How many of you also love Jimmy Stewart’s iconic Christmas movie It’s a wonderful Life? What is your favorite scene? Click to view our Light Magazine article
Jimmy Stewart’s Wonderful Life
by Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird
One of our favourite Christmas movies is It’s a Wonderful Life where Jimmy Stewart plays the part of a generous but discouraged businessman who discovers that he really was making a positive impact. You will remember how the Christmas angel Clarence had to earn his wings by helping out Jimmy Stewart (aka George Bailey). George was so distraught at Christmas that he was about to jump off a bridge. Clarence, the delightful angel shows George what an amazing impact his generosity is making, and how much poorer his town would be without him.
The movie was based on a short story and booklet The Greatest Gift, written by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943. Stern wrote a Charles Dickens ‘Christmas Carol’ spinoff for the North American audience. In 1946, Frank Capra wrote the movie version. It was initially seen as a box-office flop, falling three million dollars short of breaking even, and not even winning one Academy Award Oscar. In 1947, the FBI and Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) secretly investigated It’s a Wonderful Life, fearing it was “communist propaganda”, stirring up class warfare, because it portrayed the villain as being a “scrooge-type” banker.
Since It’s a Wonderful Life was seen as a failure, the producers didn’t even bother to renew the copyright license in the late 1970s. This meant that television studios could show the movie for free at Christmas. After a few years It’s a Wonderful Life became a cult classic. It later went on to become the number one inspirational North American movie ever made.
Who can forget the conflict around the Christmas tree as George Bailey was close to committing suicide? We loved his honest prayer: “Dear Father in Heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way. I’m at the end of my rope. Show me the way, God.” His unscripted tears were genuine. Stewart commented in a 1987 interview, “As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing.” Actress Carol Burnett called this one of the finest pieces of acting ever seen. Because Jimmy Stewart was suffering from post-World War II PTSD, he was able to connect with George Bailey’s trauma with unusual depth. On his twentieth combat mission flying over the city of Gotha, the floor of Stewart’s plane was hit, blowing a hole right below his feet. It was one mission too many for Stewart. He was grounded because of his paralyzing fear of making a mistake and causing someone to die. Friends observed that he had aged ten to twenty years. He began suffering from shakes, sweats, a short temper, mood swings, and nightmares. He couldn’t keep food down, and had to live on just ice cream and peanut butter.
Christmas 1946 was surprisingly healing for both George Bailey and Jimmy Stewart himself. Who can fail to recall the final scene around the Christmas tree when all his friends come together and unite in support? Who can forget the joyful Christmas carols sung by Jimmy Stewart, friends and family as they thanked the baby Jesus for the true meaning of Christmas?
This Christmas, let not forget to unwrap the true gift of Christmas, the Christ Child come to earth to save us.
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
To receive a personally signed copy of any of our books within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link. To receive a personally signed copy of any of our books within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
Every year the #Queen now in her 90s keeps pointing to #Jesus. This Christmas video is worth reposting. Let’s value the Queen’s witness to the Gospel while we still have her on earth.
P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…
A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.
Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?
Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.
If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or kindle.
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.
To receive a personally signed copy of any of our books within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
Did you know that each of you are God’s favourite, that God is extending to you right now his unmerited favour & grace because of what Jesus did at Christmas & Easter? Say yes, like Mother Mary, to God’s amazing favour. God is with you. Nothing is impossible with God.
P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…
A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.
Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?
Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.
If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or kindle.
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.
To receive a personally signed copy within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
How does your family celebrate Christmas? Is having a turkey at Christmas part of your tradition? Does your family put out a Nativity scene? The term nativity comesfrom the Latin nativus, which means ‘arisen by birth’. One of the most popular Christmas Carols Felix Navida was written in 1970 by the blind Puerto Rican singer and songwriter José Feliciano’. Felix Navida in Spanish essentially means ‘Happy Birth’. It is easy to forget that Christmas at its heart is a birthday celebration. I don’t know about you, but I love birthdays. Maybe that is why I love Christmas.
One of my earliest Deep Cove Crier articles, co-written with my wife Janice, was about birth, the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Janice wrote: “Decorating for Christmas was always a wonderful time in our house. First we would go buy a real tree at the tree lot, set it up in the window, and start decorating. Not only did we decorate the tree but my dad also put miniature lights around this huge mirror and set up the angels dancing around the candle chimes. My little brother’s eyes would glow when we turned off the normal lighting and just left the Christmas lights on in the living room. What a beautiful sight!”
Ed added: As a child, I loved the presents, the lights, the turkey, and the tinsels… As a teen, I became cynical about Christmas and wrote it off as commercial exploitation. At age 17, I met some friends who had a joy and inner peace that really attracted me to them. Christmas still excited them. I asked them: “Why?” They told me they were excited about a child in a manger. At age 17, I too came to know that child. I made a manger for Him in my heart. Once again Christmas stirred within me “Peace on Earth, Good will to Men” Once again I could sing “Joy to the World” and really mean it.
Each Christmas we are given another opportunity to have a real fun birthday party. We don’t need to do Christmas perfectly. What if we could simply enjoy the season? As we gather around the Christmas manger, we are reminded that we are deeply loved and we are never alone. It is not a coincidence that people love to sing at Christmas time. Christmas touches our hearts in unexpected ways. Christmas breaks through our adult cynicism and gives us child-like joy and peace, if only for a short time. What might help your Christmas this year be more child-like? What burdens do you need to lay aside so that you can enter into the mystery of this holy, joyful season?
Our Christmas prayer is that all those who are reading this article feel the peace of that little baby lying in the manger.
P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…
A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.
Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?
Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.
If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or kindle.
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.
To receive a personally signed copy within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
This is a delightful book with many thoughtful stories about memorable Christmas experiences, both painful and thankful ones. The anthology with many Canadian authors is well edited.
I particularly enjoyed the stories by immigrants to Canada reflecting on their first Christmases, both the loneliness and the kind welcome from strangers. This is an excellent faith-filled, humorous Christmas present for both the churches and unchurched.
Rev Dr Ed Hird, BSW, MDiv, DMin
P.S. to watch a Facebook Live interview about the book, click on this link.
P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…
A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.
Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?
Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.
If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or kindle.
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.
To receive a personally signed copy within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…
A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.
Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?
Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.
If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or kindle.
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.
To receive a personally signed copy within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
Every Christmas, the Star gets our attention year in and year out. What is it about the Bethlehem Star that never fails to shine? What is it about the Bethlehem story that captures the imagination of billions of people throughout Canada and the entire globe?
Two thousand years after the birth of Jesus, we are still bearing gifts, following that star. If it was not for the wise men, none of us would be doing our Christmas shopping. It is amazing how much energy we can put into Christmas, buying gifts, cooking turkeys, throwing parties. Sometimes we can in our busyness forget that we are called to follow that star. As that Christmas Carol put it, “O star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light.”
There is something very moving about perfect light, royal beauty bright light in the midst of a people living in great darkness. December can be a time of great hopes and great stress. No wonder that it is the high holiday of many alcoholics. December is that time when fragmented families try once again to reconnect, however painfully. Why do so many families watch the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life every Christmas? Perhaps it is because this movie captures the darkness and struggle that so many families experience at Christmas, and yet how the Christmas Star can still break in with unimaginable light and hope.
Each of us, as the Carol puts it, may choose to look up and see a star, that to the earth it gives great light. Each of us can choose to see the Christmas Star, Whose glory shines so far day and night. Each of us can find great delight in the beauty of the Christmas Star that led the wise men to Jesus’ manger. How many of us are willing to follow that star wheresover it goes?
Wise men and women even in 2016 still seek him. As the Christmas Carol put it, “Sages, leave your contemplations, Brighter visions beam afar; Seek the great Desire of nations, Ye have seen his natal star: Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn King.” The Christmas Star causes us to celebrate a very unique birth, a baby boy who has become the Great Desire of Billions among the nations of the earth. The Christmas Star leads us to come and worship, to come and adore him among the cattle and the sheep in a lowly manger.
You are invited to come see the Bethlehem Star and let this star touch your life this Christmas.
Rev. Dr. Ed Hird
-An article previously published in the North Shore News/Deep Cove Crier
P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…
A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.
Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?
Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.
If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or kindle.
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.
To receive a personally signed copy within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
At a recent birthday party, I had the joy of meeting a fellow UBC School of Social Work alumni whom I had not seen since our 1976 graduation. As we renewed our friendship, he gave me a Charles Dickens biography as a Christmas present. This sent me to our local library to get out numerous Dickens books, biographies and movies. Dickens was perhaps the first true celebrity in the modern sense.[1] While many of us love the beauty of Shakespeare, Dickens remains more accessible to most English-speaking people.[2]
Why have Dickens’ books continued to speak to us a hundred and fifty years later? Perhaps it is because of Dickens’ secret suffering in his painful childhood.[3] His parents moved more than twenty times in eighteen years.[4] Since Dickens’ father was sent to debtors’ prison and Charles Dickens to a blacking factory, he was able to tell compelling stories of degradation and abuse. The average Londoner in the 1840s died by age twenty seven, with almost half of the deaths being children under the age of ten.[5] Dickens was deeply disturbed by the poverty, hunger, and ignorance, as well as by the indifference of the rich and powerful to the widespread suffering.[6] George Bernard Shaw said that Dickens’ book Little Dorritt is more seditious than Karl Marx’s Das Kapital.[7]
The ideals of family life and generosity to the poor in Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol continue to strike a chord today with countless millions.[8] Dickens, like many of us, was at his best at Christmas, letting down his hair, resting from his frenetic writing, and enjoying the warmth of family and good food.[9] Many people don’t realize that Dickens had a very deep faith in the Christ of Christmas.[10] The last Dickens book The Life of Our Lord was published posthumously 85 years later, after the death of his last child. Written for his ten children, it shows both his love for both Jesus and one’s neighbours: “My dear children, I am very anxious that you should know something about the History of Jesus Christ. For everybody ought to know about Him. No one ever lived, who was so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for all people who did wrong, or were in anyway ill or miserable, as he was.”[11]
Despite his high ideals, Dickens was often tempted to be a Scrooge.[12] The financial pressure was enormous and unrelenting. With little initial profit from A Christmas Carol, Dickens wrote: “I shall be ruined beyond all mortal hope of redemption.”[13] Fortunately for Dickens, Americans turned A Christmas Carol into a bestseller.[14] Dickens visited the United States twice, both times being treated like a Hollywood Superstar, even being chased by paparazzi.[15]
Marrying on the rebound, Dickens chose a wife to whom he was not romantically attracted.[16] Catherine Hogarth Dickens did not live up to his fictional ideals of women who were perpetually young, attractive, thin, and emotionally passionate.[17] While she loved being at home looking after her large family, he always wanted to be on the go, particularly abroad.[18] The more anxious Dickens became, the faster he went and the slower Catherine went. Before he developed painful gout, he would walk twelve miles every night.[19] It was his way of both de-escalating and carefully observing his environment for new book material. Dickens commented: “If I couldn’t walk fast and far, I should just explode and perish.”[20]
Sadly, after a marital conflict, Dickens had a partition built in their bedroom, cutting himself off from his wife.[21] Rather than celebrate his wife’s very different personality, he resented her for not being just like himself: “…nothing on earth could make her understand me, or suit us for each other. Her temperament will not go with mine…no one can help me.”[22] Because he had never forgiven his mother for trying to send him back to the blacking factory, it poisoned his relations with his wife: “I never afterward forgot, I never shall forget, I never can forget, that my mother was warm for my being sent back.”[23] Bitterness betrays our highest ideals and turns us into Scrooges. Dickens, under pressure, portrayed himself as a victim, blaming others rather than owning his personal baggage.[24] Remarkably his wife Catherine stayed loyal to her painful husband, going to productions of his work and keeping up with his publications even after the divorce.[25] In the midst of his rejecting his wife, many friendships were cut off, publishers fired, theatricals ended, family vacations ceased, and his charitable work with heiress Angela Burdett-Coutts brought to an end.[26] The breakup of Dickens’ marriage and the secret infatuation that he had with Nelly Ternan wore Dickens out.[27] In the last part of his life, he was as sick as his secrets, exhausted by his coverups and workaholism.[28] Despite Dickens’ tragic male/female relationships, his unforgettable vision for a better society still speaks to us in the early twenty-first century. My prayer for those reading this article is that we will learn to integrate our ideals and our reality in loving our neighbours as ourselves.
P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…
A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.
Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?
Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.
If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or kindle.
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.
To receive a personally signed copy within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
[1] Jane Smiley, Charles Dickens, (Lipper/Viking Penguin Publishing, 2002), v.; Norrie Epstein, The Friendly Dickens, (Viking/Penguin, Toronto, Canada, 1998), xvi “The best-selling novelist in Russia is neither Tolstoy nor Dostoyevsky but Dickens.”; Smiley, 26, “…as close to a household name as any movie star today…the first person to become a ‘name brand’…”
[2] Smiley, v, “Among English writers, Dicken’s only peer, in terms of general fame, worldwide literary stature, and essential Englishness, is William Shakespeare.”; Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens: a Life, (Viking/Penguin Books,Toronto, Ontario, 2011), Inside Front Cover, “Perhaps the greatest novelist in the English language…”
[3] Smiley, vi “…Dickens did not reveal the details of his painful childhood even to his children.”; Epstein, 15, “His entire life was a reaction against his parents and his childhood…as a man, he was compulsively controlling…In his novels, every abandoned waif was a version of himself; his negligent silly mothers were caricatures of Elizabeth; his wastrel selfish fathers were all John.”
[6] Tomalin, xlii.; Epstein, 207, “Daniel Webster said: ‘Dickens has done more to ameliorate the conditions of the English poor than all the statesmen Great Britain has sent into Parliament.’”; Epstein, 209 “Through his writings and what he meant to reader’s, he has probably influenced more people to do good than any other writer.”
[7] Epstein, 275; Tomalin, 229, “…(Dickens) wrote on many social issues –housing,sanitation, accidents in factories,workhouses,and in the defence of the poor to enjoy Sunday as they choose.”
[8] Epstein, 174, “ Christmas Carol is a phenomenon, an industry, and a ritual… Carol touches our deep desire for a second chance at life.”; Gary L. Colledge, God and Dickens, (Brazos Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan, MI), 52 “Wes Standiford, borwwing from Byron Rogers, refers to Dickens as the man who invented Christmas.”
[9] Epstein, 186, “As his son Charley commented, ‘My father was always at his best at Christmas.’ That season brought out all of Dickens’ most endearing qualities – his hospitality, graciousness, generosity, sense of fun, and genius for entertaining.”
P.187 Chesteron: “The mystery of Christmas is in a manner identical with the mystery of Dickens.”
[10] Smiley, 162 “Love, kindness, forgiveness, benevolence, celebration, mercy, joy, charity, and innocence all had their source, for Dickens, in Christ and Christmas.”; Smiley, 42, Charles Dickens said: “Looking on Niagara Falls: then when I felt how near to my Creator I was standing, the first effect and the enduring one –instant and lasting–of the tremendous spectacle was Peace. Peace of mind,tranquility, recollection of the dead, great thoughts of eternal rest and happiness…”
[11] Charles Dickens, The Life of Our Lord, (Simon and Schuster, New York, NY, 1934), 11, 27 “…God makes no difference between those who wear good clothes and those who go barefoot and in rags.”
[12] Tomalin, Front Inside Cover: “After his death, his own daughter wrote to Bernard Shaw, ‘If you could make the public understand that my father was not a joyous, jocose gentleman walking about the world with a plum pudding and a bowl of punch, you would greatly oblige me.’”
[13] Smiley, 60.; Tomalin, 150 “The accounts for the Carol showed that almost all the profits were absorbed in the expenses of binding, special paper, coloured plates, and advertising.”; Epstein, 185, paraphrase: The Carol’s failure drove Dickens to Italy. His dramatic readings of it earned him more money than any of his books.
[14] Tomalin, 150. “In America, it became his biggest seller, clocking up two million copies in a hundred years.”
[15] Tomalin, P.127 “He was seen as ‘the English writer who was on their side, who believed in liberty and democracy, and who showed in his books that he cared about ordinary people and thought the poor more worthy of attention than the rich.'(…) At the time of his arrival, the New York Herald wrote: ‘His mind is American–his soul is republican –his heart is democratic.’”; Tomalin, 130, “Dickens commented: ‘There was never a King or Emperor upon the earth so cheered l, and followed by crowds…and waited upon by public bodies and deputations of all kinds.”
[16] Epstein, 38. “Maria Beadnell’s capriciousness and his subsequent humiliation influenced him to choose the placid and compliant Catherine Hogarth for a wife.”; Epstein, 45, “…Catherine was so unlike Maria that she never would remind Charles of what he had lost.”
[17] Smiley, 61. “Catherine’s pregnancy with Francis, the fifth child of the family in seven years, seem to have marked a running point in Dicken’s attitude towards his wife. The agitation he betrayed in his money worries and his eagerness to go abroad met with great reluctance and depression on her part. He seems to have held against her both the inconvenience of the pregnancy and her inability to rally quickly after the birth.”
[18] Tomalin, 66. “She (Catherine) had no experience of anything but family life when he met her, and showed little evidence of being interested in anything outside the domestic world.”
[20] Tomalin, 183 “His need to walk through the streets at night was a tormenting mental phenomenon.”
[21] Smiley, 61 “Catherine’s pregnancy with Francis, the fifth child of the family in seven years, seem to have marked a running point in Dicken’s attitude towards his wife. The agitation he betrayed in his money worries and his eagerness to go abroad met with great reluctance and depression on her part. He seems to have held against her both the inconvenience of the pregnancy and her inability to rally quickly after the birth.”
[22] Smiley, 140, Writing to his good friend Forster, “She (Catherine) is exactly what you know, in the way of being amiable and complying; but we are strangely ill-assorted for the bond there is between us…and if I were sick or disabled tomorrow, I know how sorry she would beans how deeply grieved myself, to think how we had lost each other.”‘ “Her temperament will not go with mine.”; Smiley, 285.; Tomalin, 66. 118, “Kind looks and gentle manner she doubtless had, and a will to please –what she lacked was the strength of character needed to hold her own against her husband’s powerful will.”
[23] Epstein, 26 “…John suddenly wanted his son (Charles) be sent to school; Elizabeth however wanted him to return to the warehouse. With great bitterness, Dickens recalled, “I never afterward forgot, I never shall forget, I never can forget, that my mother was warm for my being sent back.”
[26] Smiley, 18, 289; Tomalin, 210 re Miss Coutts, Dickens, and Urania House: If there was a providence in the fall of a sparrow, these girls were his sparrows, and he wanted them to fly, not fall.”
[27] Nelly ends up marrying an Anglican clergyman, after Dickens’ death, while pretending to be fourteen years younger than she was.
[28] Smiley, 75 “…Dicken’s secretiveness and shame at his origins was a realistic response to the closed, judgemental nature of English society.”; Smiley, 206 “it (his frenetic schedule) left him exhausted…but the habits of industry and restlessness could not be broken.”; Tomalin, Front inside cover, “…the very qualities that made him great –his indomitable energy, boldness, imagination, showmanship, and enjoyment of fame–finally destroyed him.”; Tomalin, 259 “Dickens kept going by taking on too much. He knew no other way to live, and no day went by in which he did not stretch himself, physically, socially, and emotionally.”; Epstein, 53 “Dicken’s nervous energy was perfect for the serial form which required two weeks of concentrated feverish work… On the other hand, the process, continued uninterrupted for almost forty years, was his undoing….at forty three, Dickens looked almost elderly.”