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An exposition of George MacDonald's theology in its Victorian context, with implications for the pursuit of religious innocence today.
George MacDonald (1824-1905) was writing at a time of Evangelical unease. In a society ravaged by Asiatic cholera, numbed by levels of infant mortality, and fearful of revolution and the toxicity of industry (to name but a few of the many challenges), the 'gospel' proclaiming eternal damnation for unbelievers was hardly good news; rather, Christianity was increasingly viewed as the source of bad news and a tool of state oppression. MacDonald agreed: in his view, the church had become a vampire, sucking the blood of her children instead of o¬ffering them Eucharistic life.
In contrast, like Christ, MacDonald offered a child. Although at first sight a familiar Romantic incarnation, in MacDonald's theology 'the child' becomes an unlikely icon challenging the vampire's kingdom and confronting the foundations of much of Western theology. John R. de Jong's meticulously researched study of MacDonald's work - especially his 'realist' and fantasy novels - in its Victorian context is of more than historical interest. In light of the growth of fundamentalist expressions of Christianity, we are encouraged to consider embrace MacDonald's radical solution to religious vampirism: becoming children.
George MacDonald (1824-1905) was writing at a time of Evangelical unease. In a society ravaged by Asiatic cholera, numbed by levels of infant mortality, and fearful of revolution and the toxicity of industry (to name but a few of the many challenges), the 'gospel' proclaiming eternal damnation for unbelievers was hardly good news; rather, Christianity was increasingly viewed as the source of bad news and a tool of state oppression. MacDonald agreed: in his view, the church had become a vampire, sucking the blood of her children instead of o¬ffering them Eucharistic life.
In contrast, like Christ, MacDonald offered a child. Although at first sight a familiar Romantic incarnation, in MacDonald's theology 'the child' becomes an unlikely icon challenging the vampire's kingdom and confronting the foundations of much of Western theology. John R. de Jong's meticulously researched study of MacDonald's work - especially his 'realist' and fantasy novels - in its Victorian context is of more than historical interest. In light of the growth of fundamentalist expressions of Christianity, we are encouraged to consider embrace MacDonald's radical solution to religious vampirism: becoming children.
Price: $36.95
Pages: 292
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: Lutterworth Press
Publication Date:
26 August 2021
Trim Size: 5.98 X 8.98 in
ISBN: 9780718895792
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
RELIGION / Theology, Theology
A study not only of the nineteenth century, de Jong's book on George MacDonald is also a warning for our own time and its religious tendencies. MacDonald is often known for little more than his influence on C. S. Lewis and Tolkien, but here he emerges as a serious voice, not a theologian but through literature an explorer of central theological ideas and their influence for good and, too often, ill. John de Jong's knowing and informed revisiting of the theme of the child after Wordsworth and Romanticism is a welcome reminder of its continuing importance today, of the importance of literature, and of the dangers of the vampire of fundamentalism.
— David Jasper, Emeritus Professor, University of Glasgow
This book is a scholarly achievement of the highest order, and all future work on MacDonald will have to take account of it.
— Rev Dr John Pridmore
— David Jasper, Emeritus Professor, University of Glasgow
This book is a scholarly achievement of the highest order, and all future work on MacDonald will have to take account of it.
