PublishedNew York Review Books, September 2023 |
ISBN9781681376370 |
FormatSoftcover, 192 pages |
Dimensions20.3cm × 12.7cm |
A fresh, provocative look at the link between poetry and Christianity, both as it relates to the Bible itself as well as to Christian and religious life, by an accomplished scholar.
The Bible is full of poems. In the Old Testament, there arethe Psalms and the Song of Songs, the great exhortationsand lamentations of the Prophets, and passages of poetrywoven in throughout. In the New Testament, Jesusdescribes the kingdom of heaven with poetic epithetssuch as "a treasure hid in a field," calling the Son ofGod "the true vine," "the light of the world," "the goodshepherd," and "the way, the truth, and the life." TheGospels reverberate with allusions to the poetry of theOld Testament; the last book of all is Revelation, a visionary poem. The Bible, in other words, asks to be readpoetically from start to end, and yet readers have rarelyconsidered what that might mean, much less heededthat call.
In The Bible and Poetry, the poet and scholarMichael Edwards reshapes our understanding of theBible and religious belief, arguing that poetry is not anornamental or accidental feature but is central to both.He speaks personally of his early, unanticipated, transformative encounters with scripture. He offers close,insightful, and resonant readings of biblical passages.Poetry, as he sees it, is the vital and necessary mediumof the Creator's word, and the truth of the Bible is not aquestion of precepts and propositions but of a directexperience of its poetry, its power.
