Welcome to Episode One in our series George MacDonald for Every Generation. This episode features Julie Canlis and Leah Holser.

Today's conversation reviews George MacDonald's background and his own experience within a community that embraced Federal Calvinism, a very strong and austere derivative of Calvinism. We explore how MacDonald gently resisted some of these ideas, and how his imaginative works brought to life the inherent hypocrisy and danger that lurked within the constructs of Federal Calvinism.

We discuss how our ideas of God are shaped in childhood and how parents and ministers can feel liberated to allow the child's imagination to run free in the love of God.

Julie Canlis, PhD St. Andrews - Author and acclaimed Calvin scholar, Canlis is a sessional lecturer at Regent College Vancouver, and a guest lecturer to many institutions. Her research was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize, and her first book was awarded a Christianity Today Award in Theology. While raising four children, she produced the microbook A Theology of the Ordinary and developed the non-profit associated with her husband's documentary Godspeed. She is also co-founder of The Abbey School in Scotland and is liturgical director for Trinity Church in Wenatchee, WA.

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Leah Holser will complete her Master's in Theology & Culture at St. Stephen's University in 2025. She has been active in parenting and children's ministry for nearly 25 years, and has a passion for families to be full of God's love and to flourish in every way. She is the President of the Board of Directors of Northwest Family Life, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the cycle of domestic violence.

https://northwestfamilylife.org/

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