Charles Dickens' "The Life of Our Lord"
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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript _has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The qruility of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken o;: indistinct print, colorea or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrougb, substandard margins, and improper alirronent can ad-verse!y affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., Ill2.ps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and contimring from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black a.nd white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UM1 A Bell & Howell InformatiOn Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. M148106-1346 USA 313!761-4700 800.'521-0600 CHARLES DICKENS' "THE LIFE OF OUR LORD" AS A PRIMER FOR CHRISTIAN EDUCATION by Robert Conrad Hanna A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Greensboro 1995 Approved by or UMI Number: 9531839 Copyright 1995 by Hanna, Robert Conrad All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9531839 Copyright 1995, by OMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 ~ 1995 by Robert Conrad Hanna APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dissertation Advisor "·,I I; It . Co-chair . ·~) Committee Members I Date of Acceptance by Committee Date of Final Oral Examination ii HANNA, ROBERT CONRAD, Ph.D. Charles Dickens' "The Life of Our Lord" as a Primer for Christian Education. (1995) Directed by R. Fritz Mengert, 231pp. Charles Dickens' The Life of Our Lord, largely a simplification of parts of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts, was written for his children as an integral part of their Christian and moral education. He never published the manuscript or gave the text a formal title. In the ~ore than sixty years since its initial publication, the book has appeared in over forty editions worldwide. Not one, however, has been designed to recapture the spirit of the manuscript's original and, prior to Dickens' death, implemented value as a primer for nondenominational Christian moral education. Chapter One provides a standard review of academia's literature, with an emphasis placed on scholarship which has acknowledged or suggested Dickens' pedagogical intent in writing and utilizing the manuscript. Chapter Two expands the review of literature to both popular press book reviews and critiques contained within editions of The Life of Our Lord, the first systematic and thorough review of such sources ever undertaken. Criticisms of the text are duly noted and evaluated in a pedagogical context. Chapter Three examines all known primary sources left by Dickens and his children which speak either to Dickens' manuscript or to the religious upbringing of his children at home. Dickens' professed moral creed is analyzed, as well, for consistency with the moral dimension of his manuscript. Chapter Four consists of the first curricular edition for today's Sunday schools, containing as it does twelve lessons for grades three through six, based on excerpts from Dickens' manuscript, supplemented with small group activities, and enhanced by illustrative readings from additional writings by Dickens. An appendix contains the first annotated bibliography of book and magazine editions. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could not have written this dissertation in its final version without the assistance of the following persons and organizations, and to each I am grateful. Dissertation Committee, UNC-Greensboro Dr. R. Fritz Mengert, Advisor Dr. H. Svi Shapiro, Co-chair Dr. Jeutonne P. Brewer Dr. David E. Purpel Research Dickens Fellowship, Raleigh, North Carolina, which provided me with a grant to undertake research in London Mr. Jake Baxter, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin Mr. Steve Nielsen, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota Mr. Heinrich Simons, Pius Gymnasium, Aachen, Germany Dr. Michael Slater, Birkbeck College, University of London Dr. Dennis Walder, The Open Univeristy Translations Mr. James F. Andersen, Jr., Gaston Day School, Gastonia, North Carolina Dr. Joachim T. Baer, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Mrs. Lesley H. Hanna, Gardner Park Elementary School, Gastonia, North Carolina Mr. John M. Robinson, Gaston Day School, Gastonia, North Carolina Mr. Patrick J. Stevens, Fiske Icelandic Collection, Krach Library, Cornell University Content Dr. Kenneth c. Bennett, Jr., Lake Forest College Dr. Elliot Engel, North Carolina State University Dr. David Parker, Dickens House, London Mr. Alan Watts, Beckenham, England iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page APPROVAL PAGE • • ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • iii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION • ONE: REVIEW OF ACADEMIA'S LITERATURE 9 TWO: REVIEW OF THE POPULAR PRESS' LITERATURE • • • • • • . • 48 THREE: PRIMARY SOURCES • 107 FOUR: THE CHARLES DICKENS FAMILY GOSPEL: TWELVE SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS FOR CH~ISTIAN MORAL EDUCATION (GRADES 3-6) •••••• 131 Introduction • • • • . 131 Overview of Lessons . 134 Materials Needed for Activities ••••• 138 Lesson 1: The Importance of Knowing Jesus 139 Lesson 2: The Importance of Prayer 143 Lesson 3: Promises (Part 1) • • 147 Lesson 4: Promises (Part 2) ..•. 151 Lesson 5: Charity • • • • • • • • 155 Lesson 6: Miracles (Part 1) • 160 Lesson 7: Miracles (Part 2) •...... 165 Lesson 8: Forgiveness •••••••••• 174 Lesson 9: Leaving Judgment to God .••• 181 Lesson 10: Helping Neighbors • . 185 Lesson 11: Returning to God • 189 Lesson 1?• Offering Thanksgiving • • • 194 References • • • • • . 198 BIBLIOGRAPHY • 200 APPENDIX: A CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF BOOK AND MAGAZINE EDITIONS OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD ••••••••••.•• 210 iv INTRODUCTION I can never write about Charles Dickens without fondly remembering my mother's request when I started high school in 1966 that I borrow a copy of Oliver Twist from the school's library. That she, an avid reader, could have sooner borrowed a copy from the public library or purchased a copy from our town's bookstore seems not to have occurred to me. That the novel was for her reading pleasure was never in doubt, until I handed her the novel. She gave me a puzzled look and handed it right back, saying that it was for me to read. She had already read it. I then began both the first page and my lifetime love of the fiction of Charles Dickens. Why, then, have I written a dissertation centered on one of Dickens' works of nonfiction, a partial rewriting of the New Testament solely for his own children? I have not done so out of a concern that this work, referred to in a letter by Dickens as "the children's Nev1 Testament" (Forster, 1873, p. 215) and published some eighty-eight years later as The Life of Our Lord, has been neglected by scholars. Such a claim is no longer defensible in terms of quality of scholarship. Rather, I have done so out of a concern 2 that editors and publishers of this particular work throughout its sixty year history have never captured the spirit of its original and, prior to Dickens' death, implemented value as a primer for Christian moral education. On the basis of the pedagogical focus of this dissertation, my great expectation is to publish a version of my final chapter, the first ever curricular edition of Dickens' manuscript in English. I seek to provide third through sixth grade Sunday school classes with Gospel lessons selected, interpreted, and utilized by Dickens for his own children's moral education, free from denominational "forms of restraint" (Hogarth, Dickens, & Hutton, 1903b, p. 305), as he later attested to the son who would come to possess the manuscript. It will be additionally gratifying to know that I have helped place a work of Dickens into even younger hands than mine were in 1966. Chapter One features a standard review of literature found in scholarly publications, which, as such, has not been comprehensively brought up to date since 1983. Specifically, I begin by exploring academia's formal reception of The Life of Our Lord upon its initial publication in March 1934. This entails i~ part a review of literature on the general topic of Dickens and religion prior to 1934. I then trace the history of major scholarship on this particular work, as it gradually 3 leads to the pedagogical focus of this dissertation. The second chapter continues the review of literature, while establishing the need ~o consider popular press writers as well as those who are purely academicians. It does so by first examining commentaries contained within editions of The Life of Our Lord, some of which are more akin to the academic focus of the authors in Chapter One and some of which more closely resemble the popular press book reviews analyzed in the latter part of Chapter Two. Several of the popular press reviews are themselves authored by university professors. This chapter serves three purposes. It continues the search initiated in the previous chapter for understandings outside of the Dickens family that the manuscript of the children's New Testament was designed and used pedagogically.