# Christopher Derrick

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This article is about the author. For the runner, see [Chris Derrick](/source/Chris_Derrick).

**Christopher Hugh Derrick** (12 June 1921 – 2 October 2007) was a British author, reviewer, [publisher's reader](/source/Publisher's_reader) and lecturer. All his works are informed by wide interest in contemporary problems and a lively commitment to Catholic teaching.

## Literary career

Most interest in Derrick has been in his memories of [G. K. Chesterton](/source/G._K._Chesterton), who was a friend of his father, and more especially [C. S. Lewis](/source/C._S._Lewis), who was Derrick's tutor at Magdalen. He was constantly being asked by Lewis's [Catholic](/source/Catholic) admirers – such as the German [Neo-Thomist](/source/Neothomism), [Josef Pieper](/source/Josef_Pieper), two of whose works Derrick had reviewed – why Lewis himself never became a Catholic.[1] He provided as definitive an answer as possible in his 1981 book *C. S. Lewis and the Church of Rome*. Another friend was the economist [E. F. Schumacher](/source/E._F._Schumacher), whose interest in [Catholic social teaching](/source/Catholic_social_teaching) he shared.[2]

Besides working as a literary adviser to a number of British publishing houses, Derrick was also a prolific book reviewer, among other publications for *[The Times Literary Supplement](/source/The_Times_Literary_Supplement)* as well as for *[The Tablet](/source/The_Tablet)*, where his brother [Michael Derrick](/source/Michael_Derrick) was the assistant editor from 1938 to 1961.[3] For a time he was himself the editor of *[Good Work](/source/Catholic_Art_Quarterly)*, the journal of the [Catholic Art Association](/source/Catholic_Art_Association).[4]

Most of Derrick's writings, however, draw less on such literary reminiscences than on reflection on matters of pressing public concern within and outside the [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church) in the 1960s, 70s and 80s: the environment, social relations, sexual relations, population, liturgy, ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue, education, and the current state of language and literature.[5] One of the more successful of these books was *Escape from Scepticism*, a work inspired by the [great books](/source/Great_books) programme at [Thomas Aquinas College](/source/Thomas_Aquinas_College) in California.[6]

## Books by Christopher Derrick

- *The Moral and Social Teaching of the Church*. New Library of Catholic Knowledge vol. 8. London: [Burns & Oates](/source/Burns_%26_Oates). 1964.
- *Cosmic Piety: Modern Man and the Meaning of the Universe*, edited by Christopher Derrick. New York: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1965.
- *Light of Revelation and Non-Christians*, edited by Christopher Derrick. Staten Island, NY: Alba House. 1965.
- *Trimming the Ark: Catholic Attitudes and the Cult of Change*. London: [Hutchinson](/source/Hutchinson_(publisher)). 1969. ISBN 0-09-096850-6[7]
- *Reader's Report on the Writing of Novels: a publisher's reader examines the pitfalls facing the aspiring novelist*. London: [Gollancz](/source/Victor_Gollancz_Ltd). 1969. ISBN 0-575-00266-2
- *Honest Love and Human Life: Is the Pope Right about Contraception?*. London: Hutchinson. 1969. ISBN 0-09-098780-2[8]
- *The Delicate Creation: Towards a Theology of the Environment*. London: Tom Stacey Ltd. 1972. ISBN 0-85468-203-1[9]
- *Escape from Scepticism: Liberal Education as if Truth Mattered*. LaSalle, Ill.: Sherwood Sugden. 1977. . Reissued by Ignatius Press. 2001. ISBN 978-0-89870-848-6
- *Joy Without a Cause: Selected Essays of Christopher Derrick*. La Salle, Ill.: Sherwood Sugden. 1979. ISBN 0-89385-004-7
- *The Rule of Peace: St. Benedict and the European Future*. Still River, Mass.: St. Bede's Publications. 1980. ISBN 0-932506-01-1. Reissued 2002. ISBN 978-0-932506-01-6
- *C. S. Lewis and the Church of Rome: A Study in Proto-Ecumenism*. San Francisco: [Ignatius Press](/source/Ignatius_Press). 1981. ISBN 0-89870-009-4
- *Church Authority and Intellectual Freedom*. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1981. ISBN 0-89870-011-6
- *Sex and Sacredness: A Catholic Homage to Venus*. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1982. ISBN 0-89870-018-3
- *That Strange Divine Sea: Reflections on Being a Catholic*. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1983. ISBN 0-89870-029-9
- *Too Many People? A Problem in Values*. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1985. ISBN 0-89870-071-X
- *Words and the Word: Notes on our Catholic vocabulary*. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 1987. ISBN 0-89870-130-9

## See also

- [Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton](/source/Hilaire_Belloc_and_G._K._Chesterton)

## References

1. Josef Pieper, *Autobiographische Schriften*. Edited by Berthold Wald. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag. 2003. p. 580f

1. [The ChesterBelloc Mandate: The Education of E. F. Schumacher](https://www.distributist.blogspot.com/2007/01/education-of-e-f-schumacher.html)

1. "Farewell to Christopher Derrick", *The Tablet*, 20 October 2007, p. 44.

1. ["Merton Center website"](https://web.archive.org/web/20061015092324/http://www.merton.org/Research/Correspondence/z4565.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.merton.org/research/Correspondence/z4565.html) on 15 October 2006. Retrieved 20 November 2007.

1. Obituary in *[St. Austin Review](/source/St._Austin_Review)*, January 2008.

1. [Obituary](http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/news/newsletter/2007/fall/derrick_article.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20081121204255/http://thomasaquinas.edu/news/newsletter/2007/fall/derrick_article.html) 21 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine in Thomas Aquinas College Newsletter, Fall 2007.

1. Reviewed in *TLS*, 7 August 1969.

1. Reviewed in *TLS*, 18 September 1969.

1. Reviewed in *TLS*, 29 June 1973.

## External links

- ["The Desacralization of Venus" by Christopher Derrick, from *America*, 12 Sept. 1981](http://www.cfpeople.org/Apologetics/page51a046.html)
- [An extract from *Escape from Scepticism*](https://www.nyx.net/~kbanker/chautauqua/derrick.html)
- [Extracts from *The Delicate Creation* (scroll down)](https://web.archive.org/web/20071026105014/http://conservation.catholic.org/Catholic_leaders.htm)
- [Derrick's report to the publisher Geoffrey Bles on the manuscript of an edition of C. S. Lewis's Letters](https://www.discovery.org/a/900)
- [Archival references for correspondence between Thomas Merton and Christopher Derrick](http://www.merton.org/Research/Correspondence/z4565.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20061015092324/http://www.merton.org/Research/Correspondence/z4565.html) 15 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- [Communication of Derrick's death to Ignatius Press, his publisher since 1981, with links to bibliography and comments](http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/10/christopher-der.html)

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