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A View From the Ridge: The Testimony of a Twentieth-Century Christian
The best-selling author of The Shoes of the Fisherman offers a lyrical, intensely personal affirmation of his life of faith and an account of his life's pilgrimage as a Catholic in the twentieth century. 20,000 first printing.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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46 people want to read
About the author
Morris L. West
134 books174 followersMorris Langlo West was born in St Kilda, Melbourne in 1916. At the age of fourteen, he entered the Christian Brothers seminary ‘as a kind of refuge’ from a difficult childhood. He attended the University of Melbourne and worked as a teacher. In 1941 he left the Christian Brothers without taking final vows. In World War II he worked as a code-breaker, and for a time he was private secretary to former prime minister Billy Hughes.
After the war, West became a successful writer and producer of radio serials. In 1955 he left Australia to build an international career as a writer. With his family, he lived in Austria, Italy, England and the USA, including a stint as the Vatican correspondent for the British newspaper, the Daily Mail. He returned to Australia in 1982.
Morris West wrote 30 books and many plays, and several of his novels were adapted for film. His books were published in 28 languages and sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. Each new book he wrote after he became an established writer sold more than one million copies.
West received many awards and accolades over his long writing career, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the W.H. Heinemann Award of the Royal Society of Literature for The Devil's Advocate. In 1978 he was elected a fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1985, and was made an Officer of the Order (AO) in 1997.
Morris West died at his desk in 1999.
After the war, West became a successful writer and producer of radio serials. In 1955 he left Australia to build an international career as a writer. With his family, he lived in Austria, Italy, England and the USA, including a stint as the Vatican correspondent for the British newspaper, the Daily Mail. He returned to Australia in 1982.
Morris West wrote 30 books and many plays, and several of his novels were adapted for film. His books were published in 28 languages and sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. Each new book he wrote after he became an established writer sold more than one million copies.
West received many awards and accolades over his long writing career, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the W.H. Heinemann Award of the Royal Society of Literature for The Devil's Advocate. In 1978 he was elected a fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1985, and was made an Officer of the Order (AO) in 1997.
Morris West died at his desk in 1999.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 18, 2012
Morris West is a novelist or rather was a novelist who wrote some of the most enthralling novels about religion that i have read. He was compassionate and insightful and courageous and challenging and all of these attributes are writ large here in his very personal account of the journey he made through a fairly tumultuous period in the life of the Catholic Church.
He expresses disappointment in this Church which often treated him shabbily but which he never gave up on. He stood sometimes at its, towards him, fairly inhospitable gates and kept knocking gently but insistently. The old Holman Hunt picture 'I stand at the door and knock' where Jesus is seen outside a door clasped in ivy and with no outer door handle springs to mind. Like the Lord in Holman-Hunt's picture West never gave up.
He is critical of the abuse of power
'I hold firmly to the gospel message that authority is given for service and not for the exercise of power. Magistracy is a function of ministry; all other use of it is a perversion'
He challenges the assumed supremacy of certain outlooks
'We have to admit, first to ourselves, and then, very humbly, to one another, that we live at the heart of a dark mystery, which we can still only describe by allegory and legend or the sterile and incomplete formulae of physical science.'
but manages to speaks so humbly of where he is on his journey
'Do I believe in God? Yes I do, though I cannot reason Him into existence, though I do not believe all that is written, or approve of all that is done, in His Name. I believe that all creation is a mask of God and that the most diverse creeds cloak an essential truth.'
'I am still a questioner, because I regard the Christian life as a search and not an arrival'
The whole book is a simple account of one man's exploration of himself, of coming to like himself becasue as he says at one point
'No-one can survive a vendetta with the person you see each morning in the mirror'
On a number of occaions, three to be exact, he found himself very seriously ill and close to death and gradually he was able to grow into a confidence where he could say to the God with whom he never lost contact
'You gave me life. I didn't ask for it. But, bitter and sweet, you gave it. The gift looks a little bedraggled and defaced now. But while I had it, I loved it. Now, if you want it back, I surrender it, with thanks'
This book would perhaps not be of interest to men and women who do not believe in the existence of some form of superior power although his decency and gentle searching, his compassion and seemingly bottomless pit of forgiveness would impress and move I think. However for men and women of faith, especially those who believe and follow in spite of the crass stupidity and sometimes hollow arguments or proclamations of our leaders, here you might just encounter a champion who speaks for you.
I found his optimistic outlook on his journey wonderful. Not in some Pollyanna inane refusal to countenance 'nasty stuff', he is only too well aware of the inhumane aspects of religion, but rather in a mature, courageous look at a world he would dwell in without his companion who walked with him through every step. His faith in this God is simple but profound; words, he makes clear, can never fully explain or summarize and why, for Heaven's sake, would you want them too. Words were his way of life but he recognizes how they can never fully solve or resolve and indeed sometimes, if we rely too heavily upon them, they can become chains and cruelties.
'Ever since the Greeks, we have been drunk
with Language! We have made a cage of words
and shoved our God inside, as boys confine
A cricket or a locust, to make him sing
A private song! And look what great god-stopping
Words we use for God's simplicity,
Hypostasis and homoousion!
