Charles Dickens: Faith, Angels and the Poor

"Deeply respecting, and bowing down before the character of Our Saviour, you cannot go very wrong, and will always preserve at heart a true spirit of veneration and humility.” Charles Dickens Charles Dickens was a great storyteller; he possessed the unique ability of documenting the realities of life for both his contemporaries and future generations. A journalist, commentator, historian, and the social conscience of a nation, his influence and reach extended far beyond that normally associated with a novelist. Although the subject of numerous books, none have sought to detail how the writer tried through his work to change the hearts of his readers. In this authoritative and highly readable new biography, Keith Hooper explores the nature and development of Dickens’s faith, and the means by which it was expressed. This excellent study of Dickens’s beliefs and struggles with the contemporary church gives new and valuable insight into his literary work.

“"The complexity of Dickens's life and character never diminished his Christian charity and advocacy of the poor. Hooper's new biography reveals a different Dickens, one who wrote "expressly for his children" The Life of our Lord. At the heart of this is a man who loved Jesus, acknowledging that there was none so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for people who did wrong. Hooper gives us a Dickens who, in the midst of his complex and divided life struggled to translate his faith into practical social good."”

“The complexity of Dickens’s life and character never diminished his Christian charity and advocacy of the poor. Hooper’s new biography reveals a different Dickens, one who wrote “expressly for his children” The Life of our Lord. At the heart of this is a man who loved Jesus, acknowledging that there was none so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for people who did wrong. Hooper gives us a Dickens who, in the midst of his complex and divided life struggled to translate his faith into practical social good.” -- Revd Canon Professor David Jasper, Professor of Literature and Theology, University of Glasgow

...A lecturer, speaker, English Tutor and writer...If it helps this is the sort of thing that appears in my lecture publicity...'Awarded a doctorate from the University of Exeter for his work on Charles Dickens, Keith Hooper regularly speaks on Victorian literature. His lectures, available on YouTube, have attracted thousands of viewers. His work has also appeared in the international journal The Dickensian. A qualified teacher, he currently works as an English tutor.

Charles Dickens was a great storyteller whose influence extended beyond the usual reach of a novelist. Journalist, commentator, historian, and the social conscience of a nation, Dickens possessed the rare ability of engagingly documenting the realities of life, and his novels have both challenged and entertained readers for nearly two hundred years. But what of Dickens's own beliefs? And how did those beliefs affect his extensive writing? Keith Hooper explores how Charles Dickens tried through his work to change the hearts of his readers. By considering the nature and development of Dickens's faith, and the means by which it was expressed, we gain valuable insight into his literary work. Many books have been written on Charles Dickens, but this unique contribution seeks to understand what his faith meant to him, how it was reflected in his writings, and how he struggled with the church of his day.

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