Clik here to view.
Acknowledging the Mysteries of Creation
Van Gogh, "Starry Night" Spiritual Sunday As the author of the Pulitzer-winning Gilead, Marilynne Robinson has keen insights into the nature of spirituality. In “Freedom of Thought,” an essay in her...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Returning Home to Aging Parents
Have you ever thought that the books we obtain from libraries or bookstores sometimes choose us rather than the other way around? That would explain why a books-on-disk version of Marilynne Robinson’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Deep (Not Scientific) Truth of Genesis
Benjamin West, “Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise” (1791) Spiritual Sunday A recent review of Curtis White’s book The Science Delusion: Asking the Big questions in a Culture of Easy Answers in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Though Thou Art in Thy Blood, Live
Rafael, “Ezekiel’s Vision” (note Ezekiel in left hand corner) Spiritual Sunday A couple of weeks ago my library reading group discussed Marilynne Robinson’s Lila, the third novel in what one member...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The President Who Loved Literature
Barack Obama in Prairie Lights Bookstore, Iowa City, Iowa Tuesday Not the least of the things I will miss about Barack Obama will be his literary reflections. Since I believe, along with Jonathan...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Genesis: Story Truth, Not Happening Truth
Raphael, “The Creation of Animals” (1515) Spiritual Sunday As today’s lectionary reading is the opening verses from the Bible, I’m reposting a past essay that discusses the kind of truth that one finds...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Teacher, Lit, & a Jailed Student
After J Barnett, “Elizabeth Fry reading Bible to Newgate prisoners” Thursday The Atlantic has just reviewed a book that is now on my must-read list. Among other things, Michelle Kuo’s Reading with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Returning to the Misty Past
Sewanee fog Thursday I’m still trying to figure out what it means to have come home to retire. Home, in my case, is the town of Sewanee, Tennessee, where I grew up and which I left when I turned 18,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Robinson: Love, Sympathy, Identification
Marilynne Robinson Thursday Few new novels in recent years have hit me as hard as Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, and I’ve been equally impressed with Lila and Home. Now, with a New York Review of Books...
View Article