A review of the book, My Dear Timothy, which was published by Simon & Schuster in 1953 and authored by Victor Gollancz

Sussman, Cornelia Jessey

English

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The Bridge: A Yearbook of Judaeo-Christian 
Studies, Vol. I The Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies 
1955 
Book Review: 'My Dear Timothy by Victor Gollancz 
Cornelia Jessey Sussman 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.shu.edu/jcs-bridge-I 
Recommended Citation 
Sussman, Cornelia Jessey, "Book Review: 'My Dear Timothy by Victor Gollancz" (1955). The Bridge: A 
Yearbook of Judaeo-Christian Studies, Vol. I. 21. 
https://scholarship.shu.edu/jcs-bridge-I/21 
ato suggest that his view is 
, It is unquestionably correct 
Ie function of Christianity to 
) live the genuine revelation 
tegrity of that revelation. But 
) know, love and live the in­
law and the Prophets to the 
part of the revelation given 
lllment of the earlier portion. 
Jple of Israel that the Church 
1I1 both to the God who gave 
whom it was given. Mr. Her­
ks more truly than he himself 
to publish to the world the 
e final one: "The Mystery of 
lan Mr. Herberg has seen. In 
mh have different functions: 
ify the Name" by its inward 
Jd amidst the idolatries of the 
e accords the mission of con­
IUch more lavish in His gifts: 
One, and His witness ought 
:t's love of truth, of the soul's 
gious function, it is the same 
l-openness to all: all truth, 
Ir us with. In the face of God 
JAMES V. MULLANEY 
Victor Gollancz: MY DEAR TIMOTHY * 
"I AM desperately anxious that you should understand Christianity, 
for that, when it comes to it, is what this letter is about; and there are 
things in Christianity, I feel certain, that can be better understood for 
a previous understanding of Orthodox Judaism," writes Victor Gol­
lancz on page I I I of this 438-page autobiographical letter to his 
grandson. 
One feels that this letter is addressed to the writer himself as much 
as to his grandson; that Gollancz's quest is not yet ended, has, indeed, 
only begun; and that the pages of this volume are like a heap of 
clothes which the anxious soul is stripping off. For how does one go 
about the quest for understanding? Perhaps for the modern man there 
is only one way: to remove, slowly and painstakingly, the cumbersome 
garments in which he is stifling. 
Gollancz's journal, for it is more a journal than a letter, seems at 
first a rambling series of meditations and observations not just on 
Orthodox Judaism in relation to Christianity but on everything in the 
world: on his own birth, childhood, growing up, the opera, music, 
the love of nature, Oxford, socialism, psychoanalysis, war, poverty, 
anarchism, vegetarianism, on the atom bomb, on Christ and the Sermon 
on the Mount. 
But if one is patient and waits until he has finished the whole book, 
one discovers that it has a plan. This plan combines the hard kneeler 
in the confessional and the soft couch in the analyst's office to expose 
the naked soul to God. "I have always felt a vast, single, living bliss 
behind everything" (p. 397), Gollancz declares in one place; and in 
another: "I was on my way to the adoration of Christ" (p. 394) . 
He was on his way-and this book is the story of such a wayfarer. 
Beset with painful anxieties, afHicted with inner contradictions, Mr. 
Gollancz does not spare the reader. Irresolute, at some moments 
• New York: Simon & Schuster, 1953. 

