Download or read book The Bible and Poetry written by Michael Edwards and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2023-08-15 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Perfidious Proverbs and Other Poems written by Philip Appleman and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of satirical poems homes in on the inconsistencies and downright perversities of what passes in our culture as "Holy Writ." Turning to satire, with its long and distinguished record of exposing folly and bringing enlightenment through humor, the author leaves no doubt that primitive religion posing as eternal truth is just the sort of folly that satire is meant to correct. He lets his poetic imagination roam widely, as he takes on the roles of Eve, Noah, Sarah, Jonah, David, Mary, Jesus, Judas, and even the biblical Jehovah Himself, ("I never apologize, never explain."). We also hear from priests, televangelists, and faith healers, as well as some sensible contemporaries, commenting on what it means to live a life of reason. At the conclusion to the introduction, the author says: "Intelligent and well-meaning people have argued for centuries against the fatal attraction of foolishness, but their efforts have been largely unproductive, partly because many people seem impervious to rational discussion. So perhaps satire is our most effective way of lighting candles in the darkness and communicating effectively to those who are immune to reason. That is, at any rate, the hope, and the rationale, of this book." In this age of suicide bombers and resurgent fundamentalism, we need these lighted candles like never before.
Download or read book The Autobiography of the Bible and Other Poems written by Thomas Hirst and published by . This book was released on 1865 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Poetry My Bible and Me written by Raymond K Huff and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2009-12 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Poetry, My Bible and Me" is a unique written book of poetry, because many of the poems are Derived directly from scripture, love and life, and provides a new and fascinating way of being understood. The poems in this book, are not just words, but they have been inspired by the gifted author thru prayer, and spirit revelation, and lifetime experiences. Never will you see such a widely fashion of poetry combined in one book, that provides, knowledge, humor, and thought provoking conversations about the topics inside. The author has been preaching and teaching the gospel for years, and was led from within to put many scriptures, and experiences in a modern form of poetry, that has already inspired many who has heard his innovative style of writing. Trust me, it will be hard to pick a favorite, and hard to stop reading the same poems over and over again, as each line takes you on ride that will keep you enthused, intrigued and excited about what's coming next. A book, you will read more than once, and you will definitely share with others. "It's so hard to pick a favorite, because many of them reach you in different ways, and you just want to read them over and over again" -T. Fisher "His poems reach across race, religion and its content is suitable for all ages" -S. Conyers "There is a healing in his poetry, that reaches the very essence of your mind and soul..." -R. Trotter "Once you start to read a poem, you are fascinated, and intrigued by what's coming next" -E. Chatman "When I read one of the poems regarding scripture, I then want to go and read the passage of scripture he writes about" -D. Conyers
Download or read book The Great Poems of the Bible written by James L. Kugel and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Psalms to the Prophets, from job to Ecclesiastes, much of the Bible is written in poetry. The poems of the Bible include some of its best known and most beloved passages: "The Lord is my shepherd," "Let justice roll down like waters," "By the rivers of Babylon," "Remember your Creator," "Arise, shine, for thy light is come!" These poems live in the hearts of those who are familiar with the Bible and offer rich rewards to anyone who is approaching the world's greatest book for the first time. In The Great Poems of the Bible, Harvard scholar James Kugel presents original translations of the most beautiful and important poems of the Scripture. Taken together, these poems represent the very essence of the Hebrew Bible. Reading them one after another is like taking a guided tour through Scripture, meeting firsthand some of its most important teachings and opening the way to an understanding of the Bible as a whole. Each poem is accompanied by an eloquent and accessible explanation of the poem's language, and a reflection on its meaning. These learned, compact essays introduce readers to the broader spiritual world of ancient Israel. What did people in biblical times believe about God? Where is a person's soul located and what does it do? Is there an afterlife? How does one come to "know" God? Why wasn't Eve meant to be Adam's "helpmate" (Kugel shows how this was just a translator's slip-up), and what does the Bible have to say about the role of women? Kugel's sparkling translations of the poems, together with the fascinating insights that accompany them, distill the very best that the Bible and modern scholarship have to offer. Kugel brings new life to some of history's greatest poems, and offers a new look at a Bible we thought we already knew. Here, in one volume, is a "Bible's bible" that belongs in every home.
Download or read book Poets of the Bible From Solomon s Song of Songs to John s Revelation written by and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-06-27 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The vividness and beauty of the language emerge in a fresh way . . . with evocative simplicity.” —Robert Alter, professor emeritus of Hebrew and comparative literature, University of California, Berkeley The world’s greatest poetry resides in the Bible, yet these major poets are traditionally rendered into prose. In this pioneering volume of biblical poets translated in English, Willis Barnstone restores the lyricism and power of the poets’ voices in both the New and Old Testaments. In the Hebrew Bible we hear Solomon rhapsodize in Song of Songs, David chant in Psalms, God and Job debate in grand rhetoric, and prophet poet Isaiah plead for peace. Jesus speaks in wisdom verse in the Gospel, Paul is a philosopher of love, and John of Patmos roars majestically in Revelation, the Bible’s epic poem. This groundbreaking volume includes every major biblical poem from Genesis and Adam and Eve in the Garden to the last pages of Alpha and Omega in Paradise.
Download or read book An Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books written by C. Hassell Bullock and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2007-09-01 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The poetic books of the Old Testament--Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon--are often called humankind's reach toward God. The other books of the Old Testament picture God's reach toward man through the redemptive story. Yet these five books reveal the very hear of men and women struggling with monumental issues such as suffering, sin, forgiveness, joy, worship, and the passionate love between a man and woman. C. Hassell Bullock, a noted Old Testament scholar, delves deep into the hearts of the five poetic books, offering readers helpful details such as harmeneutical considerations for each book, theological content and themes, detailed analysis of each book, and cultural perspectives. Hebrew is a language of "intrinsic musical quality that naturally supports poetic expression," says Bullock in his introduction. That poetic expression comes from the heart of the Old Testament writers and reaches all of us exactly where we are in our own struggles and joys.
Download or read book The Art of Biblical Poetry written by Robert Alter and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2011-09-06 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three decades ago, renowned literary expert Robert Alter radically expanded the horizons of biblical scholarship by recasting the Bible as not only a human creation but a work of literary art deserving studied criticism. In The Art of Biblical Poetry, his companion to the seminal The Art of Biblical Narrative, Alter takes his analysis beyond narrative craft to investigate the use of Hebrew poetry in the Bible. Updated with a new preface, myriad revisions, and passages from Alter's own critically acclaimed biblical translations, The Art of Biblical Poetry is an indispensable tool for understanding the Bible and its poetry.
Download or read book Chapters into Verse written by Robert Atwan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2000-09-28 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing a unique map of the history of English poetry, Chapters Into Verse surveys and defines the literary legacy of the Scriptures from the fourteenth century to the present. Arranged in scriptural order from Genesis to Revelation, the book presents each poem alongside the biblical passage that inspired it. Thus readers can conveniently witness the various ways sacred text has sparked the imagination of poets throughout the ages. The editors have included poems by virtually all the prominent religious poets--among them John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Edward Taylor, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Included, too, are devotional and visionary works from a wide range of vintage poets--Robert Burns, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Alfred Tennyson, and Robert Browning. Proving that the Bible is just as powerful a source of inspiration today as it was in the past, the collection also assembles a mixed congregation of modern and contemporary poets, such as Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Countee Cullen, e.e. cummings, William Butler Yeats, Laura (Riding) Jackson, A.D. Hope, Denise Levertov, and Philip Levine. Of enduring interest to readers of both scripture and literature, this anthology illuminates key passages of the Old and New Testament. In selection after selection, readers will encounter an astonishing variety of religious experiences, as a host of poets from many eras and many backgrounds respond to Holy Scripture profoundly and imaginatively.
Download or read book Bible Characters in Poetry written by Leah Bethune Stevens and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2012-07-31 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you enjoy reading about all the interesting characters in the Bible, then you will enjoy Bible Characters in Poetry. Leah Stevens, an ordained minister, and a Bible scholar-historian, has years of experience in following God. I am happy to recommend this book of poems. The Lord has prepared her for just this purpose. Enjoy as you read with an open heart. Pastor Rev. Oscar Whiteside, Jr., Living Waters Church, Augusta, Georgia Bible Characters in Poetry has recaptured the spirit of the times. It will make you feel as though you were an eyewitness. I am confident this book will be a classic in its field. Betty Wiley, Bible scholar and teacher I am touched each time I read these poems. It just amazes me to read such beautifully written, God-inspired words. Each poem is heartfelt and refreshing. Pastor Rev. Stephen Black, Sr., Solomons Porch Pentecostal Church, Augusta, Ga.
Download or read book Dark Testament and Other Poems written by Pauli Murray and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-04 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the cadences of Martin Luther King Jr. and the lyricism of Langston Hughes, the great civil rights activist Pauli Murray’s sole book of poems finally returns to print. There has been explosive interest in the life of Pauli Murray, as reflected in a recent profile in The New Yorker, the publication of a definitive biography, and a new Yale University college in her name. Murray has been suddenly cited by leading historians as a woman who contributed far more to the civil rights movement than anyone knew, being arrested in 1940—fifteen years before Rosa Parks—for refusing to give up her seat on a Virginia bus. Celebrated by twenty-first-century readers as a civil rights activist on the level of King, Parks, and John Lewis, she is also being rediscovered as a gifted writer of memoir, sermons, and poems. Originally published in 1970 and long unavailable, Dark Testament and Other Poems attests to her fierce lyrical powers. At turns song, prayer, and lamentation, Murray’s poems speak to the brutal history of slavery and Jim Crow and the dream of racial justice and equality.
