This book tells the story of how nineteenth-century writers turned to the realist novel in order to reimagine Jesus during a century where traditional religious faith appeared increasingly untenable. Re-workings of the canonical Gospels and other projects to demythologize the story of Jesus are frequently treated as projects aiming to secularize and even discredit traditional Christian faith. The novels of Charles Kingsley, George Eliot, Eliza Lynn Linton, and Mary Augusta Ward, however, demonstrate that the work of bringing the Christian tradition of prophet, priest, and king into conversation with a rapidly changing world can at times be a form of authentic faith-even a faith that remains rooted in the Bible and historic Christianity, while simultaneously creating a space that allows traditional understandings of Jesus' identity to evolve.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Theological Consequences of Cultural Narratives
Chapter 2: The Narrative Consequences of Theology
Chapter 3: Jesus the Revolutionary King
Chapter 4: Jesus the Reconciling High Priest
Chapter 5: Jesus the Moral Prophet
Conclusion: Resurrecting Jesus: Religious Experience and the Novel
Bibliography
Index