housekeeping
there is something strange and existential about christian writers of literature, i feel
for example, 'housekeeping' by marilynne robinson
i don't know what to think while reading it
because i keep thinking that it should be trying to convert me to christianity
because if it isn't trying to convert me, then i don't know why else it is here, in my hands
because if marilynne robinson believes in god then her goal in life, as i understand it, is clear
you know what you should be doing with your life on earth
you should, as i understand it, be trying to spread the belief in god, make people into christians, and so your book should be trying to convert me to christianity so that i don't go to hell
your entire life, it seems, should maybe be spent trying to convert people to christianity so that they don't go to hell
anything less would be sort of 'evil' or something
for example, if i was in a room with ten people, and i knew for certain that they would suffer infinite pain, in hell, unless i convinced them that the universe was created by say, a fish, then wouldn't i be a 'bad' person if i just sat there doing other things, not talking about the fish but, say, writing a book about sisters growing up?
wouldn't someone looking in on my situation expect me to be trying to save these people from the pain of hell and wouldn't they think i was 'bad' or something if i instead wrote a book about something not related to the fish or else wrote a book so subtlely related to the fish that no one would know it was about the fish?
in conclusion
housekeeping confused me in terms of its place in the universe
the book contains within itself a confusion that makes me feel some kind of confusion
i've been reading 'housekeeping' for something like two years and am on page one hundred and twenty or something
yes, i haven't finished it yet, but i will, i think
i don't know
seems strange that most people view christians who don't 'bother' other people as the 'good' kinds of christians
aren't the ones who bother you all the time, trying to 'save' you from hell, the 'good' ones?
the ones that care about you, about whether or not you are going to hell or not?
for example, 'housekeeping' by marilynne robinson
i don't know what to think while reading it
because i keep thinking that it should be trying to convert me to christianity
because if it isn't trying to convert me, then i don't know why else it is here, in my hands
because if marilynne robinson believes in god then her goal in life, as i understand it, is clear
you know what you should be doing with your life on earth
you should, as i understand it, be trying to spread the belief in god, make people into christians, and so your book should be trying to convert me to christianity so that i don't go to hell
your entire life, it seems, should maybe be spent trying to convert people to christianity so that they don't go to hell
anything less would be sort of 'evil' or something
for example, if i was in a room with ten people, and i knew for certain that they would suffer infinite pain, in hell, unless i convinced them that the universe was created by say, a fish, then wouldn't i be a 'bad' person if i just sat there doing other things, not talking about the fish but, say, writing a book about sisters growing up?
wouldn't someone looking in on my situation expect me to be trying to save these people from the pain of hell and wouldn't they think i was 'bad' or something if i instead wrote a book about something not related to the fish or else wrote a book so subtlely related to the fish that no one would know it was about the fish?
in conclusion
housekeeping confused me in terms of its place in the universe
the book contains within itself a confusion that makes me feel some kind of confusion
i've been reading 'housekeeping' for something like two years and am on page one hundred and twenty or something
yes, i haven't finished it yet, but i will, i think
i don't know
seems strange that most people view christians who don't 'bother' other people as the 'good' kinds of christians
aren't the ones who bother you all the time, trying to 'save' you from hell, the 'good' ones?
the ones that care about you, about whether or not you are going to hell or not?
4 Comments:
housekeeping -- I liked the movie. I went to college Marilyn's son, he wasn't really Christian, but did seem extremely innocent.
you posted a comment before i finished the post
read it again then comment again
if you want
It's been a while since I've read the book or seen the movie, but I don't remember anything about the religious messages at all. (Actually I think Robinson did get more into the religious stuff later on). It's funny how at certain times you key into certain themes and other times you just ignore or overlook them.
I'm no Jesus freak, but I once posted about why there is so little interesting artistic works with religious themes in the USA.
http://www.imaginaryplanet.net/weblogs/idiotprogrammer/?p=83398279
to quote myself: "Religion is fun for teenage geeks to talk about as long as its priests have funny ears." (idiotprogrammer)
Robinson is a self-identified "liberal Protestant." Most Christians in this tradition either don't believe in hell at all, or are convinced that an unchurched nonbeliever is no more likely to end up there than they themselves. (In fact, both the major Protestant and the major Catholic theologian of the twentieth century--Karl Barth and Hans Urs Von Balthasar--more or less had their fingers crossed that everyone would be saved, and Barth's work especially knocked the props out from underneath this traditional doctrine--not that it hadn't already been questioned many times.)
So, Robinson doesn't assume that you, the non-believing reader, are going to go to hell. In fact, she doesn't assume much about you at all, except that maybe you're a rational adult who merits the respect of not being browbeaten into the nearest church. In other words, she assumes a lot less about you than you have about her.
I read this blog sometimes and it's interesting, so I don't intend this comment as a drive-by shooting. But it often shocks me that well-educated, otherwise smart people seem honestly unaware of the fact that Pat Robertson doesn't speak for all Christians. In other words, I feel a little irked that I have to point these things out. It reminds me of when I have to explain to my fundamentalist Republican relatives that I, as a liberal Democrat, don't actually want to give giant government grants to terrorists.
(As for the comments about the weakness of religious art in the US--well, since I love every word of Housekeeping, I guess my tastes are out of line with those of the readers of this blog. But, geez: Frederick Buechner. Larry Woiwode. Toni Morrison. Sufjan Stevens. David Rhodes. Carol Bly. Wendell Berry. Charles Johnson. All the gospel music ever performed. Over the Rhine. Chris Adrian. Mary Oliver. Johnny Cash. A good portion of "naive"/"folk" art. Etc.)
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