Editing George MacDonald (section)

==Early life==
George MacDonald was born on 10 December 1824 in [[Huntly, Scotland|Huntly]], [[Aberdeenshire (traditional)|Aberdeenshire]], Scotland, to George MacDonald, manufacturer, and Helen McCay or MacKay. His father, a farmer, was descended from the [[MacDonald of Glencoe|Clan MacDonald of Glen Coe]] and a direct descendant of one of the families that suffered in the [[Massacre of Glencoe|massacre of 1692]].{{sfn|Raeper|1987|pp=15-17}}<ref>For more information on this massacre, see {{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/union/trails_union_glencoe.shtml|title=The Massacre of Glen Coe|last=Anon|work=Scottish History: The making of the Union|publisher=BBC|access-date=6 November 2012}} For more information on the site of the event, see {{Cite web |url=https://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/153486/ |title=Site Record for Glencoe, National Trust For Scotland Glencoe Visitor Centre |publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland}}</ref>

MacDonald grew up in an unusually literate environment: one of his maternal uncles, [[Mackintosh MacKay]], was a notable Celtic scholar, editor of the ''Gaelic  Highland  Dictionary'' and collector of fairy tales and Celtic [[oral poetry]]. His paternal grandfather had supported the publication of an edition of [[James Macpherson]]'s ''[[Ossian]]'', the controversial epic poem based on the [[Fenian Cycle]] of [[Celtic Mythology]] and which contributed to the starting of European [[Romanticism]]. MacDonald's step-uncle was a Shakespeare scholar, and his paternal cousin another Celtic academic. Both his parents were readers, his father harbouring predilections for [[Isaac Newton]], [[Robert Burns]], [[William Cowper]], Chalmers, [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], and [[Charles Darwin]], to quote a few, while his mother had received a classical education which included multiple languages.<ref name="Johnson2014">{{cite journal |author=Johnson, K. J. |date=2014 |title=Rooted Deep: Discovering the Literary Identity of Mythopoeic Fantacist George MacDonald |journal=Linguaculture |volume = 2 |publisher=University of Iasi Press |pages=27f | url=http://journal.linguaculture.ro/images/stories/22014/johnson.pdf}}</ref>

An account cited how the young George suffered lapses in health in his early years and was subject to problems with his lungs such as [[asthma]], [[bronchitis]] and even a bout of [[tuberculosis]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Life and Times of George MacDonald|publisher=Golgotha Press|year=2011|isbn=9781621070252}}</ref> This last illness was considered a family disease and two of MacDonald's brothers, his mother, and later three of his own children died from the illness.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hutton|first=Muriel|date=1976|title=The George MacDonald Collection|journal=The Yale University Library Gazette|volume=51|issue=2|pages=74–85|jstor=40858616}}</ref> Even in his adult life, he was constantly traveling in search of purer air for his lungs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/53954/george-macdonald|title=George MacDonald {{!}} Penguin Random House|website=www.penguinrandomhouse.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-12}}</ref>

MacDonald grew up in the [[Congregational church#United Kingdom|Congregational Church]], with an atmosphere of [[Calvinism]]. However, his family was atypical, with his paternal grandfather a [[Catholic Church in Scotland|Catholic]]-born, fiddle-playing, Presbyterian elder; his paternal grandmother an Independent church rebel; his mother was a sister to the Gaelic-speaking radical who became moderator of the Free Church, while his step-mother, to whom he was also very close, was the daughter of a priest of the [[Scottish Episcopal Church]].<ref name=Johnson2014/>

MacDonald graduated from the [[King's College, Aberdeen]] in 1845 with a degree in chemistry and physics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://calms.abdn.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqServer=Calms&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%27MS%202718%27%29|title=Archives and Manuscripts – Special Collections – University of Aberdeen|website=calms.abdn.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=10 February 2018|archive-date=16 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116091623/http://calms.abdn.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqServer=Calms&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%27MS%202718%27%29|url-status=dead}}</ref> He spent the next several years struggling with matters of faith and deciding what to do with his life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=A Complete Identity: The Youthful Hero in the Work of G. A. Henty and George MacDonald|last=Johnson|first=Rachel|publisher=The Lutterworth Press|year=2014|isbn=9780718893590|location=Cambridge, UK|page=43}}</ref> His son, biographer Greville MacDonald, stated that his father could have pursued a career in the medical field but he speculated that lack of money put an end to this prospect.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Doctor in the Victorian Novel: Family Practices|last=Sparks|first=Tabitha|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|year=2009|isbn=9780754668022|location=Surrey|page=50}}</ref> It was only in 1848 that MacDonald began theological training at Highbury College for the Congregational ministry.<ref name="PoemHunter">{{Free-content attribution |title=Biography of MacDonald |publisher= PoemHunter.com |documentURL=https://www.poemhunter.com/george-macdonald/biography/ |License statement URL= [[Wikipedia:CC-BY-SA]] |license= CC-BY-SA 3.0}}</ref><ref name="WheatonCollege">{{cite web |title=George MacDonald |url=https://www.wheaton.edu/academics/academic-centers/wadecenter/authors/george-macdonald/ |website=Wheaton College |access-date=19 June 2018}}</ref>