Like many Victorians, particularly those later in the century, Marie Corelli, one of the best selling Victorian and early-twentieth-century novelists, believed in her own fervent, if idiosyncratic, Christianity. As Aubrey Leigh, one of the characters in The Master Christian (1900) proclaims, "There are no Charles Kingsleys nowadays, - if there were, I should call myself a 'Kingsleyite'." Essentially, Corelli believes in an essential, non-institutional form of Christianity, for as her character explains, A church is a ...
Read More
Like many Victorians, particularly those later in the century, Marie Corelli, one of the best selling Victorian and early-twentieth-century novelists, believed in her own fervent, if idiosyncratic, Christianity. As Aubrey Leigh, one of the characters in The Master Christian (1900) proclaims, "There are no Charles Kingsleys nowadays, - if there were, I should call myself a 'Kingsleyite'." Essentially, Corelli believes in an essential, non-institutional form of Christianity, for as her character explains, A church is a building more or less beautiful or ugly as the case may be, and in the building there is generally a man who reads prayers in a sing-song tone of voice, and perhaps another man who preaches without eloquence on some text which he utterly fails to see the true symbolical meaning of. . . . But as matters stand I am not moved by the church to feel religious. I would rather sit quietly in the fields and hear the gentle leaves whispering their joys and thanksgivings above my head, than listen to a human creature who has not even the education to comprehend the simplest teachings of nature, daring to assert himself as a teacher of the Divine. My own chief object in life has been and still is to speak on this and similar subjects to the people who are groping after lost Christianity. They need helping, and I want to try in my way to help them."Appropriately, although most of the attacks on religion in The Master Christian - a very devout book - have Roman Catholicism as their target, Corelli also criticizes protestantism, even when it diverges from the Roman church. She, for example, uses Cyrillon, the young reformer, as a way of sharply criticizing both Protestant and Catholic services because they ignore Christ's explicit instructions: Nevertheless, the glory of that banished Creator shone in the deepening glow of the splendid heavens, --and--from the silver windings of the Seine which, turning crimson in the light, looped and garlanded the time-honoured old city as with festal knots of rosy ribbon, up to the trembling tops of the tall poplar trees fringing the river banks, --the warm radiance palpitated with a thousand ethereal hues of soft and changeful colour, transfusing all visible things into the misty semblance of some divine dwelling of dreams. Ding-dong--ding dong! The last echo of the last bell died away upon the air--the last words enunciated by devout priests in their cloistered seclusion were said--"In hora mortis nostrae! Amen!"--the market women went on their slow way homeward, --the children scampered off in different directions, easily forgetful of the Old-World petition they had thought of, yet left unuttered, --the bargeman and his barge slipped quietly away together down the windings of the river out of sight;-- the si
Read Less
Add this copy of The Master-Christian to cart. $10.47, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published by Dodd, Mead and Company.
Add this copy of The Master-Christian to cart. $12.59, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published by Grosset & Dunlap.
Add this copy of The Master-Christian (a Question of the Time) to cart. $13.56, very good condition, Sold by Neil Shillington rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hobe Sound, FL, UNITED STATES, published 1900 by William Briggs.
Add this copy of The Master-Christian to cart. $15.50, very good condition, Sold by Gils Book Loft rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Binghamton, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1900 by Grosset & Dunlap.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. No Jacket. Book 6621 shelf. Handsomely stamped green cloth, potted plant motif front cover. Minor edgewear, small inked gift note FEP. Clean text. Solid.
Add this copy of The Master Christian to cart. $15.95, good condition, Sold by Michael Patrick McCarty, Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from New Castle, CO, UNITED STATES, published 1900 by Dodd, Mead and Company.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. No Dustjacket. Front hinge cracked. An inspirational sermon of a novel that offers a sharp rebuke against hypocrisy and materialism in Christianity, which the author portrays as pervading the ecclesiastical practices of the Church of Rome.
Add this copy of The Master-Christian to cart. $16.00, very good condition, Sold by Stefan Lacroix Vintage Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Weed, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1900 by Dodd, Mead and Company.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1900. Very good. No dust jacket. Clean pages; Good binding. 1 604 p. 19 cm. eng pp. Very good. No dust jacket. Clean pages; Good binding.
Add this copy of The Master-Christian to cart. $16.64, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2016 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Add this copy of The Master-Christian to cart. $16.75, good condition, Sold by Lexington Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Idaho Falls, ID, UNITED STATES, published 1900 by Dodd, Mead and Company.
Add this copy of The Master-Christian to cart. $17.85, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2017 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Add this copy of The Master Christian to cart. $19.00, like new condition, Sold by Richard Burlew rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Trumansburg, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1900 by Grosset & Dunlap.