
The Book of Unknowing
A Poet's Response to the Gospel of John
David S. Herrstrom(Author)
Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published on 29. March 2012
240 pages
978-1-63087-604-3 (ISBN)
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Description
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The Book of Unknowing meditates on John's confrontation with the incandescent Jesus, a figure of our desire for immortality. Guiding us through the Gospel's coming to grips with Jesus, the poet David Sten Herrstrom prefers sparking the imagination to arguing a thesis, as he explores John's own obsessions, such as image (light), symbol (water), sign (water to wine), shapeliness (symmetry), loves (Peter, Mary's), and above all, words (the Word, the body of Jesus).
The result is a heady, literary engagement not afraid of wit and paradox. For anyone who loves literature or whose business is interpretation--ministers and teachers--this book blossoms with fresh revelations about the many voices of Jesus living in the House of the Interpreter and interacting with another interpreter (Nicodemus), as well as about John the interpreter who continually pauses to explain Jesus' motives, metaphors, and the meaning of his death.
This meditation on John's Gospel takes the goat's leaping approach to the craggy language of John and Jesus rather than the methodical rock climber's. And along the way, to help him find footholds on the how and why of John's strategies, the author calls on other poets, from William Blake to Emily Dickinson and Miguel de Unamuno. The result: a poet's rather than a preacher's, theologian's, or scholar's reading of John's book, one which crosses the borders of disciplines.
Throughout The Book of Unknowing, David Herrstrom is unsettled and exhilarated by the peculiar orneriness and fragrance of John's book, by its strange particulars that grab him by the throat and call lives into question. As William Blake has said, "Exuberance is Beauty," and this is an exuberant book.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Eugene
United States
ISBN-13
978-1-63087-604-3 (9781630876043)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
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03/2012
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03/2012
Wipf & Stock Publishers
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Person
David Sten Herrstrom is a poet, lecturer, and president of The Jacob Landau Institute (JLI). Author of Jonah's Disappearance (1989) and Appearing by Daylight (1992), he is Adjunct Professor in the Philosophy and Religion Department at Monmouth University.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Beforehand
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1: Hands
- Chapter 2: The Trembling Woman
- Chapter 3: The Scarlet Experiment
- Chapter 4: Body
- Chapter 5: The Lamb
- Chapter 6: Bread &
- Chapter 7: Voices
- Chapter 8: Wind
- Chapter 9: Nicodemus
- Chapter 10: The Nicodemus Letters to John
- Chapter 11: Light
- Chapter 12: Jesus
- Chapter 13: One Big Word
- Chapter 14: Signs
- Chapter 15: John
- Chapter 16: You
- Chapter 17: House of the Interpreters
- Chapter 18: The Book of Water
- Chapter 19: The Mother and the Mary's
- Chapter 20: Symmetry
- Chapter 21: The Book of Unknowing
- Chapter 22: Silence
- Chapter 23: My Unnamed Sources Here Named
- Notes
- Bibliography
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