The Gospel in George MacDonald: Selections from His Novels, Fairy Tales, and Spiritual Writings

Scottish author George MacDonald was a major influence on famous writers such as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, W.H. Auden, and G.K. Chesterton, but was remarkably unheralded during his own time and quietly toiled at his vocation as a writer for decades without much popular recognition. In this collection, Wright (Anni: Letters and Writings of Annemarie Wachter) brings together some of the most profound and lasting selections from his long career. MacDonald managed to accomplish much while helping his wife of 51 years raise their 11 children, and these writings show a diverse cross-section of his interests. His Christian theology, an important driving force in his work, was unadorned but profound. He discovered the work of God in the mundane events of every day, which he dubbed the “holy present,” and this ideology infuses his work. The themes MacDonald addresses include repentance, finding God, redemption, worship, and faith, all of which flow through his entire corpus, regardless of the genre in which he writes. This collection portrays a faith-filled, loving man who sincerely embraced his role as a child of God and shared the fruits of that journey with the world. (Sept.)