Way to Water: A Theopoetics Primer

Way to Water has two primary intentions: to trace the development of the nascent field of theological inquiry known as theopoetics and to make an argument that theopoetics provides both theological and practical resources for contemporary people of faith who seek to maintain a confessional Christian life that is also intellectually critical. Beginning with the work of Stanley Hopper in the late 1960s, and addressing the early scholarship of key theopoetics authors like Rubem Alves and Amos Wilder, this text explores how theopoetics was originally developed as a response to the American death-of-God movement, and has since grown into a method for engaging in theological thought in a way that more fully honors embodiment and aesthetic dimensions of human experience. Most of the extant literature in the field is addressed to allow for a cumulative and comprehensive articulation of the nature and function of theopoetics. The text includes an exploration of how theopoetic insights might aid in the development of tangible church practices, and concludes with a series of theopoetic reflections. ""Theopoetics is so elusive that it seems an unlikely subject for a primer. Yet Callid Keefe-Perry has given us just that, and beautifully. In an engagingly conversational style, he takes us through the emergence and development of this strange mode of theological speech. He then invitingly demonstrates how practical these abstractions can really be for pastoral and liturgical work. The text is persuasive, committed yet without dogmatism, and amazingly accessible--a great introduction for anyone."" --Karmen MacKendrick, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY ""With the emergence of theopoetics in the church and society, a primer on the genre is most welcome. Yet more than a primer, Keefe-Perry offers his own constructive work as one of the leading writers in this artful mode of spiritual and intellectual reflection. This book will become a required text in my theopoetics course."" --Scott Holland, Bethany Theological Seminary, Richmond, IN L. Callid Keefe-Perry is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and travels in the ministry within and beyond that denomination. He is the founder of Theopoetics.net and an editor of the journal Theopoetics, as well as a cohost on the podcast Homebrewed Christianity.Read less