Country parson, Christian Socialist, sanitary reformer, naturalist and outdoorsman, novelist and historian, battler with Roman Catholicism: Charles Kingsley was one of those eminent Victorian allrounders whose restless activity over a broad range of endeavor makes it unfair to categorize him. The phrase "Muscular Christianity"--which, despite his distaste for it, is inevitably linked with his name--expresses only part of his legacy: that blend of physical exertion, patriotism, and public service embodied in the heroes of his novels as well as in his own career. Kingsley was also tender and deeply affectionate, and he was rare among Victorian moral improvers in that his preaching did not rest upon denial of the life of the body. He was, in fact, as controversial as an "apostle of the flesh" as he was for his unorthodox politics.

As a writer Kingsley is best known for his novels and children's books, but he...