Christian author, speaker, and missionary Elisabeth Elliot (who wrote the 1957 best seller Through Gates of Splendor) made no secret of her admiration for George MacDonald. But those who have listened to her talks, or read her books and newsletters, may be much less familiar with the Scottish preacher-poet. Some may have read the various abridgements of his novels, but it is our great hope at The Works of MacDonald, to give today’s reader access to the very same original Christian classics which inspired and enriched Elisabeth herself. In these new translations, not a word of the Scotsman’s is missing, but a column of English is provided so that the local dialect—for so long a stumbling-block—is no longer any barrier.
This new series of blog posts aims to introduce admirers of specific Christian writers (such as C S Lewis, Oswald Chambers, and G K Chesterton) to the specific MacDonald stories that mattered most to them: and we begin with the authoress of Passion and Purity. The above quote, which makes a good general point about these faith-building novels, is also a pointer to two individual classics. The title which features a shepherd is the timeless tale, and established E.E. favorite, Sir Gibbie; whilst it is the soaring masterpiece Malcolm that features a fisherman as its Christlike hero.
We hope, in the near future, to publish another of Elisabeth’s favorites in translated form; but for now, this brace of compelling stories is waiting to be discovered! It is also worth noting that these are the only two of G.M.’s Scottish works to have sequels: Sir Gibbie is followed by Donal Grant (translation now available), and Malcolm by The Marquis of Lossie (target release in March or April of this year).
“In George MacDonald’s Sir Gibbie the boy (Gibbie) is up in the mountains in a storm. He hears the sound of the river in flood and realizes it is headed straight for the cottage. He shoots after it. “He is not terrified. One believing like him in the perfect Love and perfect Will of a Father of men, as the fact of facts, fears nothing. Fear is faithlessness…A perfect faith would lift us absolutely above fear. It is in the cracks, crannies, and gulfy faults of our belief, the gaps that are not faith, that the snow of apprehension settles and the ice of unkindness forms.”
Do you feel, in spite of all the promises of God, as helpless as a worm today? There’s a special word for you too: “Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you.” (Is 41:14)””