A Poetic Theology and the Poetry of Faith: An Essay on Indirect Dialogue Which Is Nevertheless Possible

Artur GRABOWSKI

Katedra Historii Literatury Polskiej XX wieku Wydział Polonistyki Uniwersytet Jagielloński, ul. Gołębia 18, 31-007 Cracow, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The first part of the article investigates the relationship between Christian theology and 20th century poetry. Then the author considers the influence of the secularization of Western culture on the understanding of poetic experience as similar to the experience of the sacred. Owing to this similarity a modern literary work became the subject of theological reflection pursued within post-secular philosophy and theology. The main part of the essay includes a polemic with Adam Lipszyc’s book Czas wiersza: Paul Celan i teologie literackie [The Time of the Poem: Paul Celan and Literary Theologies], as well as an interpretation of two poems by Paul Celan, considered by Lipszyc as a testimony to specific recourse to poetry motivated by the need to generate the language of a new, post-Christian negative theology derived from the Jewish religion. In the concluding part of the essay, the author introduces a category of ‘Christian poetic imagination’ as an alternative to that of ‘poetic theology,’ and as the source of literature, which is a testimony to the expression of religious faith compliant with dogmatic Catholic theology. Finally, a poem by Krzysztof Kuczkowski is analyzed, to present an example of a relatively new phenomenon in Polish poetry, which is the transition from the use of motifs of Christian culture to openly Catholic devotion.

Keywords:

Celan, Kuczkowski, modern poetry, Polish poetry, theology, post-secularism