George MacDonald
Reviewed questions grounded in the Encyclopedia entry on George MacDonald.
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Questions for discussion
Fatherhood, Will, and Restoration4 questions+
If “the childlike is the divine,” how does MacDonald’s idea of authority differ from the governing and judging God he rejected?→ If “only as we do, can we know,” what genuine work can doctrine or argument still perform?→ Is the true self found through self-denial a recovery of individuality or a surrender of it?→ If punishment is remedial and justice and mercy are one, what distinguishes restoration from coercion?→
Imagination, Nature, and Symbol4 questions+
What does it mean for a fairy tale to wake meaning rather than convey one?→ If nature is God’s thought made visible, what freedom remains to the human imagination?→ How does Phantastes turn the death of the heroic self into a narrative experience rather than a doctrine?→ In Lilith, why must the clenched hand open by an act of will even when divine power can heal it?→
Boundaries and Afterlives4 questions+
Why does MacDonald reject mesmerism and spiritualism as materialism while affirming dreams, second sight, and inner vision?→ Do MacDonald’s feminine wisdom figures amount to a theology, or do they remain narrative symbols?→ Is “Christian universalist in hope and Romantic Platonist of the will” more clarifying than the labels MacDonald refused?→ If modern fantasy carries MacDonald’s theology without naming it, does his influence reside more in literary form or in doctrine?→