One of our greatest novelists and thinkers presents a radiant, thrilling interpretation of the book of Genesis.
For generations, the book of Genesis has been treated by scholars as a collection of documents, by various hands, expressing different factional interests, with borrowings from other ancient literatures that mark the text as derivative. In other words, academic interpretation of Genesis has centered on the question of its basic coherency, just as fundamentalist interpretation has centered on the question of the appropriateness of reading it as literally true.
Both of these approaches preclude an appreciation of its greatness as literature, its rich articulation and exploration of themes that resonate through the whole of Scripture. Marilynne Robinson's “Reading Genesis” is a powerful consideration of the profound meanings and promise of God's enduring covenant with man. This magisterial book radiates gratitude for the constancy and benevolence of God's abiding faith in Creation.
"Extraordinary . . . a writer's book, not a scholar's; it has no footnotes. Its power lies in the particular reading it gives us of one of the world's foundational texts, which is also one of the foundations of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's mind and faith. We want to know what Robinson thinks of Genesis for the same reason we'd want to know what Tolstoy thought of it."
Francis Spufford, The New York Times Book Review
"Alluring, contemplative . . . Robinson considers the weighty issues in clear-eyed prose; her close readings compel us to imagine these characters anew . . . The selling of Joseph into Egyptian bondage is an artful essay unto itself, gleaming like a Fabergé egg amid cerebral analysis."
