A Novel Hope?: Universal Salvation, the Victorian Sentiment, and the Role of the Novel

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Bernard Marcus Woodley

A Novel Hope?

Universal Salvation, the Victorian Sentiment, and the Role of the Novel

Bernard Marcus Woodley

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English

Pickwick Publications
13 June 2025

Literature: history & criticism; British & Irish history; Religion & beliefs; History of religion; Christian Churches & denominations

Christians today are often struggling with many of the same theological problems that Victorians were, especially regarding hell and the God of love. One answer to these questions found in nineteenth-century Britain was the seemingly surprising reappearance of the early Christian eschatological theory of universalism, the belief that all of humanity will be saved. Even though this re-emergence has already been acknowledged by scholars of Victorianism, its extent has been widely underestimated. This book then aims to describe why universalism became an increasingly viable option in a time of growing religious doubt, and especially how it established itself in and with the help of the century's fiction, not only in the more overtly universalist novels of Gaskell and Anne Bronte, but also across works ranging from Dickens, Gissing, Linton, and Oliphant, all the way to Ward and Wells.

By: Bernard Marcus Woodley
Imprint: Pickwick Publications
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 558g
ISBN: 9798385227082
Pages: 418
Publication Date: 13 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Bernard Marcus Woodley taught Victorian literature at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, while researching for his PhD. He now works in High School education.

Reviews for A Novel Hope?: Universal Salvation, the Victorian Sentiment, and the Role of the Novel

""Lively and erudite, Woodley's study of the eschatological dimension of British literature and theology sheds new light on the status of universalism in the Victorian period. Woodley shows that universalism--the belief that all will be saved in the end--became a widely accepted solution to the unsettling impact of biblical criticism and new scientific discoveries."" --Bernard Lightman, Distinguished Research Professor, York University ""This book is a fascinating and ground-breaking exploration of the unraveling of traditional concepts of hell in the Victorian novel and in the daring exploration of alternative theological conceptualizations of hell and salvation in such fictional works. In this welcome contribution, Woodley sheds fresh light on a surprisingly neglected subject."" --Robin A. Parry, author of A Larger Hope? Universal Salvation from the Reformation to the Nineteenth Century