we regret remaining sessions in this course have been CANCELLED due to the current emergency
The courses take place in the Old Cathedral School on Mondays 24 February & 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 March 2020 with three sessions offered each day 10am-12 noon, 2pm-4pm, 7.30pm-9.30pm.
For centuries theologians have been trying to say something about the nature of God and our relationship with him. And yet the overwhelming conclusion that they constantly come to is that God is ‘unknowable’ and will always remain a mystery. However, there is another medium that tries to reach out towards the nature of God, and that is poetry. Indeed, poetry can attempt an understanding of God that prose cannot get close to, because of its innate quality of pushing language to the limit, to take it to places that ordinary prose struggles to find. Poetry has been described as ‘the music of words,’ and this special art form lends itself perfectly to exploring the mysteries of our faith. Over six weeks, Dean Roger will be looking at some of the most significant religious poetry in the English language over the last 600 years or so, giving examples of key works and placing their authors into an overall historical context. You cannot understand Milton, for instance, without knowing something about the historical circumstances that produced perhaps the greatest of all English religious poems, Paradise Lost. So, if you want to learn something about the profound depths in which poets can take us, from William Dunbar to R S Thomas, then do consider coming to Windows Into Christian Poetry.
Free to attend, with donations gratefully appreciated.
