Christ the Tiger

by Thomas Howard

This book is a reprint with revisions of one of Thomas Howard’s earliest and most popular books. It is somewhat autobiographical; revealing thoughts of a young man who has been seized by the love of Christ and, at first sees dogmas and institutions as obscuring the terrible truth of God’s love in Christ. But even at that earlier period, Howard showed his awareness that without those institutions there would be no way of encountering Christ the tiger.

Howard is able to bring out the true vitality of what this faith is and should be, the radical nature of the Christian faith. This book powerfully presents who Christ is and what faith in him means.

"In the fiugre of Jesus we saw Immanuel, that is, God, that is Love. It was a figure who, appearing so inauspiciously among us, broke up our secularist and our religious categories and becokines us and judges us and samned us and saves us and exhinbited to us a kind of life that participates in the indestructible. And it was a figure who announced the validity of our eternal effort to discover significance and beauty beyond inanition and horror by announcing to us the unthinkable: redemption." — from Christ the Tiger

Genres: Christianity, Religion, Theology, Memoir

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Thomas Howard (b. 1935) is a highly acclaimed writer and scholar.

He was raised in a prominent Evangelical home (his sister is well-known author and former missionary Elisabeth Elliot), became Episcopalian in his mid-twenties, then entered the Catholic Church in 1985, at the age of fifty. At the time, his conversion shocked many in evangelical circles, and was the subject of a feature article in the leading evangelical periodical Christianity Today.

Dave Armstrong writes of Howard: "He cites the influence of great Catholic writers such as Newman, Knox, Chesterton, Guardini, Ratzinger, Karl Adam, Louis Bouyer, and St. Augustine on his final decision. Howard's always stylistically-excellent prose is especially noteworthy for its emphasis on the sacramental, incarnational and ‘transcendent’ aspects of Christianity."

Like C.S. Lewis, who he greatly admires and has written about often, Howard is an English professor (recently retired, after nearly forty years of teaching), who taught at Gordon College and then at St. John's Seminary. He is a highly acclaimed writer and scholar, noted for his studies of Inklings C.S. Lewis Narnia Beyond: A Guide to the Fiction of C.S. Lewis (2006, 1987) and Charles Williams The Novels of Charles Williams (1991), as well as books including Christ the Tiger (1967), Chance or the Dance (1969), Hallowed be This House (1976), Evangelical is Not Enough (1984), If Your Mind Wanders at Mass (1995), On Being Catholic (1997), and The Secret of New York Revealed.

Reviews

[Josh Kienzle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is challenging, dealing with the strange notion that Jesus was a wimp portrayed in the European paintings. I would encourage anyone to pick it up who is interested in understanding more about Christ. It's a short read.

[Sarah Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

The younger brother of well-known author and missionary Elisabeth Elliot, Thomas Howard is lesser known but such an incredible writer. This brief autobiographical sketch of his journey of faith is honest, compelling, and thought-provoking. Howard whittles away at refining his faith with hard questions and an unflinching examination of unbiblical Christian practice/thought, ultimately finding solid rock under his feet as he looks to Christ Himself and His promise of redemption. A definite future reread!

[John Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has sat on my shelves for thirty years or more. I’m glad I hung on to it, for I found it thoroughly engaging and well worth the read. Perhaps somewhat dated now (it was first written in 1967 with a postscript from 1979), it gives a powerful argument for Christian faith, as opposed to the many fads and philosophies that vie for our commitment—curiously without ever referring to Jesus Christ by name.

[Anna Moffett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last 5% of the book is the best, in my opinion. Seems like the genesis for many of his more fleshed out thoughts on Charity, Love, redemption, the Incarnation that he explores in Chance or the Dance. Fascinating to see the beginning of his journey from Evangelical to Roman Catholic. I think I need to reread just to get a better handle on his context. Some of his more intellectual musings left me scratching my head, but I think that’s just Howard for you.

[Johns · Rating 4 out of 5]

An early work by this fine Christian English literature professor. Read this thoughtful work and you'll want to read more Howard.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting autobiographical info by the author.

[Albert Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I had just read Howard's Chance or the Dance, and was much impressed. Christ the Tiger is a spiritual memoir. The title (Christ the Tiger) is from a line in a poem by T.S. Eliot, but it also perfectly captures Howard's theme, which is that dogmas and orthodoxies are all well and good, but they amount to attempts to "incarcerate" the One who cannot be contained by man-devised dogmas.

Howard introduces this theme by writing of the bumpy ride into adulthood, when it is unfortunately common to turn one's back on dogmas and orthodoxies acquired in childhood:

"[A]s of this writing, I have not done the expected thing. I have not disavowed Christianity. The pulling and hauling [his questioning of dogmas and orthodoxy] has not convinced me that God was not in Christ. It has, on the other hand, led me to suspect that we are involved in something wild and unmanageable, and in nothing that can be successfully incarcerated in any dogmatic orthodoxy. * * * This is one reason why I find the Incarnation compelling. For in the figure of Jesus the Christ there is something that escapes us. He has been the subject of the greatest efforts at systematization in the history of man. But anyone who has ever tried this has had, in the end, to admit that the seams keep bursting. He sooner or later discovers that he is in touch, not with a pale Galilean, but with a towering, and furious figure who will not be managed."


For all the back-and-forth arguments between theism and naturalism, there remains an instinctive sense of the ineffable that draws people to God, if they are not sidelined in the race by the petty hypocrisies and cruelties of this life. Most atheists reject God, rather than really embracing the notion of a God-less universe. These are entirely different things. Howard gets us past the much-rehearsed and repeated squabbles, and goes straight to felt experience. Along the way we acquire an understanding as to how it is that theist dogma can be sound yet rejected. We are ever tempted to try to reduce God to something we can manage.

[Wes F · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is at least my second reading of this classic by Tom Howard. What an amazing read; though short, its chock full & dense. It's really a short bio of Tom's early years and the influence of his family on his faith, as it developed during the years of his higher education and then early working years. It's a brash apologetic for the uniqueness of Christ--the person at the center of history who is unlike any other. Tom does a great job of being honest about death & the ubiquitous fight to fend death off--as well as asking deep & penetrating questions about various philosophies of life & how people try to deal with the emptiness & disappointments & vacuity of life in general. It's a call to realize that there is hope--and it's only found in redemption that's been made available, only in Christ the Tiger. A most inauspicious entry; a most glorious exit (breaking the bonds of the grave)--a promised Return. It just might be what it's all about.

[Matt Ely · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, readable reflection on evangelicalism borne to its logical conclusion for one man. A compelling injunction to reflect on your own trivial assumptions and see how far they can go. A helpful reminder that every form can serve as a replacement for its foundation.

[Patrick O'Hannigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more scattershot than Howard's later nonfiction, but it's still worth reading.