Download or read book The Song of Songs written by Margaret Shepherd and published by Mount Tabor Books. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The biblical book, richly illustrated in calligraphy, with commentary"--
Download or read book Enjoying the Bible written by Matthew Mullins and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Christians view the Bible as an instruction manual. While the Bible does provide instruction, it can also captivate, comfort, delight, shock, and inspire. In short, it elicits emotion--just like poetry. By learning to read and love poetry, says literature professor Matthew Mullins, readers can increase their understanding of the biblical text and learn to love God's Word more. Each chapter includes exercises and questions designed to help readers put the book's principles and practices into action.
Download or read book What Is the Bible written by Rob Bell and published by HarperOne. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Instant New York Times Bestseller Rob Bell, the beloved author of Love Wins and What We Talk About When We Talk About God, goes deep into the Bible to show how it is more revelatory, revolutionary, and relevant than we ever imagined—and offers a cogent argument for why we need to look at it in a fresh, new way. In Love Wins, Rob Bell confronted the troubling questions that many people of faith were afraid to ask about heaven, hell, fate, and faith. Using the same inspired, inquisitive approach, he now turns to our most sacred book, the Bible. What Is the Bible? provides insights and answers that make clear why the Bible is so revered and what makes it truly inspiring and essential to our lives. Rob takes us deep into actual passages to reveal the humanity behind the Scriptures. You cannot get to the holy without going through the human, Rob tells us. When considering a passage, we shouldn’t ask "Why did God say . . .?" To get to the heart of the Bible’s meaning, we should be asking: "What’s the story that’s unfolding here and why did people find it important to tell it? What was it that moved them to record these words? What was happening in the world at that time? What does this passage/story/poem/verse/book tell us about how people understood who they were and who God was at that time?" In asking these questions, Rob goes beyond the one-dimensional question of "is it true?" to reveal the Bible’s authentic transformative power. Rob addresses the concerns of all those who see the Bible as God’s Word but are troubled by the ethical dilemmas, errors, and inconsistencies in Scripture. With What Is the Bible?, he recaptures the Good Book’s magic and reaffirms its power and inspiration to shape and inspire our lives today.
Download or read book The New Testament written by Jericho Brown and published by Copper Canyon Press. This book was released on 2015-10-15 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Honored as a "Best Book of 2014" by Library Journal NPR.org writes: “In his second collection, The New Testament, Brown treats disease and love and lust between men, with a gentle touch, returning again and again to the stories of the Bible, which confirm or dispute his vision of real life. 'Every last word is contagious,' he writes, awake to all the implications of that phrase. There is plenty of guilt—survivor’s guilt, sinner’s guilt—and ever-present death, but also the joy of survival and sin. And not everyone has the chutzpah to rewrite The Good Book.”—NPR.org "Erotic and grief-stricken, ministerial and playful, Brown offers his reader a journey unlike any other in contemporary poetry."—Rain Taxi "To read Jericho Brown's poems is to encounter devastating genius."—Claudia Rankine In the world of Jericho Brown's second book, disease runs through the body, violence runs through the neighborhood, memories run through the mind, trauma runs through generations. Almost eerily quiet in even the bluntest of poems, Brown gives us the ache of a throat that has yet to say the hardest thing—and the truth is coming on fast. Fairy Tale Say the shame I see inching like steam Along the streets will never seep Beneath the doors of this bedroom, And if it does, if we dare to breathe, Tell me that though the world ends us, Lover, it cannot end our love Of narrative. Don’t you have a story For me?—like the one you tell With fingers over my lips to keep me From sighing when—before the queen Is kidnapped—the prince bows To the enemy, handing over the horn Of his favorite unicorn like those men Brought, bought, and whipped until They accepted their masters’ names. Jericho Brown worked as the speechwriter for the mayor of New Orleans before earning his PhD in creative writing and literature from the University of Houston. His first book, PLEASE (New Issues), won the American Book Award. He currently teaches at Emory University and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Download or read book Chapters Into Verse written by Robert Atwan and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Poet s Bible written by David Rosenberg and published by Hyperion. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a modern paraphrase of chapters from various books of the Hebrew Bible (Psalms, Job, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Jonah, etc.) and Apocrypha (Judith and Maccabees).
