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Commonplace Book and Lew Wallace

“Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are personal notebooks used to compile any information the owner finds interesting or useful. They can variously contain notes, proverbs, adages, aphorisms, maxims, recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, prayers, legal formulas, and other professional references.”

I have chosen to use this feature as an online commonplace reserve to post anything useful or interesting… of course, I use both of those categories very loosely:

Lew Wallace was prompted to write Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880) primarily to intellectually explore and justify his own lack of religious faith following a chance 1876 conversation with agnostic2 Colonel Robert Ingersoll. Ashamed of his ignorance regarding Christianity, he aimed to research and write a story about the divinity of Christ, ultimately becoming a believer himself during the process. 

  • The Catalyst Conversation: In September 1876, Wallace, a lawyer and former Civil War General, met Ingersoll on a train. Ingersoll’s questioning of God and Christ left Wallace feeling “ashamed” of his own inability to defend or even understand the theological concepts, prompting him to deeply investigate the subject.
  • Initial Skepticism & Research: Before writing, Wallace was indifferent to religion, possessing no strong convictions about God or Christ. He began his research into the story of the Three Wise Men to write a magazine article, not a novel, but was soon compelled to research the life of Christ thoroughly.
  • Transformation into Belief: During the writing process, which included extensive research on the Middle East, Wallace’s personal views shifted from indifference to a “fierce and unshakable” belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ.