Theopoetics in its modern context is an
interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...
field of study that combines elements of
poetic analysis,
process theology
Process theology is a type of theology developed from Alfred North Whitehead's (1861–1947) process philosophy, most notably by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000), John B. Cobb (b. 1925) and Eugene H. Peters (1929-1983). Process theology and pr ...
,
narrative theology
Postliberal theology (often called narrative theology) is a Christian theology, Christian theological movement that focuses on a narrative, narrative presentation of the Christian faith as regulative for the development of a coherent systematic th ...
, and
postmodern philosophy
Brian Duignan writes on the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' that Postmodern philosophy is a philosophical movement that arose in the second half of the 20th century as a critical response to assumptions allegedly present in modernist philosophical i ...
. Originally developed by
Stanley Hopper and
David Leroy Miller in the 1960s and furthered significantly by
Amos Wilder
Amos Niven Wilder (September 18, 1895 – May 4, 1993) was an American poet, minister, and theology professor.
Life
Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin. He studied for two years at Oberlin College (1913–1915), but volunteered in the AF ...
with his 1976 text, ''Theopoetic: Theology and the Religious Imagination.''
In recent times there has been a revitalized interest with new work being done by two schools of thought in theopoetics.
One school values process theology and postmodern philosophy. It is led by individuals such as L. Callid Keefe-Perry,
Rubem Alves
Rubem Azevedo Alves (15 September 1933 – 19 July 2014) was a Brazilian theologian, philosopher, educator, writer and psychoanalyst. Alves was one of the founders of Latin American liberation theology.
Life
Alves was born on September 15, 1933, ...
,
Catherine Keller,
John Caputo
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
,
Peter Rollins
Peter Rollins (born 31 March 1973) is a Northern Irish writer, public speaker, philosopher, producer and radical theologian.
Drawing largely from various strands of continental philosophy, Rollins' early work operated broadly from within the tr ...
,
Scott Holland,
Melanie May,
Matt Guynn,
Roland Faber
Roland Faber (born 1960) is an author and Kilsby Family/John B. Cobb, Jr., Professor of Process Studies at Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Claremont Graduate University. He is Executive Co-Director of the C ...
, and others.
The other school of thought values the philosophical
transcendentals
The transcendentals ( la, transcendentalia, from transcendere "to exceed") are the properties of being, nowadays commonly considered to be truth, beauty, and goodness. The concept arose from medieval scholasticism. Viewed ontologically, the tra ...
as informed by
classical theology. It is led by individuals such as Anne M. Carpenter of
St. Mary’s College, California, and Richard Viladesau of
Fordham University
Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...
, with contributions from Brian Nixon of
Veritas International University
Veritas International University (VIU) is a non-profit Christian university located in Santa Ana, California. Founded in 2008, the university began as a seminary before transitioning to a university with the addition of undergraduate and post-gradu ...
. This school of theo-poetics is influenced by the thought of
Hans Urs von Balthasar
Hans Urs von Balthasar (12 August 1905 – 26 June 1988) was a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest who is considered an important Catholic theologian of the 20th century. He was announced as his choice to become a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, ...
as informed by a range of thinkers as divergent as
Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen ( grc-gre, Γρηγόριος Νύσσης; c. 335 – c. 395), was Bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 395. He is venerated as a saint in Catholici ...
,
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
,
Maximus the Confessor
Maximus the Confessor ( el, Μάξιμος ὁ Ὁμολογητής), also spelt Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar.
In his earl ...
,
Dietrich Richard Alfred von Hildebrand,
David Bentely Hart and
Pavel Florensky
Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky (also P. A. Florenskiĭ, Florenskii, Florenskij; russian: Па́вел Алекса́ндрович Флоре́нский; hy, Պավել Ֆլորենսկի, Pavel Florenski; – December 8, 1937) was a Russian Or ...
.
Description
Postmodern Theopoetics
The first school of theopoetics suggests that instead of trying to develop a "scientific" theory of God, as
systematic theology
Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topi ...
attempts, theologians should instead try to find God through poetic articulations of their lived ("embodied") experiences. It asks theologians to accept reality as a legitimate source of divine revelation and suggests that both the divine and the real are mysterious — that is, irreducible to literalist dogmas or scientific proofs.
Theopoetics makes significant use of "radical" and "ontological" metaphor to create a more fluid and less stringent referent for the divine. One of the functions of theopoetics is to recalibrate theological perspectives, suggesting that theology can be more akin to poetry than physics. It belies the logical assertion of the
principle of bivalence
In logic, the semantic principle (or law) of bivalence states that every declarative sentence expressing a proposition (of a theory under inspection) has exactly one truth value, either true or false. A logic satisfying this principle is called ...
and stands in contrast to some rigid Biblical
hermeneutics
Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...
that suggest that each passage of scripture has only one, usually
teleological
Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...
