The Magdalene Reading: Rogier van der Weyden, 1860. (National Gallery, London)
God’s Gift of Literature
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by Mary J. Moerbe
hen my father read to me as a child, he gave me a great gift. As an educator, he knew he was shaping how my mind would receive and process language and imagery, and, as my dad, it was a bonding, relationshipbuilding activity. That experience was more than a pastime. It was a
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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN May/June 2020
nose-dive into the gifts of God. God gives us literature as a gift to use in our vocations and fiction as an arena to practice discernment. As language allows us to engage with one another, literature allows us to store knowledge, wrestle unknowns, explore ideas and opportunities, and craft enduring beauty.
