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A study of how the Victorian poet and theologian George MacDonald reimagined the spiritually transforming language of the parable for a 19th-century audience.
Parables were used by Jesus to reveal to us the kingdom of God and to move us from being bystanders to active recipients of God's work of revelation. However, parables are constantly at risk of being buried as 'mummies of prose', as George MacDonald puts it. We become so familiar with the language of Scripture that Jesus' parables no longer work on us in this revelatory and transforming way. George MacDonald, the Victorian poet and theologian, observed this very process at work in Victorian society. It was a culture saturated with Christian jargon but often devoid of a profound understanding of the gospel for its own time and culture. The language of Scripture no longer penetrated people's hearts, imaginations, and attitudes; it no longer transformed people's lives. MacDonald, called to be a pastor, turned a story and more specifically the 'parabolic' as a means of spiritual awakening. He created fictive worlds in which the language of Jesus would find a new home and regain its revelatory power for his particular Victorian audience.
Parables were used by Jesus to reveal to us the kingdom of God and to move us from being bystanders to active recipients of God's work of revelation. However, parables are constantly at risk of being buried as 'mummies of prose', as George MacDonald puts it. We become so familiar with the language of Scripture that Jesus' parables no longer work on us in this revelatory and transforming way. George MacDonald, the Victorian poet and theologian, observed this very process at work in Victorian society. It was a culture saturated with Christian jargon but often devoid of a profound understanding of the gospel for its own time and culture. The language of Scripture no longer penetrated people's hearts, imaginations, and attitudes; it no longer transformed people's lives. MacDonald, called to be a pastor, turned a story and more specifically the 'parabolic' as a means of spiritual awakening. He created fictive worlds in which the language of Jesus would find a new home and regain its revelatory power for his particular Victorian audience.
Price: $29.99
Pages: 248
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: Lutterworth Press
Publication Date:
28 August 2014
Trim Size: 9.02 X 6.02 in
ISBN: 9780718893293
Format: Paperback
'She absolutely and successfully extrapolates how MacDonald used the parabolic form. Kreglinger demonstrates how as a Calvinistic Scot, as a Victorian, as a poet and theologian, George MacDonald observed this desensitization process at work in late nineteenth century Victorian society. All around an excellent study'.
— Paul Brazier
I have not read any of George MacDonald's Christian fiction. Kreglinger's examination has put his work at the top of my 'to-read' list. ...Storied Revelations is an exhortation to any who engage with the Bible to do so using their imagination.
— Sarah Agnew
As a whole, the book is interesting and makes a good case for its various arguments. The book is quite detailed in many aspects, yet provides enough of an introduction to those not significantly read in studies of parables, metaphors, and imagery. The later portion of the book was the most engaging, for it was here that the build-up of topics was expressed in the study of why George MacDonald used parables, and how this was expressed particularly within Lilith.
— Kris Hiuser
Anyone who courts interest in MacDonald should read Kreglinger.
— Jordan Daniel Wood
— Paul Brazier
I have not read any of George MacDonald's Christian fiction. Kreglinger's examination has put his work at the top of my 'to-read' list. ...Storied Revelations is an exhortation to any who engage with the Bible to do so using their imagination.
— Sarah Agnew
As a whole, the book is interesting and makes a good case for its various arguments. The book is quite detailed in many aspects, yet provides enough of an introduction to those not significantly read in studies of parables, metaphors, and imagery. The later portion of the book was the most engaging, for it was here that the build-up of topics was expressed in the study of why George MacDonald used parables, and how this was expressed particularly within Lilith.
— Kris Hiuser
Anyone who courts interest in MacDonald should read Kreglinger.
— Jordan Daniel Wood
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 George MacDonald: Poet and Theologian
2 Patterns of Subversion and Promise: Jesus' Parables
3 Patterns of Subversion and Promise: Romanticism
4 George MacDonald Theological Rationale for Story and the "Parabolic"
5 Patterns of Subversion and Promise: Lilith
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 George MacDonald: Poet and Theologian
2 Patterns of Subversion and Promise: Jesus' Parables
3 Patterns of Subversion and Promise: Romanticism
4 George MacDonald Theological Rationale for Story and the "Parabolic"
5 Patterns of Subversion and Promise: Lilith
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index