Overview

This biography is an account of the intellectual development of the early Victorian Romantic preacher Frederick William Robertson, a devotee of Dante, Goethe, Byron, Shelley, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Carlyle, and an admirer of German theology. His receptiveness to the School of Schleiermacher, along with his natural ability of popularizing the doctrines of liberal theology, contributed to the success of Robertson's sermons and posthumously published writings. His work helped to validate the reasonableness of Christian belief and the validity of spiritual experience and feelings for his contemporaries. The elopement of Robertson's mother, the odd circumstances surrounding his own marriage, and his own extra-marital affair are some of the key details uncovered here. In this book Christina Beardsley outlines the leading ideas of the priest's theology and preaching as well as of his extraordinary thinking with regard to gender. Gender is in fact one of the recurring themes in this biography. Robertson's way of perceiving femininity and experiencing his own masculinity reflects the Victorian gender debate and the Romantic preoccupation with the reconciliation of opposites. A captivating reconstruction of puzzling episodes of Robertson's life where the author explores the gendered aspects of his thought and places new emphasis on his Romantic sensibility. This book would appeal to students of Victorian religion and culture; XIX century biographies; the faith/reason, doubt/belief and science/religion debates; German influence on English theology; aesthetics and theology; the history of English liberal theology; gender and culture.

Full Product Details

9780718892104

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Reviews

Reviews in Religion and Theology, Volume 18, Issue 3 It is a very thorough book, the product of a PhD thesis, rich in information, which sets Robertson well in the context of his time and contemporaries - a masterful account, which has been so long in gestation.

Author Information

Christina Beardsley has worked in pastoral ministry in the Church of England for three decades and is Head of Multi-Faith Chaplaincy at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London. She has a special interest in the interplay between theology and the arts, and has extensively researched Victorian religion and theology.

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