331 

332 Cornelia Jessey Sussman 
obdurately self-sufficient, at others crying out with Blake: "0 Saviour, 
pour upon me thy Spirit of meekness and love" (p. 398), the book 
attains a kind of universal quality as the story not alone of a Jew's 
pilgrimage toward Christ but of modern man's. 
Yet as Mr. Gollancz tells it, one is more exasperated and disquieted 
than pleased. One wonders: Why is Mr. Gollancz so disquieting? Is it 
because he is a Laodicean? Terrible words of St. John to the Church 
of Laodicea: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot" 
(Apoc 3: 15 ). No-Laodiceans, unfortunately perhaps, are never dis­
quieting. One is usually soothed by the Laodicean--circumspection, 
moderation, a placidly uncontroversial nature-these all tend to make 
the Laodicean much praised as an urbane, philosophical, mellow, above 
all mellow, personality; he is so restful. Mr. Gollancz is not restful. 
"Some seed of goodness, mercifully implanted in me as in every 
other human being, was pushing towards the light through a huge dead 
tonnage of carnality and un saintliness : a seed that after another fifty 
years of struggle and experience is still only an inch or so nearer the 
goal" (p. 1 0 2), writes Mr. Gollancz. He has literally recorded what 
happens when a "seed of goodness" pushes "towards the light." By 
documenting all the forward reachings and backward slidings, the 
cross-purposes of the longing soul and the self-indulgent body, Mr. 
Gollancz has held a mirror up, not only to himself but to us-and we, 
fancying ourselves Hyperion, look in and find that a satyr is looking 
out. Mr. Gollancz is too much us. He is too distastefully each one of us 
who thinks a little, has a slightly sensitive heart, and who somehow 
through a thick skin has felt the touch of God's index finger. Unable 
to move, committed to the habits of the world, the torpor of our flesh, 
those like Gollancz and ourselves are not bound by the great iron bonds 
of any major vice (these are easier to break sometimes) but by all the 
small amiable habits, the little silk strings, the thousands of hair-silk 
strings, of the world in which we live. Yet we are not mindlessly 
bound, and there is the rub. We think and we feel; we have known 
the touch of God's index finger on our shoulder and so we twist and 
turn, groan and weep, cry Yea, cry Nay, and thus exposed in the most 
pitiful weakness, we are disquieting to others and to ourselves; exasper­
ating to others, disgusting to ourselves. 
Victor Gollancz has stripped off his garments and stands naked. And 
ith Blake: "0 Saviour, 
:" (p. 398), the book 
not alone of a Jew's 
operated and disquieted 
.cz so disquieting? Is it 
:t. John to the Church 
. neither cold nor hot" 
perhaps, are never dis­
icean--circumspection, 
-these all tend to make 
ophical, mellow, above 
Hancz is not restful. 
ted in me as in every 
;ht through a huge dead 
that after another fifty 
tl inch or so nearer the 
literally recorded what 
towards the light." By 
backward slidings, the 
~lf-indulgent body, Mr. 
Iself but to us-and we, 
I that a satyr is looking 
:astefully each one of us 
~art, and who somehow 
1's index finger. Unable 
, the torpor of our flesh, 
f by the great iron bonds 
metimes ) but by all the 
.e thousands of hair-silk 
we are not mindlessly 
Ie feel; we have known 
fer and so we twist and 
hus exposed in the most 
nd to ourselves; exasper­
ts and stands naked. And 
Victor Gollancz: My Dear Timothy 333 
naked, we do not like ourselves. He does not like himself. Gerard 
Manley Hopkins movingly describes this condition of the soul: 
I am gall, I am heartburn. God's most deep decree 
Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me. 
Gall and heartburn is the taste of the natural man to himself after he 
has tasted, perhaps only for a moment, Christ . 
"! don't kno,-," ~or how many years now I have been struggling 
agamst the convlCtlon that my whole spiritual and intellectual position 
is false," Gollancz cries out, "and I have been growingly aware of this 
falseness whenever I have called to mind, for the purpose of this letter, 
my ideas at various periods of my life. . . . When I come to the final 
page, shall I find that I have at last been able to conquer whatever it 
~ay.be in me 'wretched man that I am,' that prevents me from accept­
109 mtellectually, and living spiritually, the truths, which . . . I be­
lieve I have always known?" (p. 240) . 
He believes that there is only one answer in a world of atom bombs 
and starving millions: the answer of the Sermon on the Mount. He 
demands an absolute living of the Sermon on the Mount : " . .. the 
abs~l~teness !s everything. I do not believe you can approximate to 
Chnstlan ethlCs. . . . You cannot be more or less of a Christian, just 
as you cannot be more or less of a lover" (p. 239). 
He. feels that the atom bomb requires absolute pacifism, yet he is not 
~ pac~fist; that th~ hu~ger of his ~~llow humans requires the religious 
holdmg of all thmgs 10 common, but he does not find himself giving 
up all worldly g?ods. and going to live with the poor. He quotes 
Bl. Henry Suso plCtunng the en-Christ-ed soul "as a free and blithe­
some leader of a choir" of all creatures, of birds, beasts, and fishes 
(p. 52). And he longs to be a vegetarian, so as not to kill any of God's 
creatures for food; yet he eats meat. 
One is aware that almost from infancy he has struggled with a proud 
h~tred of man's imperf~ctions which has made the Absolute Way seem 
