Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Marilynne Robinson is one of the most eminent public intellectuals in America today. In addition to literary elegance, her trilogy of novels (Gilead, Home, and Lila) and her collections of essays offer probing meditations on the Christian faith. Many of these reflections are grounded in her belief that the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformer John Calvin still deserves a hearing in the twenty-first century.

This volume, based on the 2018 Wheaton Theology Conference, brings together the thoughts of leading theologians, historians, literary scholars, and church leaders who engaged in theological dialogue with Robinson's published work—and with the author herself.



George is the founding dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, and senior adviser at Christianity Today. He is a member of the Southern Baptist-Roman Catholic Conversation Team and has participated inthe Evangelicals and Catholics Together initiative.



Rowan Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, PC, FBA, FRSL, FLSW, is a world renowned theological writer, teacher, and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury (2002–2012) before becoming Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge (2012-2020). Recent books by Rowan Williams include Luminaries (2019), Being Human (2018), God With Us (2017) and Being Disciples (2016) (all SPCK).



Timothy Larsen is McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, an Honorary Fellow in the School of Divinity at Edinburgh University, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He has written eight books, including A People ofOne Book: The Bible and the Victorians, and edited a dozen volumes, including most recently The Oxford Handbook of Christmas.



Keith L. Johnson (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is associate professor of theology at Wheaton College. He is author of Theology as Discipleship and Karl Barth and the Analogia Entis, and he is the coeditor of Bonhoeffer, Christ and Culture.



Acknowledgments



Introduction (Timothy Larsen and Keith L. Johnson)



1. The Theological World of the Reverend John Ames (Timothy Larsen)



2. Heart Conditions: Gilead and Augustinian Theology (Han-luen Kantzer Komline)



3. Marilynne Robinson and John Calvin (Timothy George)



4. The Metaphysics of Marilynne Robinson (Keith L. Johnson)



5. Thinking About Preaching with Marilynne Robinson (Lauren F. Winner)



6. Marilynne Robinson and the African American Experience (Patricia Andujo)



7. Space/Time/Doctrine: Marilynne Robinson's Gilead Novels (Tiffany Eberle Kriner)



8. Heaven and Earth: Reading Gilead Through the Landscape of the Fox River (Joel Sheesley)



9. Beyond Goodness: Gilead and the Discovery of the Connections of Grace (Rowan Williams)



10. The Protestant Conscience (Marilynne Robinson)



11. A Conversation Between Marilynne Robinson and Rowan Williams (Moderated by Vincent Bacote and Christina Bieber Lake)



12. An Interview with Marilynne Robinson (Philip Ryken)



Contributors



Name and Subject Index



Scripture Index



"When I read page 128, part of the 'Space/Time/Doctrine' essay by Tiffany Eberle Kriner, I said to myself that this page was worth the price of the book. But then an essay by Rowan Williams, who I think is one of the best readers of Robinson, still lay ahead, as did the beautiful plates and accompanying essay by artist Joel Sheesley, an essay by Robinson on 'The Protestant Conscience,' and not one but two interviews, the first by Wheaton professors Vincent Bacote (theology) and Christina Bieber Lake (English) of Robinson and Williams together, and the second by Wheaton president Philip Ryken of Robinson by herself. . . . As a whole, this collection makes a strong argument for the ways that literature should enter debate about public life."



"Marilynne Robinson is perhaps the most vital of living American novelists. This collection contains essay after thoughtful essay exploring various facets of her complex and beautiful body of work. After reading them you feel that you have watched the assembling of a delightful portrait of this most theologically resonant of our writers."



"This collection of thoughtful and erudite essays is a welcome addition to the growing interest in (and admiration of) one of the church's—and culture's—preeminent voices of the last thirty years. For readers who are familiar with Robinson's writing, this collection will provide much-welcomed insight into the theological depth of her essays and novels. For those unfamiliar with her work, this volume provides a lively and accessible theological introduction to one of the major creative thinkers of our time. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the conversations and currents happening at the deepest levels between the church and culture today."



"Doing theology and reading fiction figure among my best-loved pastimes. Reading theology about fiction ranks almost as high. Yet Balm in Gilead is something better: an interdisciplinary conversation about the theological presuppositions and implications of one of America's most important living novelists. Entertaining does not come close to doing justice to Marilynne Robinson's Gilead series, though they are that. Robinson raises profound questions about the shape of Christian ministry and community and, in so doing, exposes and seeks to transform America's secular social imaginary. In similar fashion, Balm in Gilead raises profound questions about Robinson's work and theology, putting her in conversation with theologians past (Augustine, John Calvin) and present (Rowan Williams)."



"Marilynne Robinson's work is saturated in theology—not only in that it is pervaded by engagement with Christian belief in general but in that it is shaped by years of deep engagement with the texts of the Protestant (especially Calvinist) tradition. We have waited a long time for a collection like this. It is certain to be a rich source of interest and delight."



"The religious themes and insights in Marilynne Robinson's novels and essays—especially her striking fondness for Calvin—have won her a devoted Christian following. Until now, however, there has been little explicit engagement with her work by theologians. In this volume, an impressive range of thinkers opens up a conversation with the novelist about the Christian life, the Reformed tradition, and the American experience."



"If the test of a good story is the kind of person it shapes, then we can only hope that Marilynne Robinson continues to write her stories. Reading her stories makes one want to be more truly alive. They also, as it happens, make one curious to read her nonfiction. In reading both novels and essays, we are introduced to a theologically dynamic vision of the world. This marvelous collection of essays is a welcomed engagement by theologians with an author who demands careful—and repeated!—reading."