One of the
few areas of the life of Charles Dickens that’s been explored by most of his
biographers is the writer’s faith. Some of the major biographies over the years
barely mention it. It was generally known that he was no fan of the established
church, but he did occasionally attend Anglican and even a few Baptist
services. And he was interested in Unitarianism for a relatively short time.
In 2012,
Gary Colledge of Moody Bible Institute published God
and Charles Dickens, which made the case, and a good one, for the
writer having a rather conventional Christian faith. And in 2017, Keith Hooper
published an in-depth study of Dickens’s writings and his various causes to
further support that case.
Hooper’s Charles
Dickens: Faith, Angels and the Poor is an excellent study of the man,
his life, and both his journalism and novels to draw out what the man believed
about God, the church, and Christianity. Like Colledge, he makes his case for Dickens
having a rather conventional case, even if he did not put much stock in the
established church to represent that Christianity.
Hopper
considers Dickens’s early life – his family, his upbringing, the constant
uprooting created by his father’s work (or lack of it), and his education. He
also reviews what opportunities Dickens had to attend church and receive
religious instruction, and notes that his faith was more substantive than that
of his parents’. He then discusses Dickens’s early writings – like Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas
Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop,
and his journalism – and notes how keenly aware the author was of Victorian
social conditions. Dickens had little use for how far too many churchmen
considered the different social classes – as an order ordained by God – and because
of it their acceptance of horrid conditions for the poor.
As Hooper
points out, the Christian faith for Dickens was the faith as exercised in the
service of needy, the poor, the orphaned, and the widowed. It was a faith, as
narrated in books like Oliver Twist –
that often depended upon “angels,” humans (usually women) who would often
sacrifice much to help those in need. The later novels contained less of
Dickens’s sense of social justice but it was still incorporated within them. Hooper
also tackles one of the largest questions about Dickens – his treatment of his
wife and his relationship with the actress Ellen Ternan, which did no justice
to his faith.
 |
| Keith Hooper |
Hooper
received a Ph.D. from the University of Exeter for his work on Charles Dickens.
He is a speaker. English tutor, writer and frequent lecturer on Victorian
literature. He has also published a short story, the first in a related series
of stories, entitled Mercerian
Nights, Part 1: The Asymmetry of Existence (2016).
Charles Dickens: Faith, Angels and
the Poor is an
important addition to our understanding of the author, what he wrote, and what
he believed.
Related:
Top Illustration: Oliver Twist
being taught how to pick a pocket.
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