George MacDonald in the Age of Miracles Incarnation, Doubt, and Reenchantment by Timothy Larsen

George MacDonald in the Age of Miracles Incarnation, Doubt, and Reenchantment by Timothy Larsen

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 Series, historian and theologian Timothy Larsen considers the legacyof 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. Chesterton, 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.

About the Series

The Hansen Series celebrates the literary and spiritual contributions of seven British authors whose works have captivated readers across generations: Owen Barfield, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. These seven authors were all deeply involved in the friendships and intellectual exchanges that shaped the Inklings, a mid-twentieth-century group of Christian writers and thinkers in Oxford, England. This series invites readers to deepen their engagement with these timeless voices and their enduring influence on literature, faith, and the life of the imagination.

Timothy Larsen (PhD, University of Stirling) is McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an Honorary Fellow in the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, and he has been a Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, and All Souls College, Oxford. He is the author of several books, including John Stuart Mill: A Secular Life, The Slain God: Anthropologists and the Christian Faith, A People of One Book: The Bible and the Victorians, and Crisis of Doubt: Honest Faith in Nineteenth-Century England.