— Rev Dr John Pridmore
Preface ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: The Context of George MacDonald's Work 11
Theology and Literature 12
The Reluctant Congregationalist 15
George MacDonald's Theology - Key Ideas and Influences 18
The Influence of Romanticism 22
The Victorian Backdrop - A Divided Evangelical World 27
Chapter 2: The Victorian Child - Social and Theological Attitudes 41
Sin and Innocence 41
Early- and Mid-Nineteenth-Century Attitudes to Childhood 43
Post-Darwin and Fin de Siècle Attitudes to Childhood 54
The Nineteenth-Century Child 59
Chapter 3: George MacDonald's Contribution to Childhood 60
Childhood Sins, Adult Sinners - A Tractarian Perspective 61
A Reading of At the Back of the North Wind 65
Chapter 4: The Child in MacDonald's Realist Fiction 97
Approaching MacDonald's Realist Fiction 97
The Innocent Child 100
The Abused and Disturbed Child 109
A Realist Fairyland 123
Chapter 5: An Overview of George MacDonald's Theology 125
MacDonald's Approach to Cognition and Epistemology 125
Doctrine of God 132
Cosmology 146
Anthropology 152
The Problem of Evil 158
Soteriology 165
Chapter 6: The View of Evangelicalism from Fairyland 174
George MacDonald's Via Media 174
Evangelical Views of Evil 175
"A Little World of His Own" -The View from Fairyland 181
Learning to See Again - Fairy Vision 187
Chapter 7: The Child Against the Vampire - A Reading of Lilith 192
Lilith - Making Strange Theology 192
Lilith - Anti-Child and Antichrist 198
The Landscape and Action in Lilith 200
The Tactic of Defamiliarization 205
The Battle in (and for) the Mind 206
Satan-The Great Shadow 209
Chapter 8: Lilith - A Summary of George MacDonald's Theology 217
A Realist Fantasy 217
An Alternative Epistemology - Shape-Shifting Truth 219
The Child Against the Vampire 223
Key Theological Proposals that Emerge from Lilith 229
Chapter 9: The Implications of George MacDonald's Theology 236
"Death Has Come Through Our Windows" 236
"A Problematic Attitude to the World" 238
"If We Are Not Little Ones of a Perfect Love, I Can See No Sense in Things" 251
"His Quarrel Is with All Churches at Home and Abroad" 255
"The Idea of the Universe" 265
Bibliography 271
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: The Context of George MacDonald's Work 11
Theology and Literature 12
The Reluctant Congregationalist 15
George MacDonald's Theology - Key Ideas and Influences 18
The Influence of Romanticism 22
The Victorian Backdrop - A Divided Evangelical World 27
Chapter 2: The Victorian Child - Social and Theological Attitudes 41
Sin and Innocence 41
Early- and Mid-Nineteenth-Century Attitudes to Childhood 43
Post-Darwin and Fin de Siècle Attitudes to Childhood 54
The Nineteenth-Century Child 59
Chapter 3: George MacDonald's Contribution to Childhood 60
Childhood Sins, Adult Sinners - A Tractarian Perspective 61
A Reading of At the Back of the North Wind 65
Chapter 4: The Child in MacDonald's Realist Fiction 97
Approaching MacDonald's Realist Fiction 97
The Innocent Child 100
The Abused and Disturbed Child 109
A Realist Fairyland 123
Chapter 5: An Overview of George MacDonald's Theology 125
MacDonald's Approach to Cognition and Epistemology 125
Doctrine of God 132
Cosmology 146
Anthropology 152
The Problem of Evil 158
Soteriology 165
Chapter 6: The View of Evangelicalism from Fairyland 174
George MacDonald's Via Media 174
Evangelical Views of Evil 175
"A Little World of His Own" -The View from Fairyland 181
Learning to See Again - Fairy Vision 187
Chapter 7: The Child Against the Vampire - A Reading of Lilith 192
Lilith - Making Strange Theology 192
Lilith - Anti-Child and Antichrist 198
The Landscape and Action in Lilith 200
The Tactic of Defamiliarization 205
The Battle in (and for) the Mind 206
Satan-The Great Shadow 209
Chapter 8: Lilith - A Summary of George MacDonald's Theology 217
A Realist Fantasy 217
An Alternative Epistemology - Shape-Shifting Truth 219
The Child Against the Vampire 223
Key Theological Proposals that Emerge from Lilith 229
Chapter 9: The Implications of George MacDonald's Theology 236
"Death Has Come Through Our Windows" 236
"A Problematic Attitude to the World" 238
"If We Are Not Little Ones of a Perfect Love, I Can See No Sense in Things" 251
"His Quarrel Is with All Churches at Home and Abroad" 255
"The Idea of the Universe" 265
Bibliography 271