The Artist's Creed

“I Believe”

Mar 26, 2019
Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson, a scholar of George MacDonald who studies literature, theology, and story’s social role, explores MacDonald’s life and writings. She corrects myths about his ministry. They discuss story as social repair, communal imagination, reading that shapes character, and how fairyland’s lessons translate into everyday service.
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INSIGHT

I Believe Is A Shared Story

  • Saying I believe joins you to a communal language of faith cultivated over centuries.
  • Steve Guthrie notes the Creed's words are inherited, alive, and place you inside the church's shared story of creation, Jesus, and consummation.
ANECDOTE

MacDonald's Short Ministry And Lifelong Teaching

  • George MacDonald served only 29 months as a paid minister before focusing on literature and teaching for 40 years.
  • Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson explains he lectured widely on British literature, refused paid pulpits, and treated story as his vocation.
INSIGHT

Story Repairs Social Dislocation

  • MacDonald and his mentor A.J. Scott saw story as a remedy for Industrial Revolution dislocation.
  • Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson describes lost folk and parish narratives undermining identity and how story restores communal belonging.
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