Poetry, Theology, and the Church

The first thing man uttered was a poem: “This one at last, bone of my bones / and flesh of my flesh. / This one shall be called Woman, / for from man was this one taken (Gen. 2:23).”¹ 

Moses, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Solomon, and David were all inspired poets. The prophetic writings, especially Isaiah and Job, contain passages of soaring poetic beauty. At the Visitation the Virgin Mary’s heart was moved to say the Magnificat. As the Lord suffered on the cross, He quoted the Psalms, the ancient poems of the Israelites. And in the Revelation to St. John, we come across angels and saints praising the Trinity with poetic language. Indeed, poetry sung and spoken can be heard across the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, yet many Christians today take little or no interest in poetry. In fact, many claim to dislike or even hate poetry. In what follows I argue that poetry matters a great deal, for it is nothing less than a central part of man’s original calling and a participation in God’s plan of creativity. Therefore, the decay of poetry is the sign of society’s decay, and bad poetry reflects a bad and barbarous age that has forgotten or rejected the Christian vision of man and the revelation of God. Before settling on these conclusions, though, it would be helpful to answer a couple of basic questions, specifically, “What precisely is poetry, and how could we as Christians formulate a Theology of Poetry?” 

The word “poetry” is from a Greek verb, ποιέω (poiéō), which has a wide range of meanings from “I make” to “I play.” Poets are found in every age and every culture. In the Church a host of believing poets have sung the praises of Christ, from Gregory Nazianzus and Synesius in the ancient Church to Hildegard of Bingen and Dante in the Middle Ages to Christina Rossetti and T. S. Eliot in modern times. Great and classic poetry is far from banal self-reflection on interior feelings. No, for most of human history, poets – whether ancient pagan or Christian – were the ones inspired to give words to man’s religious impulses, to chronicle the feats of heroes, and to record the deeds of kings. Their poems allowed societies to remember, to celebrate, and to emulate. They strengthened the link from earth to heaven via the power of the spoken and written word, a word that was capable of blessing, of revealing, of sanctifying. 

Just as the original Greek root-verb poiéō has a variety of meanings, through the centuries, poems have taken a variety of forms, but in every instance, a poem is identified by a special use of language; that is, a high, elevated style that sets itself apart from prose. A poem typically follows literary conventions, such as rhyme, as well as meter – the pleasing cadence of syllables. It must always have an artful structure which forms its stylistic architecture. Poems aim at an economy of language and beauty of form, though in more contemporary poetry, such aims are increasingly ignored, which usually leads to stylistic formlessness and spiritual impoverishment. 

Lutherans have always written and enjoyed poetry; Luther himself was a poet and hymn writer. His translation of the Bible displays a great deal of poetic understanding. Through the centuries, many Lutherans have put their poetic talents to use in writing hymns for the churches to sing. Indeed, as one can see by our countless hymns and liturgical songs, there is a rich poetic tradition within confessional Lutheranism both on the continent and in North America.²  

Poetic expression involves careful organization, harmony, and attention. As one contemporary Christian poet puts it, poems are ascetic and aesthetic; that is, writing and reading them involves a kind of trained attention, while accompanying this ‘work’ is the joy and beauty that a poem creates.³ In this way a theology of poetry would stem from a more fundamental theology of the Word. The eighteenth-century Lutheran writer Johann Georg Hamann exclaimed, “Gott ein Schriftsteller!”⁴–“God an Author!”–on the first page of his personal meditations on Scripture when he realized that the Author of life and salvation is also the Author of the Scriptures through the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). Indeed, the God who speaks creation into existence (Gen. 1:3) is the incarnate Word who teaches us of the Father (John 8:26). The Word then promises that His followers will receive the Spirit who will give them words to speak (John 14:26). In thankful response to God’s graciousness, believers (and angels) return songs and psalms (sung poetry) to the blessed Trinity (e.g., Rev. 7:12). As Christians, our own words can channel God’s Word and communicate His blessings to others (e.g., Psalm 96:3). 

