GEORGE MacDONALD: THE FOUNDER OF THE FEAST

GEORGE  MacDONALD:  THE  FOUNDER  OF  THE  FEAST

By  Forrest  W.  Schultz

An  Expression  of  My  Thanks  For  This  Recently  Published  Book:

Marianne Wright, Ed. The Gospel In George MacDonald (Plough, 2016

                                        $18.00   340pp   ISBN: 978087486-66-4

     Approximately fifty years ago I had the opportunity to peruse a large number of issues of The Bulletin of The New York C.S. Lewis Society.  Of all the articles I read then, the only one whose specific content I still remember was the one showing the strong influence of George MacDonald upon the fantasy stories of  C. S. Lewis.  Its very appropriate title designated George McDonald as “The Founder of The Feast”.

     A brief, but powerful, discussion of this is found the chapter on C. S. Lewis in the “Appreciations” section of the book noted above.  Quotations from Lewis there specifically note the profound influence MacDonald had upon his fantasy.  The quotations clearly indicated that MacDonald can be rightly designated as The Founder of the Feast of fantasy stories written by C. S. Lewis.  Showing this is my purpose in writing this, which is therefore not a review in the normal sense of the term.

     This book is also useful in clearly showing – in its main section – MacDonald’s Christian world-view, not only in his fantasy stories but also in his Scottish novels, his sermons, and his letters, exact quotes from which are provided.

     I wish to thank Plough Publishing for the emails they periodically send out, through which learned of this book, and its Editor, Maureen Swinger, for providing me with a copy of the book.