Theopoetics

Theopoetics is an interdisciplinary field of study that combines elements of poetic analysis, process theology, narrative theology, and postmodern philosophy. Originally developed by Stanley Hopper and David Leroy Miller in 1960s and furthered significantly by Amos Wilder with his 1976 text, Theopoetic: Theology and the Religious Imagination. Recently, there has been a revitalized interest with new work being done by Rubem Alves, Catherine Keller, John Caputo, Peter Rollins, Scott Holland, Melanie May, Matt Guynn, Roland Faber, Jason Derr, et al.

Theopoetics suggests that instead of trying to develop a “scientific” theory of God, as Systematic Theology 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 and stands in contrast to some rigid Biblical hermeneutics that suggest that each passage of scripture has only one, usually teleological, interpretation.

Whereas these strict, literalist approaches believe scripture and theology possess inerrant factual meaning and pay little attention to historicity, a theopoetic approach takes a positive 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.

Notable publications

Books

• Ricoeur, Paul (1976), Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning, Fort Worth: Texas Christian Press, ISBN 0912646594 .
• Wilder, Amos Niven (1976), Theopoetic: Theology and the Religious Imagination, Philadelphia: Fortress, ISBN 0788099086 .
• Alves, Rubem (2002), The Poet The Warrior The Prophet, SCM Press, ISBN 9780334028963 .
• Hopper, Stanley Romaine; Keiser, R Melvin (1992), Stoneburner, Tony, ed., The Way of Transfiguration: Religious Imagination As Theopoiesis, Westminster John Knox Press, ISBN 0664219365 .
• Faber, Roland (2003) (in German), Gott als Poet der Welt: Anliegen und Perspektiven der Prozesstheologie [God as Poet of the World: Concerns and Perspectives in Process Theology], Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, ISBN 3534158644 .
• Miller, David L (2006), Hells and Holy Ghosts: A Theopoetics of Christian Belief, USA: Spring Journal Books, ISBN 1882670973 .
• Miller, David L (2005), Three Faces of God: Traces of the Trinity in Literature & Life, USA: Spring Journal Books, ISBN 1882670949 .
• May, Melanie A (1995), A Body Knows: A Theopoetics of Death and Resurrection, Continuum International Publishing, ISBN 0826408494 
• Keller, Catherine (2003), The Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming, Routledge, ISBN 0415256496 

Articles

• Derr, Jason, "Microtheology: Toward a theopoetic of the local", The Online Journal of Public Theology, PubTheo, http://www.pubtheo.com/page.asp?pid=1685 .
• Guynn, Matt (Spring 2006), "Theopoetics: that the dead may become gardeners again", Cross Currents, 56, Find Articles, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2096/is_1_56/ai_n16462584 .
• Caputo, Jack; Keller, Catherine (Winter 2007), "Theopoetic/theopolitic" (PDF), Cross Currents, 57, http://www.crosscurrents.org/Caputo0406.pdf .

See also

• Biblical theology
• Christian theology
• Narrative or postliberal theology
• Postmodern Christianity
• Secular Theology

Sources

• THEOPOETICS(dot)NET