They asked for a paper. . .

With apologies to C. S. Lewis (They Asked for a Paper: Papers and Addresses (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1962), let me tell you about some papers, read at two conferences. I have learned much from papers written for and read at a conference. Including those from Wheaton College Theology Conferences over the years. Each year, a topic is chosen and people invited. They convene and read to each other, discuss endlessly in session and in between; often far into the night.

First up: Come, Let Us Eat Together: Sacraments and Christian Unity , (www.ivpacademic.com), from 2017. A remarkably diverse, baker’s dozen scholars gathered to discuss the Lord’s Supper. Contributions from the Orthodox East, from Rome in the middle (geographically, perhaps theologically), some Anglicans, and various American Protestants. For a sample, let’s listen as Matthew Levering (University of St. Mary of the Lake) reads his paper, “The Eucharist, the Risen Lord, and the Road to Emmaus.” In Luke 24, “By teaching Cleopas and his companion how to read the Old Testament so as to recognize the necessity that the Messiah should suffer and then rise from the dead, the risen Jesus shows later believers one path for comprehending the truth of his resurrection: reading and understanding the Old Testament. In this essay, however, I will focus on a second path to which the risen Jesus directs believers: ‘the breaking of bread.’ ” (Lk 24:35)
After a careful exploration of Luke’s road to Emmaus story, interacting with other writers, as he comes to the conclusion of his essay, Levering turns to Christian unity and reads, “If the unity of Christians is to increase, who better to increase it than the risen Christ himself? And where could it be more fitting for this unity to be increased than in the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist, whose effect is to deepen the baptismal unity of ‘all the faithful in one body—the Church’ “?

One would love to have been in the room as others responded to Levering, eavesdropping on the
conversation. Would they have welcomed his enthusiasm for the unifying effect of the meal? Or,
would some still have reservations, shoring up walls instead of building bridges? A little of both
from what I see in the other essays. Luke 24 has become one of my favorite passages in teaching
about the meal. Levering’s treatment has given me added insights to share with my friends and
students.

In 2018 the gathering turned to Marilynne Robinson and her fiction centered in the fictional Iowa town of Gilead and its pastor, John Ames; along with her essay collections. Including nine other writers, Robinson was there and joined the discussion. The resulting book is Balm in Gilead: A Theological Dialogue with Marilynne Robinson (www.ivpacademic.com).

I’ve read several of her books, both fiction and essays. The fiction embodies ideas that she finds important as she contemplates our culture; much like Wendell Berry’s fiction embodies his concerns for the environment. Since the book arrived, I’ve been reading the essays. Here’s what I found.

Robinson has been clear about her appreciation for John Calvin—a rarity among mainstream writers (a Pulitzer for her novel Gilead). So, of course this attracted some attention in Wheaton; a 22 page essay by Timothy George (Beeson Divinity School), a brief interchange in Robinson’s interview with Wheaton president Philip Ryken, and scattered comments in several other essays.

George focuses his essay on Robinson’s project of rescuing Calvin’s reputation. Robinson discovered Calvinism when she was assigned one of Jonathan Edwards’ writings in college. That turned her around and she started digging further into the tradition, back to Calvin, discovering along the way that the Geneva reformer is often slandered by scholars who haven’t read enough Calvin to know him. Now, Calvin shows up not only in her essays and lectures, but also in the protagonist in her fiction, the Rev. John Ames.

For instance, George quotes from Pastor Ames: “I fell to thinking of the passage in the Institutes
where it says the image of the Lord in anyone is more than reason enough to love him, and that
the Lord stands ready to take our enemies’ sins upon Himself It is a rejection of grace to hold our
enemy at fault. . . .I have probably preached on that a hundred times.” (Gilead, 189) George notes
that Robinson “acknowledges that Calvin teaches both. . .an exalted view of human beings made
in the image of God and the radicality of sin. Still, she concludes, ‘it is a grander thing altogether
to be a Calvinist sinner than a Freudian neurotic.’ ” (Balm in Gilead, 57)

Well, I’d better get back to reading the rest of the essays: “Thinking about preaching with
Marilynne Robinson” by Lauren Winter (Duke Divinity School); “Beyond Goodness: Gilead and
the Discovery of the Connections of Grace,” by Rowan Williams (Magdalen College, Cambridge)
among them.

—Larry Sibley, guest writer