A profound new essay collection from the beloved author of Gilead, Houskeeping and Lila.

Grace, our redemption in this fallen world, the unexpected and unconditional forgiveness that God bestows on us and that we struggle to bestow on each other, is at the heart of Marilynne Robinson’s The Givenness of Things.

Robinson has plumbed the depths of the human spirit both in her novels, including the bestselling Lila and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead and in her moving and insightful essay collections When I Was a Child I Read Books and The Death of Adam. In The Givenness of Things, she brings a profound sense of awe and an incisive mind to the essential questions of contemporary faith. Through fourteen essays of remarkable depth and insight, Robinson explores the dilemmas of our modern predicament and the mysteries of Christianity.

How has our so-called Christian nation strayed from so many of the teachings of Christ? How could the great minds of the past, Calvin and Locke - and Shakespeare - guide our lives? And what might the world look like if we could see the sacredness in each other, how the kingdom of God is actually among us?

Exquisite and bold, these essays are a necessary call for us to find wisdom and guidance in the life of Christ and in Scripture itself, to seek humanity and compassion in each other. The Givenness of Things is a reminder of what a marvel our existence is in its grandeur - and its humility.