For the Glory - Eric Liddell

I just finished reading For the Glory - the Untold and Inspiring Story Eric Liddell, Hero of Chariots of Fire, by Duncan Hamilton. Since I borrowed this as an ebook from the library I haven’t highlighted passages to quote but I do want to share some thoughts about the biography.

The subtitle is right in that Liddell’s life is inspiring - well beyond what is portrayed in the movie, Chariots of Fire; it is also “untold” in terms of what the general population knows about Liddell, for what we know is typically confined to the movie.

Duncan has done his homework, both in archives and with personal interviews; this is evident throughout the biography as he reproduces excerpts from letters, newspapers, other documents, and from interviews. His compilation of sources further testifies that this is a well-researched book. Duncan inserts photographs throughout For the Glory, thus linking them to the subject matter of each chapter - I find this much more helpful than a dedicated section of photographs, usually in the middle of a book, which requires the reader to flip back and forth when reading to identify a photograph with the particular page he is reading.

This is a biography, taking the reader on a journey with Liddell from his birth in China to missionary parents, to his death in China in a Japanese prison camp. The events surrounding the Olympics are more dramatic than what is depicted in the movie, in which what, I suppose, we consider “artistic license” was taken.

In real life Liddell knew well before the games that qualifying races were to be held on a Sunday, as did the British Olympic Committee, and even though the Committee knew that Liddell did not compete on Sundays, and even though Liddell had made it clear that he would not run on Sundays in Paris, the Committee assumed that Liddell would do the practical thing, the thing that most everyone else would do, the thing that ego would drive most of us to do, the thing that any “patriotic” person would do - and run on Sunday at the Olympics.

Duncan brings the Olympics to life, indeed he brings Eric Liddell the athlete to life, but more importantly he brings Eric Liddell the person to life, for you cannot separate the person from the athlete, not at least with Eric Liddell. Liddell was a Christian and a gentleman first (not all “Christians” are gentlemen) - always gracious to those he competed against, always desiring to display sportsmanship in the best sense of the word - a sense we’ve pretty much lost today. Liddell did not look at the Olympics as an opportunity to display national one-upmanship, but as an opportunity for people to find common ground.

After the Olympics many people assumed  Liddell would cash in on his fame. They assumed he would compete in future Olympics (Duncan illustrates just how great, yes great, a runner Liddell was). However Liddell had made a commitment to complete his education in the UK and return to China as a missionary; China - a land in perpetual turmoil, a dangerous land, a land with an unknown future. Well-meaning people tried to get Liddell to delay his missionary commitment, they tried to convince him that he could do more good by staying in the UK; but Liddell was steadfast and unwavering.

The story of Eric Liddell after his Olympic gold dwarfs his story prior to, and including, the gold medal. In one sense the Olympics were a precursor of what was to come, Liddell would deny himself to do what he thought was right in the eyes of God, he would choose hardship if that was what obedience to God’s call required. It doesn’t appear as if Liddell ever looked for the easy way out, he was not seeking a life of ease and privilege - he was deliberately making hard self-denying decisions. In reading the book I found myself saying, “Can’t you take a break for a while and enjoy some rest?”

Duncan’s well-documented detailed descriptions bring Liddell’s life in China alive in color; his marriage, his family, his friends, and his final years in a prison camp...after having sent his wife and two daughters to Canada (his wife Florence was pregnant with a third daughter who would never see her father). The author is good enough to conclude our journey with Liddell by providing us with “the rest of the story” of his friends and family from after WWII into the present century. Duncan interviewed all three of Liddell’s daughters; Patricia, Heather, and Maureen; and gives us a poignant description of his time with Maureen, the daughter who never knew her Dad.

At times I was wondering if I was reading an uncritical hagiography, so distinct was Liddell’s life from my own, and from the current condition of the church in the West. The author himself wonders if he hasn’t placed Liddell on too high a pedestal and poses this question to those who knew Eric Liddell. As I pondered these questions, I was reminded of three things:

1. I have known people like Eric Liddell; George Will, Anna Nichols, the two Christian sisters who operated the Anchor Rescue Mission in San Francisco, Sister Mildred Norbeck of Intercession City, FL...there are such people, there are still such people...they are “other” than I am.

2. Up until my own lifetime, those involved in missions often exemplified the self-denial that Eric Liddell displayed, they were like the first responder who refuses to view himself or herself a hero, but rather “just doing my job”. This used to be the ethos of missionaries, and contrary to the caricature often portrayed in movies and novels, these men and women were giving their lives for others rather than setting themselves up as lords and masters. Yes, there have always been religious charlatans - Paul deals with them in his New Testament letters and we will always have them in this age, but let us not allow those people to rob us of the beauty of the sacrificial service displayed by countless men and women and children who gave their lives for Christ and others. Duncan shows us that Liddell was not alone in China in giving his life for others, and he also shows us that missionaries cared for the entire “person” in serving - spirit, soul, and body - people are people, they are not disembodied souls; mission service was holistic.

3. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Him (Mark Chapter 8) - just because my life might not exemplify this, just because the Western church has abandoned this ethos, does not mean that others have not lived it; it doesn’t mean that Eric and Florence Liddell did not live it - there is enough evidence to convict them of following Jesus.

One blemish I discerned in the book was Duncan’s tendency to lapse into mundane illustrations to make a point, often requiring the reader to know the contemporary (to our present time) person or event he references; this doesn’t happen often but when it does it is distracting...at least for me, it may not be an issue with you. He also interjects his own commentary on people and events, this doesn’t happen often but when it does he becomes almost a participant in the story. However, Duncan’s telling of Eric Liddell’s life far eclipses these (to me) irritants - it truly is an inspiring story, one that carried me over the authorial bumps in the road.

This is a compelling account of a remarkable life, a life of integrity and commitment and self-denial. I found myself in dialogue with Liddell throughout the book, for I often wanted him to make other choices, for example, I wanted him to leave China with his family. At other times my dialogue took the form of “I’m not sure I could do that,” “Could I have done that?” I did not agree with all of Liddell’s choices, but as Aslan would say, “That is his story that is not your story.” Maureen’s reflections on her Dad’s decision to remain in China gave me pause for reflection. Could I have had Maureen’s perspective? Could I have done what Liddell did?

There is one quote that I’ll share in closing, a quote that says it all. This quote is from Duncan and is a result of his numerous interviews with those who knew Liddell, including those in the prison camp with him. This is the answer Duncan received in the interviews when he asked those who knew Liddell if he, Duncan, was putting Eric Liddell on a pedestal:

“Eric Liddell changed the lives of those who were close to him.”