid, and his conversion genuine and moving. I give the book 5 stars because it’s worth going back to and taking notes. I closed the book feeling spiritually challenged and edified and eager to read Chronicles I’d Wasted Time.

[Edward Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting journey from a leading thinker of the 20th century. After examining all of the liberal "wisdom" of the day, he finds their ideas of man creating heaven on earth to be wanting, and finally comes to faith in the only one who can bring true peace, the Prince of Peace Himself.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Malcolm Muggeridge was an immensely talented writer -- perhaps the greatest prose writer I've read -- and this book is no exception to his extraordinary ability; though, I must admit, not his greatest offering. That said, I think an aspiring writer would do well to read and study anything written by the man.

But for all St. Mugg's talents as a writer, one problem I've found over and again with his thought is that it lacks a cohesion and consistency which dilutes the strength of his musings. He very generously and boldly engages in the little facets of thought that seem to have prodded him as he reflected on his life, but some of those reflections lead down paths that the orthodox thinker may hesitate to tread.

Another potential problem to the reader is that much of the material is recycled. Some of it is repeated from his appearances on Firing Line, some from Chronicles of Waste Time, some from Something Beautiful for God and some I recognize from Vintage Muggeridge (which is also composed of writings found elsewhere). I use "potential problem" because anyone not familiar with the man may find this book entirely fresh and others who are familiar with him may rejoice that so much is brought into one volume.

Though the above sum up my overall impressions of the book, I'd be remorse if I didn't point out that there are some truly wonderful spiritual and theological insights to be found in the book; insights so wonderful that I have an unnerving feeling my three star rating is too harsh. Furthermore, he makes wonderful use of many scriptural, literary and poetic snippets that obviously held great value to him and apply wonderfully to the experiences he shares. This collection of quotations -- so abundant that the book might also be thought of as a mini-anthology of Western spiritual thought --alone would be worth the read. If this isn't enough to convince you of my appreciation for the book, I will conclude by saying that I should be happy for my rating to be rebuked by anyone who reads it and rejoice in conversing about its content, which I happily recommend.

[Frank Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first introduction to Muggeridge. He is an incredible story teller, and well worth reading.