, interpretation. The dismissal of the aesthetic as a living part of language has turned the academic enterprise of biblical studies and theology into a language more at home with lawyers than poets. Theopoetics is the art of using words and thoughts that speak to the reader in an aesthetic and existential way to inspire spirituality in the reader.
Whereas those who utilize a strict,
historical-grammatical approach believe scripture and theology possess inerrant factual meaning and pay attention to
historicity
Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity denot ...
, a theopoetic approach takes an allegorical position on faith statements that can be continuously reinterpreted. Theopoetics suggest that just as a poem can take on new meaning depending on the context in which the reader interprets it, texts and experiences of the Divine can and should take on new meaning depending on the changing situation of the individual.
Classical Theopoetics
In the second school of theopoetics, the aim is drawn “from
von Balthasar’s affirmation of poetic expression: when God speaks to us in the Incarnation, all qualities of human language—even being itself—are employed as created ‘grammar’ by which God expresses himself to us…With God at the center of expression, poetry becomes capable of an authentic role in theological language.”
This form of theo-poetics “requires the interplay of three massive fields of knowledge:
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
,
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, and
Christology
In Christianity, Christology (from the Ancient Greek, Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, wiktionary:-λογία, -λογία, wiktionary:-logia, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Chr ...
”
and is to be “sharply distinguished from the agnostic overtures of the ‘theo-poetics’ movement, whose lineage is not be found in the thought of
Balthasar.”
Notable publications
Books
* .
* .
* .
* Carpenter, Anne (2015). Theo-poetics : Hans Urs von Balthasar and the risk of art and being. University of Notre Dame Press. . OCLC 927188404.
* Cruz-Villalobos, Luis (2015). Theological Poetry. Foreword by John D. Caputo. Santiago de Chile: Hebel Edicione
* Cruz-Villalobos, Luis (2019). Wise Crimes. Santiago de Chile: Hebel Edicione
* Cruz-Villalobos, Luis (2019). Haikus al Cielo. Santiago de Chile: Hebel Edicione
* Cruz-Villalobos, Luis (2020). Pauper God. Theographies. Santiago de Chile: Independently Poetr
* Cruz-Villalobos, Luis (2020). Poesía Teológica. Prólogo de John D. Caputo. 2da Ed. Santiago de Chile: Independently Poetr
* Cruz-Villalobos, Luis & Lagunas, Samuel (2020). Plegarias Sórdidas. Santiago de Chile: Independently Poetry
* .
* .
* .
* .
*
* Nixon, Brian C. (2021). ''Beauty (and the Banana): A Theopoetic Aesthetic''. Wipf & Stock,
*
* Bronsink, Troy (2013), ''Drawn In: A Creative Process For Artists, Activists, and Jesus Followers'', Paraclete,
* Harrity, Dave (2013), ''Making Manifest: On Faith, Creativity, and the Kingdom at Hand,'' Seedbed,
* Keefe-Perry, L. Callid (2014), ''Way to Water: A Theopoetics Primer'', Cascade,
* Garner, Phillip Michael (2017)
Theopoetics: Spiritual Poetry for Contemplative Theology and Daily Living
Wipf and Stock,
* Tagore, Rabindranath (1913/2019). Gitanjali: Song Offering. Santiago de Chile: Independently Poetr
See also
*Biblical theology
Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define.
Description
Although most speak of biblical theology as a particular method or emphasis within biblical studies, some scho ...
*Christian theology
Christian theology is the theology of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theology, theologian ...
*Narrative or postliberal theology
Postliberal theology (often called narrative theology) is a Christian theological movement that focuses on a narrative presentation of the Christian faith as regulative for the development of a coherent systematic theology. Thus, Christianity is ...
*Postmodern Christianity
Postmodern theology, also known as the continental philosophy of religion, is a philosophical and theological movement that interprets theology in light of post- Heideggerian continental philosophy, including phenomenology, post-structuralism, a ...
*Secular Theology
Secular theology rejects the substance dualism of modern religion, the belief in two forms of reality required by the belief in heaven and hell. Secular theology can accommodate a belief in God, like many nature religions, but as residing in t ...
*'' Theopoesis''
References
{{Reflist
External links
Theopoetics.net websiteTheopoetics: A Journal of Theological Imagination, Literature, Embodiment, and Aesthetics"Microtheology: Toward a theopoetic of the local" article
* Theological Poetry. Poetry (2015) By Luis Cruz-Villalobos. Foreword by John D. Caput
"Theopoetics: that the dead may become gardeners again" article
'' Cross Currents (journal), Cross Currents''
"Theopoetic/theopolitic" article
'' Cross Currents (journal), Cross Currents''
Process theology
Poetics
Continental philosophy
Theology