Discourses

by Alexander John Scott

(See below for Table of Contents.)

"He is, I think, second to few men of our time or any time."
— Daniel MacMillan

"Scott is in point of intellect one of the first, if not the first man I have known."
— Thomas Erskine

"George MacDonald regarded A. J. Scott as the greatest man he had ever known....
"Scott's belief that creation is a sacred expression of the divine and his conviction that what is deepest in every human being is the image of God stood in stark contrast to the reigning Calvinism of 19th-century Scotland. 'Creation,' he said, 'is a transparency through which the light of God can be seen.' Moreover, the deeper we move in relation to any human being, the closer we come to the mystery of God....
"In England he transposed his theological convictions into political, cultural and literary activities. In 1848, along with F. D. Maurice and Charles Kingsley, he became one of the founders of Christian Socialism and helped establish cooperatives and centers of education for working men and women.
"Also in 1848 he was appointed professor of English literature at University College, London, where he became a close friend of John Ruskin. Then in 1851 he became the first Principal of Owens College, later Manchester University."
— J. Philip Newell

PART I:
1) On the Divine Will (1829) [25 pp.]
2) Hints for Meditation on Acquaintance with God (1830) [10 pp.]
3) On Revelation (1837) [24 pp.]

PART II:
1) Social Systems of the Present Day Compared with Christianity (1841) [171 pp.]

 a) The Kingdom of Christ
 b) The Principle of Authority as Sufficient for 
 Social Organization: Romanism and Its Modifica-
 tions
 c) The Principle of Self-Government of Nations: 
 Chartism & Socialism
 d) Supplemental Lecture

2) On Schism (1842) [51 pp.]
3) First Principle of Church Government: An Induction from Scriptural Examples (1845) [38 pp.]

391 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 9, 2010

Reviews

[David Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This time around, I have read only the first of the two divisions of the book, which contains the three discourses for which the book is named: "On the Divine Will", "Hints for Meditation on Acquaintance with God", and "On Revelation". I suppose I will read the second half, "Social Systems of the Present Day Compared with Christianity", eventually -- it certainly looks excellent -- but not now. My book plate is already unwieldy, and this division forms the bulk of "Discourses".

Of the three discourses, I enjoyed "On Revelation" the most, I think. If you want to read an excellent, brief exposition on the variety of ways God reveals Himself to humanity -- you should look here. The man makes a mountain of sense, and you can definitely see hints of some of the things in him which impacted George MacDonald's thinking so greatly. I think, even, we can see in these discourses, especially "On Revelation", the philosophical foundation upon which MacDonald's meaning-rich fantasy -- and that of others after him -- was built. There is a pedagogical relation between Scott, MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis on the "mythopoeic" (a term coined by Tolkien and Lewis) method of conveying truth through the imagination, which makes a prototheoretical appearance in Scott's written teachings.

(It should be noted here that Scott wrote very little, but was a prolific and particularly influential thinker in his day, who communicated mainly by lecture, sermon, and hosting regular "think tanks" of British notables. See the biographical sketch "The Other Christian Socialist" by J.P. Newell for details on his influence on such notables as MacDonald, F.D. Maurice, Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, William Thackeray, Charles Kingsley, R.C. Trench, Francis William Newman, John Malcolm Ludlow, Thomas Hughes, J.C. Hare, and Erasmus Darwin. Ruskin described him as a man "to whom nearly all our best divines own -- and confess -- their deepest teaching". It is a wonder he is not better acknowledged historically, but I think this is due to the absence of literary presence.)

In other words, I would consider "On Revelation" by A.J. Scott to be a sort of prequel to a chain of related essays by some of the fantasy genre's founding influences: MacDonald's "The Fantastic Imagination", Chesterton's "The Ethics of Elfland", Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories", and Lewis's "Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's To Be Said". Lewis was influenced in this regard by Tolkien, Chesterton, and MacDonald. Tolkien was influenced by Lewis, Chesterton, and MacDonald. Chesterton (preceding both Lewis and Tolkien) was influenced by MacDonald. And MacDonald was influenced by A.J. Scott's teaching on ways of communicating truth: "revelation".