ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Margie’s reading experience is one of “literary communion” that posits new relationships, purposes, and possibilities in and for literary reading both in and beyond school contexts. It shows how the act of reading might be reconceived as a fully-embodied spiritual act of entering into communion. The chapter explores the case for why the re-framing might be more needed than ever, citing a few instances of the increasingly technocratic agenda of literate engagement within K-12 education. Directing student attention to the text itself empowers students to understand the central ideas and key supporting details. The instrumental uptake of literary reading is perhaps an outgrowth of education’s Cartesian mindset—one that has privileged mind as the primary area for growth and development in the human person. The essential meaning structure of communion hinges on the similarity of dissimilars—on the seemingly detached divine resonating, in physical form, with humanity.
