Theopoetics?
In my bio I’ve written: “I write to understand theopoetics, a blending poetry and spiritual reflection to help people know that God is love, and that his love is everything.”
In my bio I’ve written: “I write to understand theopoetics, a blending poetry and spiritual reflection to help people know that God is love, and that his love is everything.”
I first came across the word “theopoetics” in James H. Olthuis’ book, Dancing in the Wild Spaces of Love: A Theopoetics of Gift and Call, Risk and Promise.
He writes,
Theopoetics is a “theology without metaphysics,” “theology in the mode of doxology”: witnessing and testifying to our faith in God as creator and redeemer by means of storied narratives, visionary attestations, metaphoric intuitions, and imaginative allegories.1
As an aspiring poet and a pastor, this piqued my curiosity. It described all that I wanted to accomplish with my writing: to testify of the love of God to the world.
Religion seeks to answer three questions: What is the ultimate reality? How do I experience this ultimate reality? How do I communicate this ultimate reality?
Reality as we observe it is hard to understand and describe. So, we use metaphors called words to help us understand the surrounding reality. We then use these words in stories and songs to communicate what we have observed about reality.
Ultimate reality is even harder to understand and communicate. Metaphors are deeper and more abstract. Stories are complex, nuanced, and epic. The study of theopoetics seeks to understand the ultimate reality through metaphor, story, and allegory.
It is not only words and text that make up the field, but any cultural expression is used to dig deeper into how we experience ultimate reality: i.e. God.
Michelle Winter writes:
"Theopoetics is the study, use and respect for metaphors we use to understand and describe The Holy. Theopoetics is a non-creedal knowing, the spiritual impulse to reach for God, wonder at the vastness and minute details of Life, and make meaning beyond ourselves. These are the stories we tell, the songs we sing, the art we make."2
Winter writes of artistic glass jars made to be “tear catchers” to illustrate in a tangible way the Bible verse: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears” (2 Kings 20:5). For many the bottles represented God grieving with them in their distress. God sees the shed tears, and they are precious.
In another article, she speaks of one who experienced God’s grace in photography while his daughter was dying of cancer. Though, it was not the act of taking a photo that brought him comfort; it was the content within the photo: of things that were rusting and decaying. His art exhibit had this description:
“I find beauty in the disintegration of the world around me. At first, I was ashamed by my fascination with decay. Then I realized that beauty is not intrinsic but reflected. It is greater than the thing reflecting it. It speaks of something beyond. In the midst of chaos and decay is order, harmony, balance, and good design. Even as creation dies, it reflects something of its Creator who is Beautiful.”
Art is part of the theopoetics. Though, my work here is largely about poetry and musings from my experiences with God and Scripture; primarily in word and text.
Have you encountered the word ‘theopoetics’ before? What are thoughts?
Olthuis, James H.. Dancing in the Wild Spaces of Love: A Theopoetics of Gift and Call, Risk and Promise (Currents in Reformational Thought) (p. 56). (Function). Kindle Edition.
https://www.missioalliance.org/theopoetics-breathing-fresh-life-into-faith-communities-part-1/