$5 on Abe

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3543599.html

Winston Churchill was a well-known American writer who happened to have the same name as a well-known British politician, three years younger than him. Back in 1913 and 1914, this novel was the best-selling book of the year in the USA, and I acquired it for the centenary in 2014, but have only now got around to reading it.

The Inside of the Cup is the story of a clergyman who is hired to service the upper classes of a city that is probably St Louis, and comes to the realisation that to really implement Christianity he is going to have to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. The title comes from Jesus' admonition to the Pharisees in Matthew's Gospel:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι καθαρίζετε τὸ ἔξωθεν τοῦ ποτηρίου καὶ τῆς παροψίδος, ἔσωθεν δὲ γέμουσιν ἐξ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ ἀκρασίας.

You know what way it's going to go as soon as the richest parishioner's estranged and nobly minded daughter hoves into view. The scandalous bit of the book, which frankly is rather boring now, is that the protagonist decides that believing in the virgin birth etc is not as important as Doing Good. It's awfully over-written and seems to go on for a very long time. Still, I think I'd like to visit St Louis some time on the basis of this. ( )

At times, I found it difficult to believe this book was written a century ago. A common theme through out the book is how the church was being used by the ruling classes as an instrument of opression, and how little of church doctrine was able to stand up to careful scrutiny based on an honest reading of scripture. That was then, but it sounds suspiciously like a criticism of today's churches, the churches of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rick Warren, Pat Robertson, Al Mohler, James Dobson, et al., people who cheerfully lie to their flocks, while at the same time keeping them ignorant and impoverished, all to the benefit of a wealthy minority, who are, not incidentally, filling the pockets of said august clergy. I always find it comforting to be reminded that, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose". I get this same feeling from reading Psalm 10. To paraphrase Jesus, "the rich scoundrels you will always have with you".

Winston Churchill, the American author whose historical novels were wildly popular a century ago, and who made a pact with his British counterpart that the latter would be distinguished by using his middle initial, 'S.', used this book as a means of defining his own personal theology. As such, the book would likely have no interest to a modern reader who has little knowledge or interest in religious matters. For those still struggling to understand what it means to be a Christian, the book has much to offer. This book contains some ideas with which many of us might not agree, but provides much food for thought. Members of fundamentalist sects, for whom thinking is anathema, would not find this book meaningful, but for the rest of us, it provides a most profitable read.

I suppose it's worth mentioning that the version I read on kindle was full of typos and other mistakes. Several of the names changed back and forth from one page to another, e.g. the main character was mostly Hodder, but sometimes Holder. Interestingly, the basic typography was not so bad, in that there weren't the annoying line breaks in the middle of paragraphs which mar so many public domain works on kindle. ( )

A splendid story with striking parallels with the social
situation of a century later ( )

The Inside of the Cup is a 1913 best-selling novel by American writer Winston Churchill. The story was first serialized in Hearst's Magazine from April 1912 through July 1913, and was released in book form in May 1913. The best selling book in the United States for 1913, it sparked a nationwide debate about the role of Christianity in modern life.