Waking the Dead

Interest in George MacDonald, a 19th century Scottish writer, has flourished in recent decades. Known primarily as a pioneer in fantasy literature, he is equally revered as a Victorian sage whose sermons greatly influenced C.S. Lewis. However, while literary studies on MacDonald abound, there are few attempts to explore MacDonald’s philosophical thought. Because MacDonald avoided being stereotyped – he often eludes classification in the fields of theology and philosophy. Moreover, his style of writing can border on the mystical. But was MacDonald truly a mystic? He shares the Romanticist’s interest in intuitive knowledge and borrowed freely from Neo-Platonists and mythic writers and poets of the past. In Waking the Dead, author Dean Hardy offers a pioneering study of MacDonald’s theological and philosophical foundations as well as his methods as a Christian apologist. In doing so, this book presents MacDonald as a successful model for Christians today.