One of the most fascinating twentieth century writers who ruminated at length on the theological meaning of his poetic craft was the Welshman David Jones. In an essay on the eighteenth century poet Christopher Smart he writes, “For I hope it is permitted to say that as through and by the Son, all creation came into existence and is by that same agency redeemed, so we, who are co-heirs with the Son, extend, in a way, creating and redeeming influences upon the dead works of nature, when we fashion material to our heart’s desire.”⁵ By “heart’s desire” Jones does not mean the passions of fallen man but the redeemed loves of a Christian. He is highlighting the truth that every disciple is called to be a ποιητής – a poet, a craftsman and shaper of words, who uses words while participating in both creation, by a positive art, and in redemption, through witness and proclamation. Therefore poetry, the artful use of language to reveal what is true, is itself a reflection of man’s divine image. He is a little creator, mirroring the Divine Creator, and participating in God’s own work by creatively speaking, writing, and singing the supreme goodness of God. 

Here I might add that Christian Poetry is antiphonal. God speaks; we respond. You teach me words; I deliver them back to you. A pastor chants; the congregation chants back. Poetry is a beautiful representation of all creative activity because it encapsulates the truth that reality itself is antiphonal.⁶ We are always responding to God with the gifts that He has already given us. Our words are from His Word, and so they reflect and magnify Him. In fact, all of creation antiphonally gives back to God what He has already given (e.g., Psalm 42:7). Again, as Hamann puts it, “Speak, that I may see you!—This wish was fulfilled by creation, which is a speech to creatures through creatures…”⁷ Creation is God’s speech act to us, and our poetry can be a speech act to one another and back to Him in loving response. 

This leads us to the often sad state of poetry today. But is it any wonder if some of the most award-winning contemporary, secular poems are hopeless and nihilistic, given the fact that our society has so devalued human life? Where man is trampled and denied, what becomes of poetry? What is its purpose, if there is no beauty, no truth, no God? A mere arrangement of words – a distraction – until death and destruction by either bombs or cancer. 

But there are glimmers of hope. Christian poets are restoring beauty and meaning to the craft. Older theological poets are receiving new translations and greater academic and popular attention than ever before. Holy poetry is being re-discovered and re-claimed by a new generation of Christians that desires traditional beauty and rejects the contemporary fads. 

Our Lutheran churches are in a unique position to participate in this revival of Christian poetry. As I have written in a previous article, painting, sculpture, and other arts need not be relegated to fine art galleries; in our own congregations we have people brimming with talent, who want to use their gifts liturgically and devotionally. Poems are not only for literary journals and college classes, but for churches! Gifted children could produce poems that go in newsletters or onto prayer cards for reflection after Holy Communion. Those with poetic gifts could add much to congregational meetings, helping people direct their attention to what is good and holy. Pastors with poetic skills could use them effectively from the pulpit. Devotional reading of all would be enhanced by knowledge of and access to great Christian poets from the past. May each of our congregations join the poets in praising God and directing our hearts to the Source of all words, the Fountain of all Beauty.

Endnotes

1.  Translated by Robert Alter, Genesis: Translation and Commentary (New York: Norton, 1996), 10. 
2. For the standard English translation of many of the finest Lutheran hymns, see Seventeenth Century Lutheran Meditations and Hymns, ed. Eric Lund (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2011).
3. Timothy E. G. Bartel, The Poets and the Fathers: Theology and Poetry from Gregory Nazianzus to Scott Cairns (Eugene, OR: Pickwick. 2024). 
4. Johann Georg Hamann, “On the Interpretation of Sacred Scripture,” London Writings, trans. John W. Kleinig  (Evansville: Ballast Press, 2021), 1.
5. David Jones, Epoch and Artist: Selected Writings, ed. Harmon Grisewood (London: Faber & Faber, 1959), 286.
6. Note how this antiphonal understanding shows that there is neither a hard, dramatic separation between God and His creation, nor is there a mystical blending so that there is only ever one single substance. Rather, God calls things into existence which then call back to Him in an endless round of jubilant, loving song (e.g., Psalm 66:4; Rev. 5:13).
7. Johann Georg Hamann, Aesthetica in Nuce, in  J.G. Hamann: Writings on Philosophy and Language, trans. & ed. Kenneth Haynes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 65.