“Gilead”

This is truly a magnificent novel. Reading it changes a person, which is as good a reason as any to read a novel. It is a meditation on providence, family, forgiveness; a refutation of Feuerbach, an apology for the life of the church, and a good many other things. 

I recently had the privilege of joining Marilynne on a tour of the Parker Library, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The librarians brought out some of Calvin’s letters and other original texts from the reformation (such as the 49 articles). She was kind and gracious, and rather excited to see the treasures they brought out for us to inspect. She is an amazing example of an artist whose craft has been deepened through engagement with theology—something of a walking defense for why theology matters, even if you aren’t a ‘theologian’ (though, of course, she certainly is one).

Hopefully, everyone has read this book by now, but if you still haven’t, here is one of my favorite passages to help convince you:

“This morning a splendid dawn passed over our house on its way to Kansas. This morning Kansas rolled out of its sleep into a sunlight grandly announced, proclaimed throughout heaven — one more of the very finite number of days that this old prairie has been called Kansas, or Iowa. But it has all been one day, that first day. Light is constant, we just turn over in it. . . . 

While I am thinking of it — when you are an old man like I am, you might think of writing some sort of account of yourself, as I am doing. In my experience of it, age has a tendency to make one’s sense of oneself harder to maintain, less robust in some ways. 

Why do I love the thought of you old? That first twinge of arthritis in your knee is a thing I imagine with all the tenderness I felt when you showed me your loose tooth. Be diligent in your prayers, old man. I hope you will have seen more of the world than I ever got around to seeing — only myself to blame. And I hope you will have read some of my books. And God bless your eyes, and your hearing also, and of course your heart. I wish I could help you carry the weight of many years. But the Lord will have that fatherly satisfaction.”