Many remember The Scarlet Letter as required reading for reluctant sixteen year olds. The unnamed, elusive narrator of Hawthorne's «tale of human frailty and sorrow» is–some readers might say maddeningly–indirect, ambiguous, and inconsistent. Readers who hope to arrive at satisfying judgments about the book's four iconic characters–Hester, Arthur, Roger, and Pearl–are often left to arrive at their conclusions by guess and inference. The narrator provides what seems to be willfully...
These daily reflections for the season of Advent focus on the question of how we are to live into the promise of the season and the challenges of our historical moment, and how we might, as we focus again on the great theme of waiting in Christian life, practice the presence of God. They include pieces entitled, for instance, «Live Boldly,» «Live Patiently,» «Live Harmoniously,» and «Live Repentantly.» Based on the author's own efforts to accept the invitation of Advent each year as a time...
