Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Poetic Moment

My brother predicted one day that I would have a blog, and unfortunately for the world, he was right. I have increasingly been having the urge to write my thoughts out in text, and a blog seemed the most appropriate for such an urge.

As the weeks, months and years go on, this blog will be a genealogy of my (slowly) developing thoughts, some more developed than others. Many know me for my Socratic method while functioning as the Devil's Advocate. It is my hope here that I will build a positive worldview for others to critique.

My hope in this blog is to generally focus on an interconnection of three nexuses that my thought circles around. A trinity, if you will. The first if the "theo" part. As Derrida once said of himself, I am probably "rightly described as an atheist." And yet, I am a self-affirmed (if there is such a thing) theist. My views of God will hopefully come clear as this blog progresses, but without a doubt God and theological/religious/philosophical questions will be a constant theme.

Second, and possibly the largest stretch for me is the "poetics" part of this blog. Some may be familiar with the term "theopoetics" popularized by Catherine Keller (although not coined by her) which affirms the creative spark within our (re)action to God. This is in contrast to traditional systematic theology which is typically logical, formal and often incredibly boring and unhelpful. If you are going to tell a myth, make it an interesting one, right? I actually have no problem with theo-logy (a theology of the word) but general modern theology as practiced has some serious problems (as I will try to lay out in later posts). I am actually no poet, but I aspire to the creative spark, and my theo-poetical worldview will draw upon literature as much as it draws upon traditional theological texts. Actually, anthropology, economics, psychology, philosophy, literature, literary criticism, religious studies, theology, physics, sociology, political science and history. I probably forgot some fields too... I feel like I'm writing a dedication page for a book now and the unmentioned discipline will feel ignored. Oops!

Third, the notion of the moment. Not only will my theopoetics be expressed as this blog progresses, but my own views will change as well (of that I have no doubt). I'll have no problem taking back what I previously said, admitting I am wrong, or altering a previous thought. Not for the nature of progress, but rather for the demands of the moment. Truly, every theopoetics (and theology) is momentary. We must remain open to the event (God?).

I hope to be fairly regular in my updates to this blog as I have a lot of initial catch-up to do. Please feel free to comment, express your thoughts and even give arguments against claims that are presented here. Dialogue is a crucial part of theopoetics. Please be a part of that dialogue. :)

Until the next moment,

Drew

3 comments:

Anna said...

welcome to the blogosphere drew! sorry to hear/see you've proven dylan correct once again...you really should work on avoiding that ;) i'll look forward to reading your posts.

Unknown said...

Now you've gone and taken your own advice! And I'm sure you're going to be a more faithful blogger than I've turned out to be...

But I too look forward to reading what you have to say. :)

Unknown said...

Although I could take this opportunity to gloat that I've once again been proven right, instead I would like to express my gratitude to you that you've chosen to share your thoughts through this medium. I really look forward to reading your thoughts here -- and responding as I feel I have something to contribute.

I applaud your multifaceted approach to theology and relish your dedication to writing "in the moment" to leave yourself open to the ever-changing mind and world we inhabit.