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Hansen Lectureship
George MacDonald in the Age of Miracles: Incarnation, Doubt, and Reenchantment
The Bible is full of miracles. Yet how do we make sense of them today? And where might we see miracles in our own lives?
In this installment of the Hansen Lectureship series, historian and theologian Timothy Larsen considers the legacy of George MacDonald, the Victorian Scottish author and minister who is best known for his pioneering fantasy literature, which influenced authors such as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, G. K. Chesteron, and Madeleine L'Engle.
Larsen explores how, throughout his life and writings, MacDonald sought to counteract skepticism, unbelief, naturalism, and materialism and to herald instead the reality of the miraculous, the supernatural, the wondrous, and the realm of the spirit.
The Hansen Lectureship series offers accessible and insightful reflections by Wheaton College faculty members on the transformative work of the Wade Center authors.
In this installment of the Hansen Lectureship series, historian and theologian Timothy Larsen considers the legacy of George MacDonald, the Victorian Scottish author and minister who is best known for his pioneering fantasy literature, which influenced authors such as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, G. K. Chesteron, and Madeleine L'Engle.
Larsen explores how, throughout his life and writings, MacDonald sought to counteract skepticism, unbelief, naturalism, and materialism and to herald instead the reality of the miraculous, the supernatural, the wondrous, and the realm of the spirit.
The Hansen Lectureship series offers accessible and insightful reflections by Wheaton College faculty members on the transformative work of the Wade Center authors.
150 pages, Paperback
Published November 20, 2018
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173 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Larsen
36 books25 followersTimothy Larsen is McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 13, 2022
Summary: Three lectures on the works of George MacDonald with responses that focus on the miraculous in these works, particularly with regard to the incarnation, faith amid doubt, and the re-enchantment of life.
Wheaton College is the home of the Marion E. Wade Center, which houses materials by and about seven British authors: Owen Barfield, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy l. Sayers, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. Each year the center hosts an annual lecture series named in honor of Ken and Jean Hansen, who were instrumental in establishing the center, which honors the founder of ServiceMaster, with whom Ken Hansen worked.
That is background to this book, containing the 2018 lectures by Timothy Larsen, a professor of history and Christian Thought at Wheaton, and three responses by Wheaton colleagues. The lectures focus broadly on the theme of the miraculous.
The first of these centers on the incarnation. Larsen notes a theological shift in the nineteenth century from a focus on the atonement, the death of Christ and its implications, to the incarnation, the coming of Christ in the flesh. Once consequence was a shift in focus from Easter to Christmas being the great Christian holiday and Larsen notes how this is evident in many of MacDonald’s work focusing around Christmas. Accompanying this is a focus on the love of God in MacDonald’s works. James Edward Beitler III in his response elaborates the theme of incarnation in Phantastes, the two natures of Christ, and the idea of embodied thought.
The second lecture considers doubt and the idea of “the crisis of doubt” in Victorian writing. MacDonald believed in honest or holy doubt that was an expression of faith and maintained strong friendships with notorious doubts like Tennyson (e.g. “In Memoriam”). He proposes that this is integral to a process of reaching a deeper, more settled Christian faith, as occurs in his character Thomas Wingfold. Most significant for MacDonald are the times his characters trust and obey in the face of doubt. In MacDonald’s own life, this process accounts for his profound belief in miracles, including the resurrection, which sustained him in the loss of two children. Richard Hughes Gibson responds in considering how this works out in MacDonald’s ideas about poetry.
The third and final lecture focuses on the theme of re-enchantment and centers on the image of the “rosefire” in The Princess and the Goblin. MacDonald connected this image to God’s sanctifying work, the love that purifies and explores how this idea runs through MacDonald’s fantasies. Along the way, we also learn about his unhappy clerical career and his ideas about purgation, if not purgatory. Jill Pelaez Baumgaertner keys off two mentions of poetry and draws in the work of Luther, Donne, Blake, Richard John Neuhaus, and Frederick Buechner to show how fairy tales were a way into reality, particularly the reality of eschatological hope, for MacDonald.
This is a delightful addition to the library of any MacDonald fan. It struck me that it offers yet another example of the truth we often find in fiction. Personally, the second lecture on doubt spoke the most to me. I work with those whose research leads, as it would any thinking person, to questions and doubts. Too often, I believe, we confuse faith with certainty, which is faith’s opposite. We miss how honest or even holy doubt itself, especially when accompanied by the obedience that trusts that what one has believed is so, even in the face of questions, is perhaps a singular form of faith.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Wheaton College is the home of the Marion E. Wade Center, which houses materials by and about seven British authors: Owen Barfield, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy l. Sayers, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. Each year the center hosts an annual lecture series named in honor of Ken and Jean Hansen, who were instrumental in establishing the center, which honors the founder of ServiceMaster, with whom Ken Hansen worked.
That is background to this book, containing the 2018 lectures by Timothy Larsen, a professor of history and Christian Thought at Wheaton, and three responses by Wheaton colleagues. The lectures focus broadly on the theme of the miraculous.
