The Givenness of ThingsMarilynne Robinson(Virago, 304 PP, £18.99)Tablet bookshop price £17.10 • tel 01420 592974 Two phrases recur throughout this collection of Marilynne Robinson’s essays. With one she gives us an unapologetic statement of her theological position: “I am a Calvinist.” With the other she stakes a claim for the place of a mature female writer among the male-dominated discourse about religion and literature: without cringing from the number, as perhaps most of us would, Robinson repeats, over and over, almost like a litany: “I am seventy.” In a way, The Givenness of Things is Robinson’s victory lap. Appearing just a year after her most recent novel, the widely acclaimed Lila, these essays, many adapted from talks, circle