The Man Behind the Sermons

 

The Man Behind the Sermons

 

Biography of George MacDonald (1824–1905)

George MacDonald was the forerunner of the Inklings—C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and others. He was a minister, poet, novelist, and imaginative seer. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote numerous works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.

Lewis, his most famous champion, said,

"I dare not say that he is never in error; but... I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer... to the Spirit of Christ Himself... I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master."

Madeleine L'Engle later called George MacDonald,

"The grandfather of us all—all of us who struggle to come to terms with truth through imagination."

Few Christian writers have influenced so many generations of readers while remaining so little known by the broader Christian world. Yet for those who discover him, George MacDonald often becomes less an author to admire than a trusted guide to return to again and again.

 

Early Life

George MacDonald was born on December 10, 1824, in Huntly, Scotland. His father was a farmer descended from the Clan MacDonald of Glen Coe. He grew up in a literary home and developed a love for reading from an early age.

From childhood he also struggled with what were considered the family diseases—asthma, bronchitis, and tuberculosis. Throughout much of his life he suffered recurring hemorrhaging of the lungs, spending many weeks confined to bed. Illness became a lifelong companion and undoubtedly shaped both his imagination and his understanding of suffering. Perhaps it also deepened his compassion. Much of MacDonald's writing carries the quiet understanding of someone who had lived with weakness while learning to trust the goodness of God.

 

A Different Vision of God

MacDonald grew up under Scottish Calvinism. As a young man he found himself caught between the example of his loving father and the strict Calvinism of his grandmother. In the end, his father's life and character won. This contrast between those two lives would shape the way he read Scripture for the rest of his life.

As a young man he wrestled with the doctrine of predestination, finding it impossible to reconcile with the character of a loving Father. He could not accept the idea of God choosing those who were in and those who were out.

He also rejected the doctrine of penal substitution. Rather than seeing Christ as saving us from the Father's wrath, MacDonald believed Christ came to save us from our sin. The problem was not escaping God's justice but being delivered from our selfish selves. This conviction would become the foundation of his theology and the heartbeat of nearly everything he would later write.

 

Minister, Husband, and Father

MacDonald graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1845 with a master's degree in chemistry and physics. After several years tutoring in London, he entered Highbury College to study theology and graduated in 1850.

He accepted his first pastorate at Trinity Congregational Church in Arundel. His sermons, emphasizing God's universal love and the possibility of redemption for all, found little acceptance. His salary was gradually reduced until he finally resigned in 1853.

In 1851 he married Louisa Powell. Together they would raise eleven children while continually facing the hardships of poor health. Tuberculosis claimed several members of the family, including two of their own children. These experiences deepened rather than diminished MacDonald's confidence in the goodness of God. His theology was not forged in the classroom alone, but in the ordinary joys and heartbreaking sorrows of family life.

 

The Writer

Following his pastoral ministry and later teaching at the University of London, MacDonald increasingly turned to writing to support his growing family.

"I write," he said, "not for children, but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five."

That single sentence may describe George MacDonald better than any biography ever could. He never outgrew his own childlike wonder.

Unable to fully express his vision from the pulpit, he found freedom through books. During his lifetime he published nearly fifty books, including novels, fairy tales, poetry, and volumes of sermons that continue to shape Christian thought today.

 

The Heart of His Theology

According to biographer William Raeper, George MacDonald's theology,

"Celebrated the rediscovery of God as Father, and sought to encourage an intuitive response to God and Christ through quickening his readers' spirits in their reading of the Bible and their perception of nature."

MacDonald taught a relational gospel of the heart rather than merely one of the head. Like the Father waiting in Luke fifteen, God patiently seeks the return of His children. He was convinced that God never punishes simply to punish, nor disciplines merely to satisfy justice. Everything God does is ultimately redemptive. For him, the purpose of God was never condemnation but restoration, never merely justice but the healing of His children.

