Quite a quote from her The Death Of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought…
“People who are blind to the consequences of their own behavior no doubt feel for that reason particularly suited to the work of reforming other people. To them morality seems almost as easy as breathing. Fish-eating water-drinkers who confront their geriatric disorders in long anticipation — we could all be like them.”
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4 comments
Michael Cooper says:
Jul 22, 2010
I will always cherish the sight of the RodFather smoking with great gusto at the MB conference breaks! To quote my personal life-coach, Dr. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon–"Would you like some vodka to go with that beef jerky?"
Clifford Swartz says:
Jul 23, 2010
No doubt there were many Prigs among the Puritans (though not Pigs!), as there were among Victorians, too. You don't say otherwise, but perhaps the gentle reader of this blog might miss the point of Robinson's essay is that Puritans were not prigs. The moralizing of the quotation is contrasted with the Puritans, not attributed to them.
The Puritan heritage is not so flat, as if the issuance of a "godly admonishment" necessarily proceeded from the mouth of a man who lacked awareness of his own sin. "The Life and Diary of David Brainerd" is a good example, for instance his entry of May 13, 1742 in Wethersfield, CT:
"Saw so much of the wickedness of my heart that I longed to get away from myself I never before thought that there was so much spiritual pride in my soul. I felt almost pressed to death with my own vileness. Oh! what a 'body of death' is there in me! Lord deliver my soul! I could not find any convenient place for retirement, and was greatly exercised. Rode to Hartford in the afternoon; had some refreshment and comfort in [prayer] with Christian friends; but longed for more retirement. Oh!, the closest walk with God is the sweetest heaven that can be enjoyed on earth!"
The writings of JI Packer on English Puritans nourishing his soul with their doctrine of the Holy Spirit, some years prior to charismatic renewal are also instructive.
I enjoy Marilynne Robinson's writing (except when I sometimes feel she tries a bit too hard to turn a phrase); and the essay quoted actually defends the theological heritage of Puritans. Jonathan Edwards and John Calvin are the two main theological figures in view for the essay.
Thanks as ever for stimulating reading.
Michael Cooper says:
Jul 23, 2010
Great comment, Cliff. Also, Perry Miller (who taught at Harvard I think til the early 60's) did excellent work on the Puritans on the "intellectual history" front, and did much to correct what had been a caricatured portrait. Also, doesn't Robinson quote The Institutes sympathetically in Gilead? That may be a first for a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Clifford Swartz says:
Jul 23, 2010
Yes, in the same essay, Robinson wrote:
"The Calvinist doctrine of total depravity – 'depravity' means 'warping or distortion'- was directed against casuistical enumerations of sins, against the attempt to assign them different degrees of seriousness. For Calvinism, we are all absolutely, that is equally, unworthy of, and dependent upon, the free intervention of grace."