Dickens, Christianity and 'The Life of Our Lord': Humble Veneration, Profound ConvictionWhile Dickens's religion and religious thought is recognized as a significant component of his work, no study of Dickens's religion has carefully considered his often ignored, yet crucially relevant, The Life of Our Lord. Written by a biblical studies scholar, this study brings the insights of a theological approach to bear on The Life of Our Lord and on Dickens's other writing. Colledge argues that Dickens intended The Life Of Our Lord as a serious and deliberate expression of his religious thought and his understanding of Christianity based on evidences for his reasons for writing, what he reveals, and the unique genre in which he writes. Using The Life of Our Lord as a definitive source for our understanding of Dickens's Christian worldview, the book explores Dickens's Christian voice in his fiction, journalism, and letters. As it seeks to situate him in the context of nineteenth-century popular religion-including his interest in Unitarianism-this study presents fresh insight into his churchmanship and reminds us, as Orwell observed, that Dickens "was always preaching a sermon". |
Contents
1 | |
Telling that Gracious and Compassionate History | 21 |
The Eternal Majesty of Heaven | 38 |
Where the Two Ends of Life Meet | 58 |
It is True He is the Son of God | 84 |
Our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ | 108 |
Seeking for No Other Footsteps | 136 |
Notes | 153 |
165 | |
177 | |
Other editions - View all
Dickens, Christianity and 'The Life of Our Lord': Humble Veneration ... Gary Colledge Limited preview - 2009 |
Dickens, Christianity and 'The Life of Our Lord': Humble Veneration ... Gary Colledge Limited preview - 2011 |
Dickens, Christianity and 'The Life of Our Lord': Humble Veneration ... Gary Colledge Limited preview - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
Anglican ascription Barnaby Rudge basic beautiful death Bleak House Bridgewater Treatises Broad Church chapter character Charles Dickens Christ Christian worldview Christology Clennam concerning considered context Creator deity Dickens includes Dickens seems Dickens understood Dickens wrote Dickens’s Christian thought Dickens’s religious Dickens’s thought Dickens’s understanding Dickens’s view disciples divine doctrine Dombey and Son episode Erskine eschatological eternal Evangelical evil expression fact faith Father Forster God’s wrath Gospel narrative Gospel Stories harmonization heaven hell human idea instance Jesus judgement Little Dorrit Lord Luke Matt mercy Messiah moral natural theology Nell’s nineteenth century novels observed ofJesus Olshausen one’s original sin orthodox parable passage person ofJesus Pilgrim Letters popular precisely Providence punishment redemption and salvation reference religion religious thought Saviour Scriptural sense significant simply sinners Son of God soteriological spiritual Synoptics teaching ofJesus Testament thatJesus theological TLOL total depravity understanding of Dickens’s Unitarian words