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LJP
The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson. Pub Penguin, pp 387 ISBN 978-0-141-0235-9, £7.99.
Gideon Mack is a “son of the manse”. Partly as a result of his repressive upbringing, he turns against the religious beliefs of his father. Yet, despite not believing in God and holding rationalistic views on life, Gideon himself does become, like his father, a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. He is called to the Old Kirk at Monimaskit, and for a time proves remarkably effective. He shields his lack of faith by engaging in social work, raising funds for charity. He runs marathons and is heavily sponsored.
It is while out on a training run that Gideon encounters a large standing stone that is not identified an any of the local guide books. It should not exist, no one else has seen it, yet for Gideon it is a stubborn, uncompromising fact.
This awareness of the stone is the beginning of Gideon’s descent into another dimension of existence. While walking with a ministerial colleague, he rescues her dog from a treacherous pit, the Black Jaws, but falls into the cavern himself and is given up for dead. Here biblical symbolism takes over: for three days Gideon is buried in the bowels of the earth, but re-emerges having, he believes, encountered the Devil. So here we have this agnostic minister, doubting the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, entering into a bizarre relationship with a modernistic version of Satan. The testament of Gideon Mack is his account, dictated to a friend, of that experience and the events leading up to it.
This is a compelling narrative, with several inter-locking strands. There is Gideon’s life as a minister amongst his parishioners, his upbringing, marriage and extra-marital love. There are explorations of questions of faith and belief. And of course the relationship with the Devil - with the reader left to decide for himself on the veracity of Gideon’s testimony, his state of mind, and to what extent the supernatural impinges on life in the 21st century.
DW
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