eIther wrong, or unattamably dissevered from man. Thus, in his youth hi~ father's Orthodoxy gave him "an utter detestation of anything tha; 
mIght fetter the human spirit. Compulsion in all its forms became 
anathema to me" (p. 106). Because he saw that it was possible to 
334 Cornelia Jessey Sussman 
make religious gestures and yet live unreligiously; that the money­
lenders might confess on the Day of Atonement their sin against God 
and yet "never dream of not going on being moneylenders" (P.78), 
he decided that men "would repent more if there was no Day of Atone­
ment" (p. 98). While he sang the Hallel, the song of praise to God, 
"still with its Hebrew words, to the tune of a Christian hymn" (p. 28), 
he wondered if people would not "thank God more if there was no 
Hallel to sing at stated times on stated occasions" (P. 98). 
It is interesting to compare these statements with the writer's remark 
about his marriage. He describes his marriage as "essentially perfect" 
(p. 427) although he admits that he was not always a faithful hus­
band. 
As the eyes of the body see all objects reversed until the mediating 
mind corrects the vision, so it is perhaps with the eyes of the spirit, 
which perceive experience upside-down until grace corrects the vision. 
St. Francis de Sales declares in the Introduction to the Devout Life: 
"The proud man who trusts in himself has just reason not to attempt 
anything. He that is humble is so much the more courageous, the more 
he acknowledges his own inability." The great saint warns us not to 
be disturbed at the sight of our imperfections, "for our perfection con­
sists in fighting against them. And how can we fight against them 
without seeing them, or overcome them without encountering them? " 
Perhaps it takes special gifts to be a vegetarian, a pacifist, a con­
scientious objector. But one can be ignoble, weak, cowardly, full of sin, 
and still be called to love Christ. As in the "essentially perfect mar­
riage," one who loves Christ may be unfaithful, may commit adultery, 
and yet be forgiven and in mercy taken back. Perhaps one may not 
"approximate" to being a vegetarian, one either is or one isn't; one 
may not "approximate" to being a pacifist-but one may only "ap­
proximate" to being a lover. One will be "more or less a lover"; one 
will fall and rise and fall again and Christ will lift one up again, and 
over and over again all one will be doing will be "approximating" the 
Lover and through the Lover to Christian ethics. When one has made 
the absolute choice which puts the Teacher first, then the teaching will 
no longer be disintegrated in the black currents of conflicting tensions; 
one will have made the rock. 
Victor Gollancz tells his grandson that "Christ, who knew every­
thing, is the safest guide for us here" (p. 28 I ). He loves Him with an 
giously; that the money­
lent their sin against God 
~ moneylenders" (p. 78), 
tere was no Day of Atone­
he song of praise to God, 
Christian hymn" (p.28), 
~d more if there was no 
;ions" (p. 98). 
:s with the writer's remark 
ge as "essentially perfect" 
lot always a faithful hus­
rersed until the mediating 
ith the eyes of the spirit, 
l grace corrects the vision. 
tction to the Devout Life: 
just reason not to attempt 
nore courageous, the more 
'eat saint warns us not to 
s, "for our perfection con­
m we fight against them 
Gout encountering them?" 
setarian, a pacifist, a con­
weak, cowardly, full of sin, 
! "essentially perfect mar­
Jul, may commit adultery, 
lck. Perhaps one may not 
either is or one isn't; one 
-but one may only "ap­
nore or less a lover"; one 
will lift one up again, and 
111 be "approximating" the 
:hics. When one has made 
irst, then the teaching will 
nts of conflicting tensions; 
"Christ, who knew every­
1) . He loves Him with an 
Victor Gollancz: My Dear Timothy 335 
ardent and devoted heart: "He lives and reigns for me eternally; and 
whether or not I should hesitate to call Him Lord, I can assuredly call 
Him Master" (p. 402). Yet he wishes to love Christ as he wishes to 
love Him; not as He wills to be loved. And although he declares that 
"to part with a Christ of our own flesh and blood would be grievous" 
(p. 401), the Resurrection does not have for him the absoluteness that 
the "teaching" has; in a sense, he puts the teaching ahead of the 
Teacher, Christian ethics ahead of Christ. 
"In the physical Resurrection I was interested hardly at all," he 
writes of his experiences at Oxford. And goes on to say: "I feel much 
the same today, if a little more strongly .... I am even readier to 
admit its possibility; but inclined still more emphatically to deny its 
occurrence: indeed I am of the opinion, which I hope I shan't be 
thought offensive for expressing, that no educated man genuinely 'be­
lieves in' it now-believes in it (without mental reservations, inter­
pretational gymnastics, or half-conscious self-deception) in the way in 
which he believes, say, that cruelty is vile. Interest in the matter at all, 
other than a generalized interest in anything miraculous, derives, it 
seems to me, from an undutiful repudiation of death-part and parcel, 
surely, of that very self-centeredness Christ forever rebukes us for : as 
well as from an overestimation of the body not a bit less lamentable 
than that underestimation of it so prominent in a lot of Christian 
sermonising. But the spiritual Resurrection is another matter: this is 
an undeniable fact, and of supreme importance . . . " (pp. 402- 403). 
There would have been, there would be, no stumbling block, noth­
ing to overcome in the acceptance of Christ, had it not been necessary 
