READING GENESIS
By Marilynne Robinson
Virago. 352 pages. £25
ISBN 978 0 349 018 744
Marilynne Robinson is the author of the series of four novels that began with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead. These well-observed stories with strong Christian themes are a masterclass in storytelling.
Robinson is a professing Christian, who has also published volumes of essays that grapple with moral and spiritual issues. Her latest book is Reading Genesis.
The first part of the book explores the question of what type of literature the Book of Genesis is. Robinson concludes that although it has echoes of other ancient documents of the time, it is a unique piece of literature in its origin, atmosphere, and message. We have something of a flavour of the author’s take on Genesis as soon as we read her opening sentence: ‘The Bible is a theodicy, a meditation on the problem of evil.’
This is a fascinating place to begin, but it does set the scene for a book that highlights the strange, unexpected, beautiful grace of God that confronts and overcomes evil by showing mercy. Robinson makes the fascinating comment that Genesis is bookended by mercy, to Cain and to Joseph’s brothers.
It is interesting to read this familiar Biblical book through the eyes of a novelist who is a master storyteller with a keen eye for plot and characterisation. I have found many of her observations very insightful for the preacher.
Take for example the following observations concerning the patriarchs: ‘Readers can be shocked by the fallibility of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the patriarchs are not offered as paragons. And when they err, the generous consequence of the text’s attention to the fact is an assertion of the breadth of God’s loyalty to all the descendants of Adam.’
No plaster saints
This well-judged observation avoids treating Old Testament characters as plaster saints or, with the benefit of hindsight, sitting in judgment upon them. It is helpful to be reminded that their faults are real but that, again and again, the way God deals with them magnifies the graciousness of God.
I also found it interesting as a preacher to read her comments concerning how people read the Bible: ‘The habit of reading the Bible piecemeal, whether for preaching or for the purposes of scholarly argument, or because it is considered to have a full meaning in isolated phrases or verses or episodes, is so deeply engrained that the larger structures of the text, its strategies of characterisation, its arguments, can be completely overlooked.’
Perhaps it takes a master storyteller to pick up the careful crafting of the Biblical story.
All readers, but preachers in particular, will do well to cast an eye over this slow-moving but satisfying journey through the book of Genesis. It is not a verse-by-verse commentary, so it does not give instant gratification, but a thoughtful reader will find many insights into the ancient text, and clues on how to communicate its message today.
At times this book can feel like reading Genesis for the first time, sitting opposite the author on the porch as she chews on different parts of the story. For example, I am never going to read the final scenes of Laban saying goodbye to his daughters and grandchildren in the same way again.
Readers will not agree with every observation; Robinson can use some challenging language and draw some contested conclusions, but there is a clear underlying respect for the text of Genesis and the God who inspired it. Something of this respect can be seen in the inclusion in her book of the whole of Genesis in the text of the Authorised Version (113 pages, which is a third of the book). The author is aware that she has offered up in this book a mere hors d’oeuvre that whets the appetite for reading Genesis – the Biblical text itself is the main course. All Christians are reminded to give Scripture itself a bit more space to shine!
