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Marilynne Robinson is a liberal Calvinist from Idaho who has said that all experience is narrated by fate; James Carroll is a Catholic reformer from Chicago who once denounced Pope Benedict XVI as a fundamentalist. When Carroll and Robinson meet for a discussion at the Folger Shakespeare Library, they may plumb spiritual depths usually left undisturbed by book talks. Still, both Carroll and Robinson are comfortable in that typically secular sphere: In 2014, Robinson released Lila, the third novel in her “Gilead” trilogy and a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award, and Carroll won that award in 1996 for An American Requiem, a memoir. What truly sets Carroll and Robinson apart is their unabashed faith, which infuses their fiction and nonfiction alike. Carroll was an ordained priest who served as a chaplain at Boston University; Robinson occasionally preaches at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Iowa City. In a talk between such balanced writers and thinkers, I’m praying for schism: Where Carroll and Robinson disagree on matters of faith and how it informs fiction promises to be a markedly rich realm. Marilynne Robinson reads with James Carroll at 7:30 p.m. at the Folger Elizabethan Theatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE. $15. (202) 544-4600. folger.edu