The first of these centers on the incarnation. Larsen notes a theological shift in the nineteenth century from a focus on the atonement, the death of Christ and its implications, to the incarnation, the coming of Christ in the flesh. Once consequence was a shift in focus from Easter to Christmas being the great Christian holiday and Larsen notes how this is evident in many of MacDonald’s work focusing around Christmas. Accompanying this is a focus on the love of God in MacDonald’s works. James Edward Beitler III in his response elaborates the theme of incarnation in Phantastes, the two natures of Christ, and the idea of embodied thought.
The second lecture considers doubt and the idea of “the crisis of doubt” in Victorian writing. MacDonald believed in honest or holy doubt that was an expression of faith and maintained strong friendships with notorious doubts like Tennyson (e.g. “In Memoriam”). He proposes that this is integral to a process of reaching a deeper, more settled Christian faith, as occurs in his character Thomas Wingfold. Most significant for MacDonald are the times his characters trust and obey in the face of doubt. In MacDonald’s own life, this process accounts for his profound belief in miracles, including the resurrection, which sustained him in the loss of two children. Richard Hughes Gibson responds in considering how this works out in MacDonald’s ideas about poetry.
The third and final lecture focuses on the theme of re-enchantment and centers on the image of the “rosefire” in The Princess and the Goblin. MacDonald connected this image to God’s sanctifying work, the love that purifies and explores how this idea runs through MacDonald’s fantasies. Along the way, we also learn about his unhappy clerical career and his ideas about purgation, if not purgatory. Jill Pelaez Baumgaertner keys off two mentions of poetry and draws in the work of Luther, Donne, Blake, Richard John Neuhaus, and Frederick Buechner to show how fairy tales were a way into reality, particularly the reality of eschatological hope, for MacDonald.
This is a delightful addition to the library of any MacDonald fan. It struck me that it offers yet another example of the truth we often find in fiction. Personally, the second lecture on doubt spoke the most to me. I work with those whose research leads, as it would any thinking person, to questions and doubts. Too often, I believe, we confuse faith with certainty, which is faith’s opposite. We miss how honest or even holy doubt itself, especially when accompanied by the obedience that trusts that what one has believed is so, even in the face of questions, is perhaps a singular form of faith.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
April 2, 2024
A wonderful conversation about an author that I am just now getting to know and love. Better late than never. The chapter on faith and doubt is especially good.
January 7, 2020
Not quite what I was expecting. This is a series of three lectures mainly looking at George Macdonald’s theology on Incarnation, Doubt, and sanctification. Surprisingly the author draws more from MacDonald’s novels than his fantasies for which he is so well known. I found it highly readable and engaging. There was some really interesting stuff in here concerning theological trends of the Victorians and key themes in MacDonald’s work. If you’re looking for a literary analysis of MacDonald this probably isn’t what you want, but otherwise excellent.
September 20, 2019
This was a very good work of scholarship about George MacDonald's theology and his literary career. It will certainly be a good that I go back to re-read numerous times.
July 20, 2018
Learned a lot about MacDonald... I especially enjoyed reading about the historical/theological context that he was writing in - particularly found in chapter 1 of the book.
June 25, 2019
A solid little book. Its primary good was giving me new perspectives on MacDonald, highlighting both flaws in the mans theology I had not yet noticed, and deeping my appreciation for him at the same time.
The lack of the 5th star is mostly due to a sense of uneveness in some of the essays. There are 2 sections where the usually solid writing shifts abruptly, and some of the lines of argument taken are, while not neccessarily wrong, a bit puzzling.
But the flaws are minor for a book that could be read in an afternoon, and for my part I found the rewards well worth the time spent.
The lack of the 5th star is mostly due to a sense of uneveness in some of the essays. There are 2 sections where the usually solid writing shifts abruptly, and some of the lines of argument taken are, while not neccessarily wrong, a bit puzzling.
But the flaws are minor for a book that could be read in an afternoon, and for my part I found the rewards well worth the time spent.
Want to read
May 7, 2020
December 13, 2022
A very interesting little book that is solidly-researched and provides excellent biographical and historical insight into MacDonald's life and work. I do wish the response sections were a bit more developed, or at least willing to critique and wrestle more with the content presented in each chapter (as it is, I didn't find the responses added much to the book and simply wished those pages were given to Larsen to develop his own work more!).
These Hansen Lecture books are all interesting, and worth a read if you are really into the authors they highlight, but I do consistently wish they were longer!
These Hansen Lecture books are all interesting, and worth a read if you are really into the authors they highlight, but I do consistently wish they were longer!
September 18, 2023
This book is based on a series of lectures given at Wheaton College about the 19th century Scottish Christian writer George MacDonald. The lectures look at MacDonald's role in the transition from early to late Victorian Christianity, and provide a lot of background on the social conditions of the era. I didn't like the lecture format and would have preferred that the book follow a standard chapter format, but I found it very informative.
November 22, 2018
Oh my goodness, y'all, this is a great collection of lectures / essays on George MacDonald! My full review can be found on Theologian's Library.
January 6, 2020
While there are some points in this book that I don't particularly agree with, I will say that it is well researched and very well written. It provides a nice glimpse into some of the ideas and beliefs of George MacDonald through the lens of history and his writings.
Read
September 21, 2024“George MacDonald was an old soul whose deep wisdom was that God wants us to learn how to be a child again.”, p. 30
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews