No, I don’t mean to claim that Anthony Esolen is Lutheran. He’s not: he’s Roman Catholic. Still, a Christian academic, translator, author, intellect, and astute cultural critic puts together a “tapestry of hymns, monologues, and short lyrics knit together as one book-length poem in praise of Christ in his startling humanity”? Absolutely gets a post on my humble little blog. Right?!
The above quote is from the Amazon blurb, and here’s some more from it:
The Hundredfold contains dramatic monologues set in first-century Greece and Palestine; lyrical meditations on creation, longing, failure, modern emptiness, and unshakeable hope; and twenty-one brand-new hymns, set to such traditional melodies as “Picardy” and “Old One-Hundred-Twenty-Fourth”.
The book includes an introduction with diamond-sharp insights about English poetic forms at a time when form is so often misunderstood, if not dismissed. It provides an invaluable resource for students, teachers, and poets themselves, as well as those who read poetry for pleasure.
One hundredfold means by 100 times and what a rich term and concept to explore! You likely think of it in terms of the Parable of the Sower. In the ESV, it’s used 8 times as a sign of God’s abundant blessing.
AWESOME!!! Now I just have to find the time & energy to focus on reading such a book! Yay!
I’ll be sure to update my Theological Poets post, too! Or, if you’re looking for explicitly Lutheran poetry, you can always consider mine. 🙂 (Which reminds me. YES, I am still gathering Lutheran pandemic poetry. The Facebook group has slowed down some, but we still exist and I’d still be very happy to publish a book if we can gather material to a sufficient length. Feel free to send pieces my way and I’ll keep you in the loop as necessary.)
The Hundredfold may be a book especially suited to those who enjoy poetry and theological reading. Still I wish all of you such fine reading & positive culture-building!
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