This book explores the intellectual contexts for Mr Casaubon, a central character in George Eliot's classic and much-loved novel Middlemarch.

Vols. 227-230, no. 2 include: Stuff and nonsense, v. 5-6, no. 8, Jan. 1929-Aug. 1930.

Scientific and historical studies in the Nineteenth-century challenged Christian believers to restate their faith in ways which took account of new knowledge. An example of this is the influence of philosophical idealism on a generation of writers and theologians, principally centred around the University of Oxford. However, these optimistic and socially-privileged men and women failed to come to terms with the mass movements and rapid changes in fin-de-siècle England. The Church moved out of touch with national life and is reaping the consequences today.