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4.0 

What Are We Doing Here?

By Marilynne Robinson
What Are We Doing Here? by Marilynne Robinson digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

New essays on theological, political, and contemporary themes, by the Pulitzer Prize winner

Marilynne Robinson has plumbed the human spirit in her renowned novels, including Lila, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this new essay collection she trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith. Whether she is investigating how the work of great thinkers about America like Emerson and Tocqueville inform our political consciousness or discussing the way that beauty informs and disciplines daily life, Robinson’s peerless prose and boundless humanity are on full display. What Are We Doing Here? is a call for Americans to continue the tradition of those great thinkers and to remake American political and cultural life as “deeply impressed by obligation [and as] a great theater of heroic generosity, which, despite all, is sometimes palpable still.”

17 Reviews

4.0
“A book of exceptional depth and thoughtfulness. Marilynne Robinson is a Calvinist, Puritan-defending, universalist(?), liberal, and one of the best writers I know. In this book I was convicted, challenged, and encouraged. I definitely disagree with her on many points, but some of her arguments made me consider my own biases, imbalances, and blindspots. This was especially so on her discussion on the poor and the Christian duty. Her critique of naturalism as meagre, dull, and overconfident was superb; her defence of Christianity as beautiful and logical was excellent. A marvellous book to consider and ponder.”
“I'm a big fan of Marilynne Robinson's. I've enjoyed all of her fiction, and I own a few of her collections of essays (although I listened to this one on audio). I thought this collection was engaging, thought-provoking, challenging, and still quite relevant 6 years on. Robinson spends most of her time here discussing Puritanism, the origins of New England political and religious thought, Calvinism, Jonathan Edwards, Oliver Cromwell, Darwinism and Freudianism, the humanities, divinity, intellectualism, and modern science. I find all of this quite interesting, but my critique of this particular collection is that the essays/talks shared so much commonality in content and theme that it became repetitive. This may have bothered me less if I had read one essay at a time over a longer period rather than listening to each one back-to-back all the way through. As far as Robinson's theology, we differ on some points as she is a mainline Protestant, but overall I admire her commitment to and reading of Scripture and of our religious and theological heritage among our Puritan and Calvinist predecessors, and I am grateful for her challenges of aspects of American Christianity (/Christian nationalism, though she doesn't name it as such) today.”

About Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson is the author of the novels Lila, Home, Gilead (winner of the Pulitzer Prize), and Housekeeping, and the nonfiction books The Givenness of Things, When I Was a Child I Read Books, Mother Country, The Death of Adam, and Absence of Mind. She lives in Iowa.

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