The Poets' Jesus: Representations at the End of a Millennium

by Peggy Rosenthal

Book Overview

Poets have always been the medium through which a culture talks of, and to, its gods. Now, in this learned but lively commentary, Peggy Rosenthal shows us the astonishing range of poetic encounters with Jesus. With a special emphasis on twentieth-century poetry, Rosenthal draws from an unprecedented range of world poetry--from Africa, the Arab world, and the Far East to Latin America and the West--to give readers an understanding of how different...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 019515164X
• ISBN13: 9780195151640
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.4" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Peggy Rosenthal's "The Poets" Jesus"

Peggy Rosenthal's "The Poets' Jesus" should be a Pulitzer nominee. This is an extraordinary work of scholarship by a gifted writer whose love of and joy in poetry is both cerebral and visceral. Rosenthal has read carefully,thoughtfully and sympathetically the poetry about Jesus from biblical times to the present, by poets from every continent, and shown how images of Jesus have changed with time and place, from prophet to divine to romantic hero to epitome of morality, and always an inspiration to poetic imagination. Rosenthal's prose is itself sheer poetry, carefully honed, full of imagery, punctuated with sly wit. This is not only an assessment, a penetrating analysis of the poetry, but a tapestry of brief biographies to fit each poet into her or his time, insights into those influences that framed the poets' views of Jesus. The jacket tells us that Rosenthal "offers courses and retreats on poetry and spitituality." I can visualize her and hear her in my mind as I read tthis book; every now and then she interpolates direct comments to the reader that make us feel we are sitting in on one of the retreats with a good-humored teacher who communicates to us her love of language, poetry, the miracle of the hum,an mind, and a saving spirituality. I have read passages again and again.,