Religious Poetry and Prose (Christian Classic) - Softcover

John Donne

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9781557252357: Religious Poetry and Prose (Christian Classic)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1557252351 ISBN 13: 9781557252357

Publisher: Paraclete Pr, 1999

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Combining wit, passion, and intellect, John Donne's poetry forged new paths in British literature. When, at age 38, Donne entered the Anglican priesthood, he directed his passion for women and material goods to his divine lover, Christ. The great metaphysical poet engaged theological controversies, the mysteries of theological doctrine, and a persistent fear of death with the same deep powers of intellect and wit that he had brought to his secular poetry. Readers will recognize in Donne's religious writings such well-known phrases as "No man is an island" and "Death be not proud." The poems, sermon selections, prayers, and devotions in this volume record the poet's struggle to reconcile the passions of the flesh with the demands of the spirit, as well as the poet's exalted love of Christ.

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About the Author:

Born in North Carolina in 1954, Henry Carrigan is currently an editorial director at Trinity Press International, following his position as Religion Book Review Editor for Publishers Weekly. He has published numerous book reviews in prominent publications such as Library Journal, Washington Post Book World, The Christian Century, and Publishers Weekly.

Dr. Carrigan received a B.A. in English from Palm Beach Atlantic College in 1970, an M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1981, and a Ph.D. from Emory University in 1993. He has devoted the majority of his studies to English, Religion, Theology, Biblical Studies, and Religion in Literature.

Dr. Carrigan and his wife reside in Westerville, Ohio.

"A Hymn to Christ" In whatever ragged ship I embark, That ship will be an emblem of your ark; Whatever sea swallows me, that flood Shall be to me an emblem of your blood; Though with clouds of anger you disguise your face, Even through that mask I know those eyes, Which, even though they sometimes turn away, They never will despise. I sacrifice this Island to you And all I have loved there, and all who love me; When I have put the seas between them and me, Put your sea between my sins and me. As a tree's sap seeks the roots in winter, In winter now I go, Where no one but you, the eternal root of true love, I may know. Neither you nor your religion controls The amorousness of the soul, But you would have that love yourself As you are jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now, You love not, until from loving more, you free my soul, Whoever gives, takes liberty: If you do not care whom I love, You do not love me. Seal then this bill of divorce from everyone, On whom fell those fainter beams of love; Join to yourself those loves that in youth are scattered On fame, wit, hopes. Churches that have least light are best for prayer: To see God only I go out of sight And to escape stormy days, I choose An everlasting night.

(From the Introduction) "Although the majority of Donne's religious writings come from the later period of his life, many of them contain an implicit concern for things religious. Even so ribald a lyric as "The Flea," Donne's meditation upon the marriage bed, is intertwined with his reflection upon the ways that the Trinity is reflected in a marital relationship. But his more mature reflections on religion do indeed belong to his later years.

Donne's religious writings express a clearly incarnational theology. The Incarnation, Atonement, and the Resurrection are the central themes of his sermons. His Christmas and Easter sermons are passionate and fiery paeans to the love of Christ. Even his Trinity sermons focus on the powerful and overwhelming love of Christ. This wonder and awe at the love of God incarnate in Christ also emerges from his Devotions and the Essays in Divinity.

Donne's religious poetry also communicates the power of Christ's love to weak sinners. Reflecting Donne's constant awareness of the sins of his early life, his poems often express his unworthiness to be forgiven by God in Christ. Revealing Donne's emphasis on Christ's earthly ministry, the first cycle of the Holy Sonnets traces Jesus' life and work from the Annunciation to the Ascension, and explored the ways that his life and work affect ours.

Donne's illnesses also loom large in his poetry and his prose. In the Devotions and in his prayers, physical illness often serves as a metaphor for spiritual illness. His great anxiety and despair about death are assuaged only by Christ's having delivered us from death by his own death, a point Donne makes with one repeated force in "Death's Duel." His fear of death, even though it may be found in such early poems as "A Valediction: forbidding Mourning," occupies much of his early religious poetry as, for example, in "Hymn to God my God, in my Sickness." Donne's greatest hope, even in illness and anticipation of death, is the mysterious love of God in Christ, who has delivered us from death and has gone to prepare a place for us in God's kingdom. Donne's religious writings are as full of thought and passion, irony and paradox, as his worldly writings." (Henry L. Carrigan Jr.)

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