"Loyalty to Myself at the Very Least": Historical, Religious, and Narrative Commitments in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead
This essay examines the figural role and historical context of John Brown in Marilynne Robinson's novel Gilead. Brown's participation in the events known as Bleeding Kansas are referenced in the novel both as a founding trauma for generational conflict among the narrator, his father, and g...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
Religion & literature
Year: 2023, Volume: 55, Issue: 2/3, Pages: 147-167 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Robinson, Marilynne 1944-, Gilead
/ Brown, John 1800-1859
/ Violent behavior
/ Christianity
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| RelBib Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture CG Christianity and Politics KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBQ North America NCD Political ethics |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This essay examines the figural role and historical context of John Brown in Marilynne Robinson's novel Gilead. Brown's participation in the events known as Bleeding Kansas are referenced in the novel both as a founding trauma for generational conflict among the narrator, his father, and grandfather (all named John Ames), and as a symbolic representation of an activist Christian theology that justifies violence on moral grounds. Contrary to the dominant view of Brown today as a heroic extremist, Robinson references this specific history in the novel to construct a theological argument that rejects all violence, regardless of apparent moral righteousness, as a fundamental misreading of the Christian message. By reading some of Robinson's essays against key passages in the novel, I show how Robinson develops a strong and consistent theological position counter to John Brown, one that is rooted in her understanding of the Puritan and Calvinist origins of American Congregationalism and abolitionism and that is linked in the novel to an understanding of narrative as anchored in deferred resolution alongside faith in eventual redemptive outcomes. |
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| ISSN: | 2328-6911 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion & literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/rel.2024.a948408 |
