What answers would you have given to the questions John faces regarding the fate of souls and the nature of pain in the world? (LitLovers (c) 2016)
When people accept Jesus as their savior, they receive salvation and forgiveness. The term salvation comes from the Greek word sozo, “which is usually translated “saved”, can also mean healed, restored…”(273). In Marilynne Robinson novel Gilead we see the theme of salvation and forgiveness through out the book, and the characters. The novel is written as a collection of moving memoirs written by the main character and narrator, who is an elderly man, named John Ames. Ames is third-generation Congregationalist minister, whose heart is failing. Ames believes his death is close, and writes a letter …show more content…
When he was young, Jack Boughton had an illegitimate young daughter, who died from neglect, a sin our Ames refuses to forgive. A reason this troubles him so much is because he lost both his wife and daughter during childbirth, early in his first marriage. For Ames, who had lost his only child, such lack of care of paternal duty was sinful. Ames reflects, “That one man should lose his child and the next man should just squander his fatherhood as if it were nothing – well, that does not mean that the second man has transgressed against the first” (Pg.187) When we first meet Jack, the reader can see that Ames is facing one of the biggest struggles of his life. Ames know the loves he has for his own son can only truly be unconditional if the preacher can find a way to forgive, and love Jack for his wrong actions. Ames does eventually forgive Jack for his sin when he eventually hears Jacks story, “He did then seem to me the angel of himself, brooding over the mysteries his mortal life describes, the deep things of man. And of course that is exactly what he is.”(Pg. 224), showing salvation in the character of …show more content…
The conflict seemed to arise from the civil war. Ames Grandfather was a fierce preacher and abolitionist, who believed slavery was evil, which justified violent opposition. Ames 's father, on the other hand, was an ardent pacifist who believed peace trumped all things. Through out his child hood, Ames father was left to wonder and doubt his father’s mysterious involvement in the war, never being certain about where his father was, but would return home in bloodstained shirts. Furthermore Ames records the argument over war and peace and how they would only refer to one another as Reverend, “Have I offended you in some way, Reverend?” my father would ask. And his father would say, “No, Reverend, you have not offended me in any way at all. Not at
When people accept Jesus as their savior, they receive salvation and forgiveness. The term salvation comes from the Greek word sozo, “which is usually translated “saved”, can also mean healed, restored…”(273). In Marilynne Robinson novel Gilead we see the theme of salvation and forgiveness through out the book, and the characters. The novel is written as a collection of moving memoirs written by the main character and narrator, who is an elderly man, named John Ames. Ames is third-generation Congregationalist minister, whose heart is failing. Ames believes his death is close, and writes a letter …show more content…
When he was young, Jack Boughton had an illegitimate young daughter, who died from neglect, a sin our Ames refuses to forgive. A reason this troubles him so much is because he lost both his wife and daughter during childbirth, early in his first marriage. For Ames, who had lost his only child, such lack of care of paternal duty was sinful. Ames reflects, “That one man should lose his child and the next man should just squander his fatherhood as if it were nothing – well, that does not mean that the second man has transgressed against the first” (Pg.187) When we first meet Jack, the reader can see that Ames is facing one of the biggest struggles of his life. Ames know the loves he has for his own son can only truly be unconditional if the preacher can find a way to forgive, and love Jack for his wrong actions. Ames does eventually forgive Jack for his sin when he eventually hears Jacks story, “He did then seem to me the angel of himself, brooding over the mysteries his mortal life describes, the deep things of man. And of course that is exactly what he is.”(Pg. 224), showing salvation in the character of …show more content…
The conflict seemed to arise from the civil war. Ames Grandfather was a fierce preacher and abolitionist, who believed slavery was evil, which justified violent opposition. Ames 's father, on the other hand, was an ardent pacifist who believed peace trumped all things. Through out his child hood, Ames father was left to wonder and doubt his father’s mysterious involvement in the war, never being certain about where his father was, but would return home in bloodstained shirts. Furthermore Ames records the argument over war and peace and how they would only refer to one another as Reverend, “Have I offended you in some way, Reverend?” my father would ask. And his father would say, “No, Reverend, you have not offended me in any way at all. Not at