Eric Liddell—pure gold. . - book review

For A Change, Feb-March, 2002 by Mary Lean

Eric Liddell--pure gold by David McCasland Discovery House Publishers, Grand Rapids, 2001

David McCasland's appealing book tells the story of the 1924 Olympic champion made famous to later generations in the film, Chariots of fire. Liddell was born of missionary parents in China and returned there in 1925 to teach at the Tientsin Anglo-Chinese College.

Liddell was a runner of extraordinary speed and determination. In a British 440 yards final in 1923, he was knocked off the track at the start of the race by another runner. It took him precious seconds to realize he had not been disqualified, and he was 20 feet behind when he rejoined the race--only to go on to win it.

As a committed Christian and Sabbatarian, Liddell refused to compete in the 100 metres at the Paris Olympics in 1924, because the heats would be run on a Sunday. Instead, he trained for the 200 and 400 metres--and took bronze in the 200 and gold in the 400.

His Olympic medals made Liddell a huge star, capable of pulling large crowds at Christian revival meetings. He told one such meeting in 1925 about the `biggest problem' of his life so far--not, as one might expect, his controversial Olympic decision but his response to his first invitation to speak in public about his faith, a prospect which terrified him.

`I was very reluctant about accepting the invitation,' he said. `The morning after being invited, I received a letter from my sister in China and it contained this text: "Fear not, for I am with thee; do not dismay, for I will guide thee." Those words helped me make that decision, and since then, I have endeavoured to do the work of my Maker.'

During these years in Scotland--and on a visit home in 1932--Liddell was greatly influenced by the Oxford Group (MRA's precursor). He wrote in a brochure for an Oxford Group event in 1932: `The Group has brought to me personally a greater power in my own life, discipline without thought of discipline, and a greater willingness to share the deepest things in my life.'

McCasland's intimate biography draws on interviews with those who knew Liddell and on his correspondence. It gives a touching account of Liddell's family life, both as a child and a young father, with the frequent separations demanded by missionary work at that time. It describes the darkening clouds as World War II approached and as the Japanese occupation of China intensified, and his last years in Weihsin internment camp, where he died, aged 44, just a few months before the end of the war.