Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990) had a long and distinguished career in Britain as a writer and journalist.  At the age of 65 he became a Christian.  His conversion shocked many.  He devoted most of his remaining years to writing and talking about faith, becoming, in the words of Archbishop Marcus Loane, “the most significant

[Christian] layman since C. S. Lewis.”

At the time of his conversion, Muggeridge was one of the most widely known personalities in Britain, a controversial journalist, author, and television personality.  As a socialist working in Moscow for the Manchester Guardian, Muggeridge gathered information for  Winter in Moscow (1933),  a devastating first-hand account of Soviet communism. He went on to become in the 1950s the editor of Punch, the legendary British humor magazine.  His brilliant, satirical wit, formidable intellect, and humor endeared him to both literary and television audiences in the 1960s.

Muggeridge announced on the BBC his conversion  and followed it withJesus Rediscovered, a classic collection of essays.  In them he summed up what had been, in effect, a pilgrimage that ended in Christ:

“Many people have asked me how it was that I came ultimately to be convinced that Christ was the answer.  It was because in this world of fantasy in which my own occupation has particularly involved me, I have found in Christ the only true alternative.  The shadow in the cave is like the media world of shadows.  In contradistinction, Christ shows what life really is, and what our true destiny is.  We escape from the cave.  We emerge from the darkness and instead of shadows we have all around us the glory of God’s creation.  Instead of darkness we have light; instead of despair, hope; instead of time and clocks ticking inexorably on, eternity, which never began and never ends and yet is sublimely now.”

In 1978, William F. Buckley interviewed Muggeridge on Firing Line, Buckley’s magnificent television series on which Muggeridge appeared several times.  In this 1978 interview, “How Does One Find Faith,” Muggeridge talks about his own journey into the mystery and joy of faith.  The interview proved so popular that it was broadcast annually as Firing Line’s Christmas episode.

The Christopher Dawson Society for the Study of Faith and Reason invites the public to a viewing of Muggeridge’s “How Does One Find Faith”Firing Line interview.  Conversation and refreshments will follow.  The meeting will take place on Wednesday, 16 September at 6:30 at the Red Pit (room 127) in the Kirner Johnson building on the Hamilton College campus.