 

His Enduring Influence

Decades later, C.S. Lewis wrote the introduction to George MacDonald: An Anthology. Lewis explained that his purpose was not simply to revive MacDonald's literary reputation but to spread his theological teaching, particularly that found in the Unspoken Sermons. Lewis confessed that his debt to these sermons was almost as great as one person could owe another.

He later wrote,

"I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer... to the Spirit of Christ Himself. Hence his Christ-like union of tenderness and severity. Nowhere else outside the New Testament have I found terror and comfort so intertwined."

George MacDonald died on September 18, 1905, in Ashtead, England. He was buried in Bordighera alongside his wife Louisa and daughters Lilia and Grace. Yet his voice continues to speak through his writings, still inviting each generation to meet the Father he met and came to know so deeply.

The Quest Continues...

A Reader's Map of the Unspoken Sermons

Most collections of sermons can be opened almost anywhere. George MacDonald's Unspoken Sermons can certainly be read that way and richly enjoyed. Yet after living with these sermons for many years, I have become convinced they are much more than thirty-six independent messages gathered into three volumes. The more I read them, the more I found myself asking whether MacDonald intended them to be read as a whole rather than simply as individual sermons.

MacDonald began what we now call the Unspoken Sermons by publishing what is known as Series One in 1870. I do not know when he actually began writing them, but I suspect many of these sermons had been developing in his heart for decades.

Series Two followed fifteen years later in 1885, and Series Three appeared six years after that in 1891. He began the collection at age forty-six and completed it at sixty-seven, during the most productive years of his writing life.

Although MacDonald never gave these three collections titles, the progression of his thought appears remarkably intentional. He writes with a clear vision of where he is heading. The larger picture continually guides the expression of each sermon. Individual sermons stand beautifully on their own, yet each seems to gather additional meaning from

As I lived with these sermons over many years, I became convinced they unfold as a developing theological narrative, each sermon preparing the way for those that follow.

These titles are not intended to rename MacDonald's work, but simply to describe the progression I believe unfolds across the three series.

• Series One — The Gospel
• Series Two — The Way of the Gospel
• Series Three — The Fruit of the Gospel

Whether these titles are ultimately accepted or not is less important than the invitation they represent—to read the sermons as one unfolding story rather than thirty-six separate messages.

These are not MacDonald's titles but my own attempt to describe the unfolding movement I believe runs throughout the Unspoken Sermons. They are simply offered as a guide for the journey.

One discovery, more than any other, transformed the way I read MacDonald. He frequently writes by developing a series of related points that lead to a central theme. From there, like the shoreline reflecting upon the waters of a lake, he reflects upon that theme, drawing out its meaning and implications. Recognizing this recurring pattern has helped me understand not only the individual sermons but the larger narrative and relational vision that holds them together. The big picture always guides the details. Once I began to recognize this pattern, I found it almost impossible not to see it throughout the sermons.

You have already seen this pattern in the Introduction.

I began with the theme found in Sermon Nineteen, "Abba, Father!", where I believe MacDonald makes the thesis statement for the entire collection:

"The most beautiful and challenging thing in the world is to cry Abba Father from our whole heart! And I would help everyone I could to call upon this heavenly Father."

From there we reached back to Sermon One, "The Child in the Midst," for his fuller discussion of children and fathers, defining both by their common childlikeness. We then followed his thoughts on transformation through resurrection before moving forward to his final reflection in "The Inheritance."

Simply put, MacDonald introduces us to the God of the cosmos who is Abba—our intimate and present Father. The One in whom we share our nature, and with whom we share all humanity as brothers and sisters. That shared life reaches its fullest expression as we are transformed into what we truly are in Christ.

The outline that follows is not intended to prove this reading, but simply to serve as a map for the quest ahead. My hope is not that you will simply agree with my interpretation, but that this map will encourage you to make the journey for yourself. If, along the way, you begin to see the same remarkable unity of thought that has captivated me for so many years, then this little guide will have served its purpose.