Paul Faber: Surgeon. Chapters 48 - end

   Paul Faber: Surgeon.  Chapters 48 - End.

Our reading for his week begins with meticulous descriptions of the spiritual states of several of the characters, showing them at various stages according to their separate personalities and experiences.  Drake is shown sharing the intense inner doubts and struggles of his soul with Drew, struggles which show him growing in his spiritual life.  MacDonald affirms such struggles for the sincere Christian are inevitable.  Addressing God, MacDonald explains:

If Thou wast One whom created mind could embrace, Thou wouldst be too small for those whom Thou hast made in Thine own image, the infinite creatures that seek their God, a Being to love and know infinitely.  For the created to know perfectly would be to be damned forever in the nutshell of the infinite.

Thus, as a properly growing Christian, Drake quietly passes into eternity.  

Faber, on the other hand, is just beginning his spiritual awakening, as he begins to see more clearly his own ignominy in his conduct toward Juliet, and becomes thoroughly disgusted with himself and ashamed.  Seeing oneself aright–facing all the errors and shortcomings–lays the foundation for spiritual growth. 

Dorothy’s spiritual journey is intensified by the memory of her father, who now seems nearer to her than he was in this life, and thus she seeks more than ever a right relation to the unseen world.  MacDonald’s point is that it is through an individual’s perceptively responding to the specific experiences of that person’s life that true inner growth comes. 

As to Juliet, her spiritual odyssey is greatly furthered by her observance of the everyday life and relationships of the Polwarths which, we are told, were an expression of absolute simplicity, as they simply spoke and acted with complete honesty what was within them.  MacDonald presents their conduct as the ideal of spiritual maturity.   

Amanda being temporarily kept by the Wingfolds, Faber makes frequent visits there.    When Juliet, still in hiding, falls ill, Faber is sent for and patiently ministers to her in a room so darkened he supposes that the likeness he sees in her must be his imagination playing tricks upon him. But eventually she awakens and calls out to him in overwhelming joy.   MacDonald gives lengthy–and overly dramatic?--descriptions of their gradual coming to recognize one another and be joyously reunited.

The novel ends with a stirring affirmation of the nature of God as perfect Father of all people, for all people live and move and have their being in God.

I expect that we would all agree that, while the tale itself is an engaging one, the basic value of the novel lies in the insights MacDonald makes into Christian truth and reality.  Or so it is to me.  I have read this novel many times, and never fail to be inspired by them. 

HAVE ANY OF HIS INSIGHTS BEEN ESPECIALLY MEANINGFUL TO YOU?

WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THE ENDING OF THE NARRATIVE ITSELF?

WHILE THE NOVEL UNDERTAKES TO EXPOSE THE SHORT COMINGS OF MATERIALIST PHILOSOPHY, IT DOES NOT OFFER INTELLECTUAL ARGUMENTS AGAINST IT.  WHY IS THIS?  WHAT IS MACDONALD’S POINT?

I do much appreciate your comments.  Your insights enrich my own, and, also, I have no other way of knowing if any are reading along with me except people make their presence known.  

This ends for awhile our reading of MacDonald.  After a three-week break, we will begin thinking about some of the Narnia Chronicles.   Why would C. S. Lewis, having established a sterling reputation for being a significant scholar of English literary history, as well as an outstanding Christian apologist with a rapidly growing following, suddenly turn to writing stories for children?  The reasons are themselves fascinating and very meaningful. 

 I will post a syllabus and introduction in a week or so.