The Theology of George MacDonald
The Child Against the Vampire of Fundamentalism
- Theology
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2019
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Publisher's Description
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 offering them eucharistic life. In contrast, like Christ, MacDonald brings before us 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--a challenge reaching beyond the confines of Evangelicalism, confronting the foundations of much of Western theology. This meticulously-researched study exploring MacDonald's work--especially his "realist" and fantasy novels--in the light of its Victorian context is of more than historical interest. His incisive critique of church and empire have particular relevance today in light of the growing and troubling alliance between fundamentalist expressions of church and intolerant, right-wing politics. This volume considers MacDonald's radical solution to religious vampirism; becoming children.
Endorsements (1)
“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. 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.”
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