THE LAYMAN invariably suffers a severe shock when he reads a book on religion and finds that it is neither an attempt at conversion nor an attack on his conscience. The concept that a religious book is hurled from a pulpit dies hard in the popular mind, but Dean Sperry has done much to explode this theory in his lectures in the Lowell Institute published in book form under the name of Strangers and Pilgrims.

The author subtitles his book "Studies in Classics of Christian Devotion." But the ground covered in his lectures is far more extensive than a mere theological discussion. Taking as his subject six great literary milestones of Christian thought all the way from Augustine's "Confessions" to the diary of John Woolman, he paints behind each a portrait of the author and a landscape of the times. With sweeping strokes he brings to life the intellectual atmosphere in which each of these great masterpieces was produced, showing the essential huntanity of each work as well as its significance. The startling contrast between each of these six documents does not destroy the unity of Dean Sperry's study, but strengthens his basic theme, the persistence of the Christian Ideal in radically different interpretations.

The great virtue in Dean Sperry's treatment of his material is his impersonality. A less skillful writer would have tried to force his own beliefs into his study of others. Dean Sperry, however, meets the layman on his own ground, discussing the material in the light of modern psychology, modern philosophy, and modern literary thought. He does not seek to glorify or debase but merely to explain in terms of modern thought what these "Classics of Christian Devotion" were trying to say. The reader is left to judge for himself whether what was said was worth saying.

Some of the books which Dean Sperry discusses, such as Theologia Germanica or Brother Lawrence's The Practice of the Presence of God, are not very familiar to those outside the Church. Consequently, while Strangers and Pilgrims was meant primarily to be a book of criticism, it will serve many lay readers as an excellent introduction to these masterpieces. Delving into a primary source in Christian theology is no easy matter for the lay reader. Language, terminology, unfamiliar dogma, all conspire to hide the author's purpose. Yet with the scholarly background which Dean Sperry has provided for each of these works, the reader will be able to catch the main philosophical points and appreciate for himself the greatness of Dean Sperry's subject.