Marilynne Robinson: evaluation

Transcript context

…Say in San Francisco, there was an institution. It was called a Woke Kindergarten, and it taught American history a particular way. The New York Times segments emphasizing 1619, a particular kind of focus on issues of race, class, gender, trans individuals, the Me Too movement added up together as allied with the progressive left. I would take that to be one meaning of woke. Do you think that’s an outgrowth of American Protestantism? No. [laughs] Having lived among the American Protestants for 80 years, I would not necessarily say that that is a phenomenon that is in any way especially peculiar to us. Insofar as any social movement wishes to alleviate injustice, unhappiness, pointless cruelty — the way so many discriminations do — insofar as the point is to reduce that kind of criminal misery, really, I’m perfectly happy to adopt it as a Protestant and say, “Yes, we did that. ” But I think, in fact, it is just the generous evolution of a democratic society. What do you think of the Benedictine option to just retreat and tend one’s own garden, be highly spiritual, and not engage much with the world? Is that a cop-out, or is that a legitimate way of being religious?…

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