May Luncheon with Dr. Mark Burrows

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

12:00 PM

Location: Paulist Center, 5 Park St. Boston

“Can Poetry Save Us?”
Register for Event:
Call or e-mail the MBS office to register. 617-542-2230
Suggested donation: $10

Can poetry save us?” Such a question seems initially misplaced, if not ridiculous.  Poetry?  As something that saves us?  How?  And, from what?  Not all artists will understand the purpose of their vocation in this way, but the effect of their work often lifts us into a dimension described by one poet as “the only whole thinking.” He went on to suggest that “God is the poetry caught in any religion,” and “full religion” as he calls it “is the large poem in loving repetition” (Les Murray).  Perhaps what our world requires is a “salvation” that behaves like a good poem, which points us toward a truth that lives beyond words, a goodness that is more than duty, a beauty that exceeds the reach of concepts.  Thus, Murray: “Nothing’s said till it’s dreamed out in words/ and nothing’s true that figures in words only.”

Currently the recipient of a “Henry Luce III Fellowship in Theology,” Dr. Burrows is completing work this year on a book entitled Untamed Wisdom:  Poetry, Mysticism, and the Advent of Theology.  He will speak about this project, in which he brings ancient mystical writers from the Christian tradition into conversation with modern artists – above all poets, but also those who “make poems” in other genres, painters and composers, writers of fiction and musicians.  And, most importantly:  we will “chew” on several poems that might save us “a little,” at the very least.

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