to accept fully, completely, with all its essential implications, the flesh 
of Christ. Here, indeed, lies the bone in the throat of all, be they mod­
ern skeptics, Buddhists, or medieval Lollards, who believe in a Christ 
that is spirit but not in the Christ in the flesh-whether they say with 
the fifteenth-century Lollard: "How can Christ be in the bread on the 
altar?"; or with Sri Aurobindo and the Buddhists: "What does it mat­
ter in the end whether a Jesus .. . was actually born in N azareth or 
Bethlehem, lived and taught and was done to death on a real or 
trumped-up charge of sedition, so long as we can know by spiritual 
experience the inner Christ, live uplifted in the light of His teaching?" 
(p. 401); or with Gollancz: "In the physical Resurrection I was inter­
ested hardly at all." 
336 Cornelia Jessey Sussman 
Here we have the most exact summation one could possibly find 
of why Christ is a stumbling block to so many today-their repudiation 
of the flesh. For no matter how often Gollancz may say that "to part 
with a Christ of our own flesh and blood would be grievous," he has 
nevertheless arrestingly summed up man's revulsion against the im­
mortality of the body as an "overestimation of the body." That the 
flesh should be immortal is an offensive thought to many moderns. 
And yet those who have this revulsion against the immortality of the 
flesh are the ones most impassioned about the flesh of Mother Nature. 
Gollancz, who finds the Resurrection an "overestimation of the body," 
sings the praises of nature: "All physical things are sacraments, and 
the world is so beautiful because it is a sacrament of the Supreme 
Beauty" (p. 22) . 
But St. John of the Cross says: "Por todo la hermosura nunca yo me 
perdere--for all the beauty in the world never will I lose myself." 
Immortality in the flowers, the trees, the rich teeming earth-some 
call this mysticism. People imagine they are glad to die and be born 
again as flowers. Yet they cannot see how they can rise again in the 
very flesh. Now, when a radioactive substance is placed in a container, 
the container itself becomes radioactive. A man will believe that if he 
has been exposed to atomic energy he will become radioactive and 
even dangerous to be near; but he will not think God can affect the 
flesh as much as radium. It seems unbelievable that man so hates, and 
rebels against, the flesh of his body. This is the rebellion that is at the 
bottom of all the heresies willing to adore Christ in the spirit but re­
fusing to accept Him in the flesh. Offended by the flesh, Gollancz is, 
of course, horrified by "institutions": "I do not believe that the Church 
-any Church-will ever really be the Body of Christ. The Body of 
Christ is the fellowship, free and almost casual, of all who love Him, 
and try to follow Him, and would pity and forgive, in His spirit, their 
fellow human beings" (P.4I3). 
"To part with a Christ of our own flesh and blood would be griev­
ous." Victor Gollancz has felt the touch of the Lover. He calls Christ 
"the Supreme Particular," and, quoting again from Blake, says that he 
worships Him not as "a God, afar off" but as "a brother and a friend." 
He imagines that Timothy may ask him: "Why Christ? Why not 
Krishna, or some other Avatar?" And he replies that "on the boy born 
in Elgin Avenue to his own special heritage ... Christ's teaching has 
me could possibly find 
)day-their repudiation 
z may say that "to part 
ld be grievous," he has 
mlsion against the im­
)f the body." That the 
Ight to many moderns. 
the immortality of the 
ffesh of Mother N ature. 
~stimation of the body," 
IgS are sacraments, and 
ament of the Supreme 
hermosura nunca yo me 
.will I lose myself." 
:h teeming earth-some 
slad to die and be born 
=y can rise again in the 
is placed in a container, 
n will believe that if he 
become radioactive and 
link God can affect the 
~ that man so hates, and 
e rebellion that is at the 
lrist in the spirit but re­
ly the flesh, Gollancz is, 
believe that the Church 
of Christ. The Body of 
tl, of all who love Him, 
rgive, in His spirit, their 
d blood would be griev­
ie Lover. He calls Christ 
from Blake, says that he 
"a brother and a friend." 
'Why Christ? Why not 
ies that "on the boy born 
.. Christ's teaching has 
Victor Gollancz: My Dear Timothy 337 
made an impact as of the utterly true, Christ's personality has made 
an impact as of the utterly adorable, Christ's living and dying has made 
an impact as of the utterly good" (pp. 398-399 ) . 
This is what stands at the heart of the "letter" by a modern grand­
father to his modern grandson. All else lies heaped, like worn-out 
garments, tossed aside. The book closes most appropriately with a 
quotation from Gerard Manley Hopkins: 
Bad I am, but yet thy child. 

Father, be thou reconciled, 

Spare thou me, since I see 

With thy might that thou art mild. 

I have life before me still 

And thy purpose to fulfil; 

Yea a debt to pay thee yet: 

Help me, sir, and so I will. 

When one has stripped off the old garments, new are offered, but 
these are wedding garments meant for a marriage "essentially perfect" 
in which one will sing the Hallet at "stated times on stated occasions" 
until one wakes to find the stated times and stated occasions have 
turned into all the time. 
CORNELIA JESSEY SUSSMAN 


Book Review: \u27My Dear Timothy by Victor Gollancz

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Book Review: \u27My Dear Timothy by Victor Gollancz

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