The Book of Genesis, like poetry, captures truths inaccessible to science.
John Kennedy advocated poetry to avoid arrogance, which is good advice when it comes to understanding the Trinity.
Poet Yehudi Amichai gives us a powerful poem about losing our way and being found.
Some of Pope Benedict’s retirement demands sound like King Lear’s.
In his haunting “Ode to a Nightingale,” Keats imagines himself as a homesick Ruth standing “amid the alien corn.”
As George Herbert and Fiona Sampson make clear, partaking in the eucharist feat is our way of becoming intimate with God.
Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” contrasts rigid and tolerant Christianity in ways that will benefit our own society.
Poet Enid Shomer describes Rosh Hashanah as a swimmer beginning on the surface but eventually sinking deep within the water/rituals.
Levertov’s poem about Peter escaping prison confronts existential issues of freedom
Paul Ryan may resemble Angel Claire in Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” but there’s a vicar who shows us a better way of dealing with a “fallen” woman.
Chaucer’s Wife of Bath may not be pure, but Jesus would appreciate her great heart.
In this Ramadan poem by Rumi, fasting is seen as a way of escaping the body.
Posted in Rumi | Also tagged Fasting, Islam, Ramadan, Rumi |
This Scott Bates looks at Pentecostal snake handlers from the snake’s point of view.
The clerihew form can wittily articulate major theological questions.
Seeing sin more as human separateness from creation than as disobeying God may be a more powerful way to teach the concept to today’s students.
St. John of the Cross finds that love shows itself the strongest when we live in “darkness without light.”
In “Pax,” D. H. Lawrence echoes the 23rd Psalm only substitutes a cat for a sheep.
R. S. Thomas’s poem about religious doubt calls for a leap of faith in the midst of darkness.
The 1989 film “Jesus of Montreal” shows the establishment church standing in the way of Jesus’s message.
The magnificent poet attributed to St. Patrick looks to nature to provide images for God’s strength and support.
Gibran’s version of Jesus driving the moneychangers from the temple wonders how he pulled it off.
Rachel Barenblat’s poem about Queen Esther brings her down to earth and in the process makes her far more interesting.
Herbert paradoxically describes Lent as a “dear Feast” in which we can revel.
Rumi’s poem “The Lame Goat” has offered solace to those suffering from physical and emotional setbacks.
Posted in Rumi | Also tagged Rumi, Spirituality |
The Christian Feast of the Epiphany and the Arabian Nights come together in a fanciful Scott Bates poem about the three wise men passing through Baghdad on their way to see Jesus.
As Madeleine L’Engle writes, “Had Mary been filled with reason/There’d been no room for the child.”
Rather than lament the loss of the his eyesight–and therefore potentially his writing–in “On His Blindness” John Milton resolves to accept the new road laid out for him.
Donne’s last question is whether God will forgive Donne’s lack of complete faith in Him.
In “Not Like a Dove” Mary Pratt reconceptualizes the Holy Spirit in a number of startling ways. Her goal, according to guest blogger Sue Schmidt, is to bring us closer to Godhead.
In “The Call,” George Herbert opens himself to God’s love with a confidence not found in many of his poems.
Rashani’s poem captures the miracle of Yom Kippur by describing the unbroken arising out of brokenness.
Posted in Rashani | Also tagged Judaism, Rashani, Yom Kippur |