We burn men for these words - a baboon chatter
Of human ignorance! - We burn men'
This was from a play he wrote and its cry of anguish at the end rang so powerfully for me that my eyes were pricking with tears. As a practising catholic I found in him a wonderful voice of reason, wit, compassion and gentleness. This book will not prove anything to anyone other than good people exist and they are beautiful.
He expresses disappointment in this Church which often treated him shabbily but which he never gave up on. He stood sometimes at its, towards him, fairly inhospitable gates and kept knocking gently but insistently. The old Holman Hunt picture 'I stand at the door and knock' where Jesus is seen outside a door clasped in ivy and with no outer door handle springs to mind. Like the Lord in Holman-Hunt's picture West never gave up.
He is critical of the abuse of power
'I hold firmly to the gospel message that authority is given for service and not for the exercise of power. Magistracy is a function of ministry; all other use of it is a perversion'
He challenges the assumed supremacy of certain outlooks
'We have to admit, first to ourselves, and then, very humbly, to one another, that we live at the heart of a dark mystery, which we can still only describe by allegory and legend or the sterile and incomplete formulae of physical science.'
but manages to speaks so humbly of where he is on his journey
'Do I believe in God? Yes I do, though I cannot reason Him into existence, though I do not believe all that is written, or approve of all that is done, in His Name. I believe that all creation is a mask of God and that the most diverse creeds cloak an essential truth.'
'I am still a questioner, because I regard the Christian life as a search and not an arrival'
The whole book is a simple account of one man's exploration of himself, of coming to like himself becasue as he says at one point
'No-one can survive a vendetta with the person you see each morning in the mirror'
On a number of occaions, three to be exact, he found himself very seriously ill and close to death and gradually he was able to grow into a confidence where he could say to the God with whom he never lost contact
'You gave me life. I didn't ask for it. But, bitter and sweet, you gave it. The gift looks a little bedraggled and defaced now. But while I had it, I loved it. Now, if you want it back, I surrender it, with thanks'
This book would perhaps not be of interest to men and women who do not believe in the existence of some form of superior power although his decency and gentle searching, his compassion and seemingly bottomless pit of forgiveness would impress and move I think. However for men and women of faith, especially those who believe and follow in spite of the crass stupidity and sometimes hollow arguments or proclamations of our leaders, here you might just encounter a champion who speaks for you.
I found his optimistic outlook on his journey wonderful. Not in some Pollyanna inane refusal to countenance 'nasty stuff', he is only too well aware of the inhumane aspects of religion, but rather in a mature, courageous look at a world he would dwell in without his companion who walked with him through every step. His faith in this God is simple but profound; words, he makes clear, can never fully explain or summarize and why, for Heaven's sake, would you want them too. Words were his way of life but he recognizes how they can never fully solve or resolve and indeed sometimes, if we rely too heavily upon them, they can become chains and cruelties.
'Ever since the Greeks, we have been drunk
with Language! We have made a cage of words
and shoved our God inside, as boys confine
A cricket or a locust, to make him sing
A private song! And look what great god-stopping
Words we use for God's simplicity,
Hypostasis and homoousion!
We burn men for these words - a baboon chatter
Of human ignorance! - We burn men'
This was from a play he wrote and its cry of anguish at the end rang so powerfully for me that my eyes were pricking with tears. As a practising catholic I found in him a wonderful voice of reason, wit, compassion and gentleness. This book will not prove anything to anyone other than good people exist and they are beautiful.
March 18, 2024
Rather than a conventional autobiography Morris West wrote a testimony of his Christian, particularly Catholic, faith.
It’s the final declaration of a man whose life as a best selling novelist ran in parallel with his somewhat strained relationship with the catholic Church and with certain of its dogmas and tenets. However his sincere Christian belief and values shine through and though I am not religious his words display an integrity of the soul that is both inspiring and touching. It’s not a book for everyone and you really have to be a fan of Mr West’s writing to want to read it, I think. But if a simple love of beautiful writing, the desire to have an insight to one man’s faith and commitment to a set of values that stood him in good stead throughout his life and career as a writer, then that maybe enough for you to want to pick up this book. It was for me and I am better for having done so.
It’s the final declaration of a man whose life as a best selling novelist ran in parallel with his somewhat strained relationship with the catholic Church and with certain of its dogmas and tenets. However his sincere Christian belief and values shine through and though I am not religious his words display an integrity of the soul that is both inspiring and touching. It’s not a book for everyone and you really have to be a fan of Mr West’s writing to want to read it, I think. But if a simple love of beautiful writing, the desire to have an insight to one man’s faith and commitment to a set of values that stood him in good stead throughout his life and career as a writer, then that maybe enough for you to want to pick up this book. It was for me and I am better for having done so.
October 7, 2018
No idea why the author is given as Scott Lancaster as this book is a memoir of faith by Morris West. The language is biblical in tone which takes some getting used to. A lifetime struggle with squaring the circle with divine faith and man's failure to live up to it. Beautifully told by a master storyteller. I may not agree with his argument, but he does tell it so well and convincingly.
