A George MacDonald Caveat

I occasionally get questions requesting to know what I mean when warning George MacDonald readers to watch out for his unbiblical ideas.

As you may have guessed from my many MacDonald posts, I do appreciate and recommend many of his books (and only warn against a few that I would never, or rarely, suggest.) But even the "good ones" need to be read with discernment. Especially his unabridged novels for adults. 

While growing up reading a couple of his children's books and then getting into the abridged Michael Phillips editions of his novels, I did not notice his strange theology. I think the editing process cut out the most obvious statements and conversations. And the children's books mask it in fairytale form where it just fits the fantastical settings. But once I read more about MacDonald's life and then launched into his unabridged works in the public domain, I began to see bits of it all over. 

MacDonald was raised in a harsh form of Calvanism - coming through his grandmother in particular. As a young man he struggled deeply with the view of a distant and seemingly arbitrary God who only allowed "the elect" into heaven. Even those favored few could never know if they were one of the chosen and had to live all their life in fear.

So MacDonald swung to the opposite extreme and believed that everyone would eventually get to heaven through God's "purifying fire" - whether that happened through pain in this life or in some sort of purgatory after death. He also rejected the fact that God could view Christ's suffering and sacrifice as a substitution for our sin. (I can never quite follow the elaborate arguments he uses to explain the cross of Christ in his own way.)

All that said, his works are still so full of Christ, profound spiritual insights, and a deep love for and trust of God, that he draws me closer to God. So while I promote and even narrate audio versions of many of his books, I still want people to read with discernment.

And that goes for every book out there. Let's run them all past the sure Truth of the Bible!