{"id":17138,"date":"2021-07-04T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=17138"},"modified":"2021-07-04T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T21:34:09","slug":"a-theopoetics-of-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2021\/a-theopoetics-of-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"A theopoetics of unity: In search of conversational and confessional space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Frank Ramirez<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Holland, Slabaugh Professor of Theology and Culture at Bethany Theological Seminary, expressed an amused surprise that some objected when he lumped disparate Brethren groups such as the Covenant Brethren Church, On Earth Peace, and the Brethren Mennonite Council for LBGT Interests together in the description of his insight session. The session was called \u201cA Theopoetics of Unity Beyond the Theo-logics of Church Divisions, Culture Wars, and Doctrinal Disputes?\u201d But as he noted, \u201cWhat all the groups listed\u2026do have in common is that we all use \u2018God Talk\u2019 to promote our spiritual and social values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Holland noted, this \u201cGod Talk\u201d can result in many different outcomes: conflict, terror, transformation, human flourishing, or human cruelty. So, he wondered, \u201cCan theopoetics lead to more artful discourse? Can our hearts grow roomier and our lives become more radiant?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate this he read aloud two short poems written by individuals from different faith traditions, eras, and languages: the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) and the 13th century Islamic mystic Rumi. Amichai contrasts \u201cThe Place Where We Are Right\u201d where \u201cflowers will never grow in the spring\u201d with the \u201cdoubts and loves (that) dig up the world like a mole, a plow.\u201d Rumi invites us to go \u201cout beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing\u201d where \u201cthere is a field. I\u2019ll meet you there,\u201d to find a place where \u201ceven the phrase \u2018each other\u2019 doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Scott Holland, shown here in the chapel at Bethany Seminary in Richmond, Ind., teaches a wide variety of courses in Theology and Culture and Peace Studies. He has worked on developing Bethany\u2019s Certificate in Theopoetics and Theological Imagination, tracing through interdisciplinary scholarship the spiritual poetics of mystery, metaphor and meaning-making.<\/em> Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cTwo short poems, two faith traditions, two eras, but wonder creates a space without violence,\u201d Holland commented. \u201cWe see others as part of ourselves. Empathy is possible. Apprehending the humanity of these others make them part of ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An awakening to mystery, to wonder, to God is necessary because \u201cGod is a mystery and as a mystery our God is a God of many names.\u201d Referencing Brian Wren\u2019s hymn \u201cGod of Many Names\u201d (HYMNAL 77) Holland added, \u201cWe don\u2019t pause and declare which metaphor is the correct one. We recognize and we believe all of these rich images\u2026these poetic images together express and reveal the awesome mystery of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metaphor is crucial. \u201cIf we must rely on the rule of metaphor to navigate our way through the ordinaries of life, ordinary things of life like tables and chairs, how much more do we need to use the rule of metaphor when we think about things transcendent, when we attempt to name things divine?\u201d For example, he said, in Psalm 23, \u201cWe are in the realm of metaphor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has all this to do with the conflict among Brethren?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe creative use of metaphor provides us with many names for the God we name,\u201d he said. \u201cIn my experience in conflict transformation\u2026I have found that if we enter a community of great plurality or a community in which there are tensions and conflicts, if one stands and presents a straight up bald, final ideologic or propositional declaration, it\u2019s likely to provoke a fiery counterargument or perhaps it will shut down further conversation and communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, if one instead offers a poem, a parable, a story, or a song as a way to open up some genuine conversation, it would be unusual for one to protest and reply, \u2018I really disagree with that poem\u2019–though it can happen. But more likely one might say, \u2018That poem doesn\u2019t really speak to me,\u2019 or \u2018I don\u2019t get it,\u2019 or maybe even \u2018I think I would a different poem or a different story or a different song. Can I share that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sort of conversation, he said, \u201chas the possibility of opening of space that is not as argumentative but space that is much more conversational and confessional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Frank Ramirez pastors Union Center Church of the Brethren in Nappanee, Ind.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGod Talk\u201d can result in many different outcomes: conflict, terror, transformation, human flourishing, or human cruelty. So, he wondered, \u201cCan theopoetics lead to more artful discourse? Can our hearts grow roomier and our lives become more radiant?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1703],"tags":[1258,1771,27,2140,3,2141,1968,2139,2138],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-17138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-of-the-brethren-newsline","tag-annual-conference","tag-annual-conference-2021","tag-bethany-theological-seminary","tag-church-division","tag-church-of-the-brethren","tag-conflict","tag-poetry","tag-scott-holland","tag-theopoetics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17139,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17138\/revisions\/17139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17138"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=17138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}