The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, by Hannah Whitall Smith > Likes and Comments

Here's where we'll discuss anything related to our annual common read for this year, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith. This will be a reread for me (originally read back in the early 70s); I will be joining in, and look forward to it! But I'll have to start later this month, since I'm not finished with my current book yet.

One of the most prominent female Christian speakers and lay theologians of the latter part of the 19th century, Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) was raised as an evangelical Quaker, but later became an early voice for interdenominational cooperation. (In 1874, she helped found the Women's Christian Temperance Union.) Married in 1851, she would bear seven children (of whom only three lived to adulthood). The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life is the best known of her five books, and is still widely read.

Wikipedia has a helpful write-up on her, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_... .

Not quite as long ago, but I believe I read it in the 90s. Unfortunately, I can't dig in any more boxes for the physical copy with my own highlights, so will have to read the Kindle edition. Looking forward to the re-read and discussion!

I started on this book yesterday! I'm actually reading the 1888 expanded edition, the final one that Smith published in her lifetime (in the 1985 reprint edition reprinted by Word Books, with a perceptive Introduction and short Study Guide by Elisabeth Eliot.)

Since, as I mentioned in the previous post, the edition I'm reading has questions for study/discussion written by Elisabeth Eliot, Reggia asked me (on another thread, in a different group), to share some of these. The questions posed for Chapter 1 are:
1. What kind of happiness is the author talking about? How does it differ from current notions?
2. How does the life Christ intended to give us differ from the life lived by many who think of themselves as Christian?
3. What was the object of the death of Christ? Support the answer with Scripture.
4. What is redemption?

Just ordered. We'll see soon.

I never got back to review the Name above names. I am still not sure what to rate it.

I finished the book yesterday (that is, the Smith book, not Name Above Names), and will hope to post my review very soon.

For anyone who's interested, my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

I ended up giving up on the book about halfway through. I felt that the older style of writing made it a little harder to get through and it also seemed quite repetitive. I did think there were some good points in the half that I listened to, but it just really wasn't hitting me well. I don't know if it would have made a difference had I tried to read a physical copy instead of the audiobook. Maybe it's just one of those that isn't the best for digesting as an audiobook. I did appreciate the overall message though and I know it is something I need to work on in how I approach my own faith.

I read it in print format. so don't know how it would work as an audiobook. Personally, I don't have a problem with older-style diction (partly because I grew up reading it, and the adults around me didn't make a big deal out of it), but I didn't think her prose style was very convoluted. It admittedly IS pretty repetitive; Smith has a tendency to hammer her points home by repetition. She also quotes Scripture exclusively from the King James version (which, in 1875, was the only Bible widely used among Anglophone Protestants).

Some readers judging this book by its title might conclude that it's an early example of the burgeoning "Christian self-help" sub-genre. In actual fact, though, Smith takes very seriously the fact that we humans are powerless to help ourselves; her approach to the Christian life is very dependent upon faith in the sanctifying grace of God. Our part is simply to trust Him for this, consecrate our will to His, and obey whatever we know that he asks of us to do. Again, some might dismiss that counsel as nothing more than sanctified common sense. Yet it's very clearly the case that large numbers of professed Christians have never fully grasped this idea (and would be much better off if they did!).

Just finished this.

To me, this felt like my first glance into a Quakers perspective on faith...And...its quite simple. Submit your will to God, and a happy life will follow. I am going to accept that message as it is.

I felt some of the examples she gave, like the man who carries a bundle, and accepts a ride, but when he sits, still keeps the bundle on his shoulders, or the chariots meant to teach and shape us were quite vivid, and got the point to across. The language was a little thick at times, but it was not a thick book.

I do feel like the message was delivered early, and kind of repeated throughout, but... nothing wrong with the message.