George MacDonald

One of my all-time heroes is the Victorian author, theologian and poet, George MacDonald. He was described by C.S. Lewis as one of his inspirations, and a man ‘closest to the spirit of Christ.’ I’ve certainly been inspired by his writings, particularly Diary of an Old Soul which has a sonnet for every day of the year.

I’m in the middle of reading his biography, and have been struck how so many of the issues he faced in the 1850’s are very similar to the ones we are facing today. In particular he often challenges the Calvinistic notion of God as a pale-faced judge who delights in retribution and torture, instead bringing us constantly back to the idea that God is a loving Father. The former notions of God resulted in many preachers promoting a hellfire and damnation gospel where only the elect few would make it through to eternal bliss. He was also scathing of workers who ministered to the poor with ‘a loaf of bread in one hand and a bunch of tracts in the other’. I heard it said recently that ‘where there is much law, there is little love, but where there is much love there is little law.’ MacDonald felt keenly the presence of law in the church of his day, and longed for love.

MacDonald’s strict Scottish Calvinistic upbringing, which included regular and sadistic beatings from the local schoolmaster (said to have permanently crippled one student), led to bouts of severe depression in his university days, and he grew up with the idea that God, the aweful judge, constantly held a whip at the ready. Underlying theologies of judgement, retribution, and the dreadful consequences of breaking God’s laws, resulted in a church full of poe-faced legalists unable to enjoy life, and quick to judge others for their many sins. This was in stark contrast to the poets of the day, such as Coleridge, who viewed the whole of creation as God’s handiwork, expressing his evident beauty and love. It was through MacDonald’s connections with Lady Byron, Ruskin and other Victorian intellectuals that he finally discovered that God was kind, and not the dreadful schoolmaster he had been raised to fear.

It is ironic that connection with the likes of Ruskin - a man who had decided he was an atheist because he could not cope with the cold contemporary images of God - resulted in MacDonald finding new-found faith and life. He says, for example, in a letter to his father:

‘One of my greatest difficulties in consenting to think of religion was that I thought that I should have to give up my beautiful thoughts and love for the things God has made... I love my bible more - I am always finding out something new in it - I seem to have everything to learn over again from the beginning - All the teaching of my youth is useless to me - I must get it all from the bible again.’

In our age I believe we must also revisit the bible. The problem is, we so often read it with preconceived ideas formed from dogma rather than truth - ideas that came to birth in the darkness of alienation, rather than the light of the spirit: poisonous ideas that have seeped through the bedrock of culture to infect our drinking water. So I believe the challenge faced by George MacDonald - which he so admirable faced - is that faced by us here at the beginning of the 21st century, and it is two-fold. Firstly we must re-read our bibles and ask some serious questions about what we believe, and secondly we need to get involved in contemporary culture instead of simply judging the game from the sidelines.

Well, I hope these thought have been useful. I am thinking about these things as we prepare for our 10th - yes 10th! - Summer Worship Retreat in the Czech Republic, and hope to develop them more during the week. It would be nice to hear from you if you have insight on these matters.

Peace,

John.