February 7, 2010
If you don’t immediately recall the name Morris West from reading some of his 20 novels, it’s almost certain that you’ve seen the films made from “The Shoes of the Fisherman” or “The Devil’s Advocate”.
Morris West sold many millions of books. His stories always had a spiritual dimension and were easy to read, engrossing and often thought provoking.
Towards the end of his life (he died in 1999) he wrote “A View from the Ridge” in which he looked back on the pilgrimage that was his life from the point of view of a 20th-century Christian. The result is an intimate testament of the evolution of his own personal creed of belief.
He is not asking, and for less demanding, that we share his faith in God, Jesus or the after life. Rather, the book is fascinating because he asks the same questions all of us ask at times in our lives. His answers are truly his own; but he challenges us to find our own answers for ourselves.
“We have to admit, first to ourselves, and then, very humbly, to one another, that we live at the heart of a dark mystery, which we can still only describe by allegory and legend or the sterile and incomplete formulae of physical science.
“The act of faith is not a leap from darkness into light. It is an affirmation that light exists beyond darkness, that the chaos and the cruelties of existence do, in the end, make some sense, and that the primal act of creation, with all that issued from it, was an act of love.
“The strongest compulsion to belief is not reason but need. We cannot endure to live in a mad universe. We are compelled, for our own sanity, to make sense of it. Sooner or later we are forced either to blasphemy or to the pilgrim search for the source of light – the shrine where creative love resides.
“This opening of the Self to the Other, the Creature to the Creator, is the first step along the winding road.”Morris West’s meditation on his own journey is a fascinating book that gently pushes and prods and challenges us with questions about our own life that we may never have considered before.
For more reviews, essays and stories, please visit my website:
Serendipities of a Writer's Life www.dennisonberwick.info
Morris West sold many millions of books. His stories always had a spiritual dimension and were easy to read, engrossing and often thought provoking.
Towards the end of his life (he died in 1999) he wrote “A View from the Ridge” in which he looked back on the pilgrimage that was his life from the point of view of a 20th-century Christian. The result is an intimate testament of the evolution of his own personal creed of belief.
He is not asking, and for less demanding, that we share his faith in God, Jesus or the after life. Rather, the book is fascinating because he asks the same questions all of us ask at times in our lives. His answers are truly his own; but he challenges us to find our own answers for ourselves.
“We have to admit, first to ourselves, and then, very humbly, to one another, that we live at the heart of a dark mystery, which we can still only describe by allegory and legend or the sterile and incomplete formulae of physical science.
“The act of faith is not a leap from darkness into light. It is an affirmation that light exists beyond darkness, that the chaos and the cruelties of existence do, in the end, make some sense, and that the primal act of creation, with all that issued from it, was an act of love.
“The strongest compulsion to belief is not reason but need. We cannot endure to live in a mad universe. We are compelled, for our own sanity, to make sense of it. Sooner or later we are forced either to blasphemy or to the pilgrim search for the source of light – the shrine where creative love resides.
“This opening of the Self to the Other, the Creature to the Creator, is the first step along the winding road.”Morris West’s meditation on his own journey is a fascinating book that gently pushes and prods and challenges us with questions about our own life that we may never have considered before.
For more reviews, essays and stories, please visit my website:
Serendipities of a Writer's Life www.dennisonberwick.info
April 1, 2011
Morris West was a wonderful novelist who was never afraid to address the most fundamental questions in life. This book is not however a novel but a kind of autobiography. I think I would call it more his testimony though in that it was written in his 80th year. He uses the notion of autobiography to sum up his philosophy, cosmology and beliefs rather than taking us through the minutiae of his long and varied life.
As a lifelong practising catholic he discusses his often troubled relationship with the church as well as attempting to explain his own beliefs. The book is a passionate plea for humanity although his long term view of our future is often deeply pessimistic. Permeating through all his thoughts however is his persistent faith and belief in God - a faith that he himself cannot explain. Indeed who can?
As a lifelong practising catholic he discusses his often troubled relationship with the church as well as attempting to explain his own beliefs. The book is a passionate plea for humanity although his long term view of our future is often deeply pessimistic. Permeating through all his thoughts however is his persistent faith and belief in God - a faith that he himself cannot explain. Indeed who can?
October 1, 2008
Morris West has written a number of very good novels that revolve around the Catholic Church. The first one I read was 'The Devils Advocate', and the second was 'The Shoes of the Fisherman'. As time passed by I also read his; 'The Clowns of God', 'Lazarus', 'Harlequin', and 'The Ambassador'. The first two were excellent. The others were not quite as good. All were crafted by a master writer.
'The View From The Ridge' is very different from them all. It is an end piece to a devoted Twentieth-Century Christian's life. It is a non-fiction, fascinating, and very readable 'Testimony' by Mr. West. It describes a his lifetime of questioning both his faith and his church. I found it to be a delightful romp through an eventful Christian life.
end
'The View From The Ridge' is very different from them all. It is an end piece to a devoted Twentieth-Century Christian's life. It is a non-fiction, fascinating, and very readable 'Testimony' by Mr. West. It describes a his lifetime of questioning both his faith and his church. I found it to be a delightful romp through an eventful Christian life.
end
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews