“George MacDonald & the Scientific Imagination”
- Coming out with Winged Lion press, September 2026.
- Yale version: Slides PDF. December, 2024. Abbreviated version. 20 mins.
- Inkling Folk Fellowship version: Slides PDF. May 2, 2025. 50 mins. To watch a video recording, email info@inklingfolk.org.
The essay’s first page:
Do science and the imagination have anything in common? Do scientists appreciate music, admire landscapes, and enjoy poetry? Do the arts matter for their science? Do we need to cultivate a scientific imagination? What did George MacDonald (1824-1905) mean by “poetry includes science”? Come with me on a journey to explore these questions.
Reflection upon the imagination leads us straight to the heart of two perennial questions for science:
1) Where do creative ideas come from?
2) With each new discovery, how does wonder deepen?
These two questions lead to a third:
3) Through the imagination, do we make contact with reality?
While some adopt the idea that science and the creative arts are two separate cultures, associating science with facts and imagination with fantasy, historical perspectives show that science and the imagination are interrelated. It is not just that connections between the arts and sciences have been deep and profound. More than that, the imagination lies at the heart of the natural sciences themselves. Within science, creative leaps of the imagination underlie unexpected discoveries. The imagination peers into the as-yet unknown and unseen to discern where the next discovery might be waiting. The imagination discloses the blind spots that hinder discovery. And an imagination that transforms the tedium and monotony of repetitive practices keeps wonder alive. This imaginative realism, as we shall call it, means that, rather than indulging an inward retreat from objective reality, a generative imagination makes contact with reality holistically, in multiple dimensions. These manifestations of the imagination — making discoveries in new dimensions and sustaining wonder — characterize creative activity not only in literature and the fine arts but also in the natural sciences.
In the 20th century the Inklings and their friends — C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Dorothy L. Sayers, and their kindred forebear G. K. Chesterton, among others — expressed a profound imaginative realism that resoundingly affirmed the truth-bearing character of the imagination. More recently, the writings of Malcolm Guite in literature, Jeremy Begbie in music, and Makoto Fujimura in art, illumine how the imagination apprehends reality. In the same spirit this essay explores, with the help of MacDonald, how in the natural sciences we make contact with reality through the imagination.
Abstract: George MacDonald’s embrace of the imagination as an instrument for apprehending reality heals a deep-seated cultural split between science and wonder. That split is characterized by two opposing kinds of realism: on one hand, a positivist realism which reduces reality to nothing but what is evident to sensory perception, and, on the other hand, an imaginative realism which apprehends the as-yet unseen, unknown, and unfinished in-depth realities which lie beyond and beneath the surface appearances of things. With special attention to MacDonald’s novel Thomas Wingfold, Curate and 19th-century geology, this interpretative essay explores how MacDonald’s holistic integration of reality, given the perceptive and creative role of the imagination, applies to the natural sciences as well as to literature and the fine arts. The imagination is then given legitimate scope to play as the source not only of wonder but also of creative discovery within the very fabric of natural science. Without imagination, the sciences perish.
Table of Contents
GEORGE MACDONALD & THE SCIENTIFIC IMAGINATION
- Author’s Invitation
- Intellectual Context
- Aristotle vs. Reductionism: The Wonder of Birds
- Charles Darwin: Functional Reductionism
- George MacDonald: Imaginative Realism
- Setting the scene: Thomas Wingfold, Curate
- The Unknown
- The Unseen and Unfinished
- The Imagination in 19th-century Geology
- The Unknown: Mary Anning
- The Unseen: James Hutton
- The Unfinished: Hugh Miller
- The Imagination in Science and Faith
- The Imagination in Science
- The Imagination in Faith
SUPPLEMENTARY ESSAYS
- Isaac Newton: Tensions became Dualisms
- “Poetry includes science”
- “Storytelling includes science”
- “Music includes science”
APPENDIX
- Reading MacDonald
END MATTER
- Discussion Questions
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Bibliography
- Name Index
- Notes
This magisterial survey not only places MacDonald in the context of the developing science of the nineteenth century, but also shows him as a person in and through whom the necessary conversation between Science, the Arts, and Christianity was taking place. In a world in which the three great forces of Science, Art, and Religion seem fearful of one another, even hostile, we need to hear that conversation now even more than the Victorians needed it then. This is not just an historical survey, it’s a vital contribution to a current debate. Magruder draws fresh insights from MacDonald, insights about the role of the Imagination in all three spheres, the kind of imagination that does not lead us away from reality but rather takes us deeper into the heart of things. I strongly commend this book to anyone who longs for integration and hope in a world of disintegration and despair.
— Malcolm Guite, Life Fellow, Girton College, Cambridge; poet and author of Lifting the Veil, Mariner, Galahad and the Grail.
“As a son of a scientist and as an artist, a work that connects science and imagination is a portal of creative refreshment for me. Kerry’s George MacDonald and the Scientific Imagination proved to be a treasure-filled map. This is a monumental work of integration, a deep well of resources for scientists and artists, historians and teachers alike. Kerry beautifully lays out MacDonald’s vast and soaring realms of imaginative realism to open our eyes and hearts toward the vista of wonderment.”
— Makoto Fujimura, artist and author of Art Is: A Journey into the Light.
“Like awakening in the night to the scent of life-giving rain on a dry and weary land, the major theme of this book — poetry includes science — strikes the reader with unexpected hope. For far too long, we have lived as though scientific inquiry must be stripped of art, poetry, music, and story, as if imagination were an intruder rather than a companion to truth.
Dr. Kerry Magruder reminds us that this was neither always so — nor need it remain so. Drawing on a remarkably wide historical vision, he brings into conversation figures as diverse as George MacDonald, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien alongside Copernicus, Kepler, Darwin, and Einstein. The result is not a forced synthesis, but a lively exchange across disciplines often presumed incompatible: poetry and physics, theology and philosophy, geology and narrative.
From Plato and Aristotle to Augustine and Newton, among many others, this book traces a long tradition in which imagination and reason were convivial fellow discoverers. What has science to do with imagination? In this engaging and accessible work, Dr. Magruder — under the guidance of that great master of imagination, George MacDonald — offers a compelling answer: everything.”
— Glenn Horn, philosopher, author L’histoire des idées à Paris.
“This book invites us to consider afresh the role of wonder in the pursuit of knowledge and the extent to which we already use imagination to move beyond what we see or otherwise sense — what we call facts — in our attempt to attain deeper levels of understanding. A timely and thought-provoking exploration of how we come to know the world, it encourages us to approach that task with curiosity, humility, and both scientific and theological reflection.”
— Marc Foggin, author “Thinking Like a Mountain: Exploring the Potential of Relational Approaches for Transformative Nature Conservation”; Honorary Research Associate, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University; International Director, Plateau Perspectives.
“Written with infectious joy, this book was like water for a part of me I didn’t even know was thirsty. My work is chiefly in finance, yet MacDonald’s vision of a world richer than the reductionism into which many of us have been baptized helped me see that imagination is not an escape from reality but a deeper way of apprehending it. By the final page, I found myself extending MacDonald’s insight: poetry includes finance, too. This is a book I will be sharing with friends for years to come.”
— Travis Lowe, financial services executive; ordained minister; cofounder of HopeWords.
“With this collection of thought-provoking essays, Kerry Magruder invites us into the world of 19th century intellect and author George MacDonald — a world where science and art, faith and curiosity, and acumen and awe can coexist in harmony. A consummate storyteller himself, Magruder weaves seemingly disparate subjects into a cohesive whole, proving himself a worthy guide and adept translator of MacDonald’s legacy for today. So that in the end, George MacDonald and the Scientific Imagination is not simply another book that tells readers what to think but one that offers a profound and beautiful example of how to think.”
— Hannah S. Anderson, author of All That’s Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment; host of Painters, Prophets, Poets; www.sometimesalight.com.
“In our disenchanted age, it can be hard to imagine an age when a generative spirit of inquiry opened endless possibilities to the aspiring scientist. Yet the spark of magic that we associate with imaginative literature shares the same intellectual lineage as the history of science. Dr. Magruder has thrown back the curtains, and reopened the windows for a new age of scientific inquiry and wonder.”
— Father Nathan Carr, Headmaster, Academy of Classical Christian Studies, Oklahoma City; Vicar, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Oklahoma City; author Festive School: Restoring Joy, Liturgy, and Celebration in Christian Education.
“At its heart, science is a desire to know reality as it truly is, and this requires a creative imagination. Through George MacDonald and the Scientific Imagination we taste what science was like, and might become again, when robustly integrated with the same imagination that we see everywhere expressed in poetry, music, and the creative arts. Science educators will benefit immensely.”
— Jason K. Brogden, Dean of Science Instruction and Director of Lynx Science Academy, Founders Classical Academies
“As a long-time reader of MacDonald, I still found Dr. Magruder introducing me to new aspects of MacDonald’s works and sometimes to works hitherto unknown to me! As a molecular biologist I was pleased to find how approachable Magruder made the tales of discoveries in other scientific fields, like geology, astronomy, and paleontology. Whether you have only dabbled in MacDonald or science or are an expert in both, you will find many rich things to explore. Magruder helpfully has extracted and distilled the scientific concepts that pulse throughout MacDonald’s writings and provided them with ample context to help us not only understand, but actually see how throughout history the imagination and scientific inquiry have been inextricably related. Though the primary essay itself is full of rich historical asides and wonderful quotes, the reader is invited to delve deep with the aid of supplementary essays and copious endnotes. The spectacular illustrations reflect Magruder’s long experience as Curator of the History of Science Collections of the University of Oklahoma Libraries.”
— Baronger Bieger, Assistant Professor of Biology, John Brown University
“Through George MacDonald’s integrative lens, Magruder recovers an understanding of science in which the imagination gives vision, direction, and meaning to scientific inquiry. His argument is buttressed by carefully curated period artwork, and extensive endnotes provide a trove of resources for further study. Magruder’s expertise and passion for the history of science make this essay a compelling read for scholars and general readers alike.”
— Michael Wayne Wilhelm, George MacDonald scholar and Chaplain, Cal Farley Boys Ranch, Texas.
