The Bible and Poetry - by Michael Edwards (Paperback)

About the Book

"The Bible is full of poems. It includes the Psalms and the Song of Songs of course, but poetry plays an immense part in the prophets and shows up in the historical books of the Old Testament. The New Testament, for its part, reverberates with allusions to the poetry of the Old and concludes with Revelations, a visionary poem, while Jesus, seeking to open his listener's eyes to the kingdom of heaven, describes it with the poetic epithet of "a treasure hid in a field," while the son of God is the "true vine," "the light of the world," "the good shepherd," "the way, the truth, and the life." The Bible, in other words, asks to be read poetically throughout, and yet readers have rarely considered the implications of that, much less heeded its call. In Bible and Poetry, the poet and scholar Michael Edwards seeks to transform how the Bible and Christianity are understood, arguing that poetry is not an ornamental or accidental feature of the Bible, but central to its meaning. The creative use of words that is poetry is the necessary medium of the Creator's word, and belief emerges not from precepts and propositions, but out of the lived experience-this is what the Bible offers above all-of the power of that word"--

Book Synopsis

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 are the Psalms and the Song of Songs, the great exhortations and lamentations of the Prophets, and passages of poetry woven in throughout. In the New Testament, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven with poetic epithets such as "a treasure hid in a field," calling the Son of God "the true vine," "the light of the world," "the good shepherd," and "the way, the truth, and the life." The Gospels reverberate with allusions to the poetry of the Old Testament; the last book of all is Revelation, a visionary poem. The Bible, in other words, asks to be read poetically from start to end, and yet readers have rarely considered what that might mean, much less heeded that call.

In The Bible and Poetry, the poet and scholar Michael Edwards reshapes our understanding of the Bible and religious belief, arguing that poetry is not an ornamental 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 medium of the Creator's word, and the truth of the Bible is not a question of precepts and propositions but of a direct experience of its poetry, its power.

Review Quotes

"The conviction that drives this quite personal and quite passionate book . . . is that the Bible must be received as it presents itself--as a text thrumming through and through with the vibrations of poetry, which alone has the power to signal the invisible that secretly sustains the world." --Anne-Marie Pelletier, Études

About the Author

Michael Edwards is an Anglo-French poet and scholar. Born in Barnes, London, he is the author of twenty books and the first English person ever to have been elected to the Collège de France and to the Académie Francaise.

Stephen E. Lewis is a professor of English at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, and a translator of French literature.