I just returned from an extraordinarily productive annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion. There were a total of five Kierkegaard sessions at the conference, and there were very good papers at each session. I will give a full report on the conference soon. 

My post today, though, is about a conference that will take place later this month at Yale University on the George MacDonald. The conference, which is co-sponsored by Drexel University, runs from the 13th to the 14th of this month, i.e., December 2024. It is in celebration of the bicentenary of MacDonald’s birth in 1824.

I’ve written before about the similarities in MacDonald’s and Kierkegaard’s views of Christianity. My own paper for the conference is entitled “Ad Fontes: Kierkegaard and MacDonald on ‘Original Christianity’ and concerns the use both thinkers made of their knowledge of ancient Greek to get back to what each considered to be the essence of Christianity. Ad fontes, or “back to the sources,” as many readers will be aware, was one of the rallying cries of the Protestant Reformation. The argument of this paper is that Kierkegaard and MacDonald share a reverence for the original Christian texts and a healthy skepticism for the official Christian tradition and its tendency to lapse into dogmatism and authoritarianism, that was unusual both for their own time and for ours and that this reverence and skepticism makes reveals a deep affinity in their thought concerning the true message of Christianity and the nature of Christian life. 

There are going to be lots of great papers, though, on a variety of subjects from a variety of scholars, including Justin Bailey, Chair of the Theology Department at Dort University, Julie Canlis, author and acclaimed Calvin scholar (her first book was awarded a Christianity Today Award in theology), Malcolm Guite, an internationally acclaimed poet and speaker and Life Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, Trevor Hart, Rector of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Scotland, and former Professor of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews, and many more! And the subjects of the papers run from philosophy and theology, to MacDonald’s views on nature and science, and literature and creativity. A complete list of the speakers can be found on the conference website. Space is very limited, but there are a few places left, so hurry and register. Even if you have never heard of George MacDonald, you will be very glad you registered for this conference! 

Miller Hall, where the conference will take place, is right across the street from Yale Divinity School. Coffee and lunches will be provided, but dinner arrangements will be left to the conference attendees. Even if you don’t know anyone when you arrive, I guarantee you that you will not be eating alone. MacDonald scholars are some of the nicest people I have ever met. They make friends easily and have a real passion for sharing the thought of one of the greatest religious thinkers and writers of the nineteenth century. 

This event is going to be enormous fun!