The Poets' Jesus Representations at the End of a Millennium [Paperback]

Poets have always been the medium through which a culture talks of, and to, its gods. Now, in this learned but lively commentary, Peggy Rosenthal shows us the astonishing range of poetic encounters with Jesus. With a special emphasis on twentieth-century poetry, Rosenthal draws from an unprecedented range of world poetry--from Africa, the Arab world, and the Far East to Latin America and the West--to give readers an understanding of how different times and different cultures have affected the way poets refigure Jesus and of how poets' fascination with the man from Nazareth transcends all barriers. She also demonstrates that, despite the twentieth century's self-definition as a secular and post-Christian epoch, it has produced poetry about Jesus of truly surprising quality and variety. Impeccably researched and extremely accessible,The Poets Jesuswill strongly appeal to scholars of poetry and religion as well as for all general readers of poetry.

1. Jesus as Christ and More: The First Eighteen Centuries
2. Jesus as Romantic Hero
3. Sliding into Modernism: Jesus Pale and Shrunken
4. Crisis of the Secularized West: Postmodernism's Jesus as Anti-Hero
5. Crucified Africa: The Politicized Jesus of Africa and Beyond
6. Archetypal Christ: Arabic Poetry and other Wastelands
7. Jesus Absent
8. Between Absence and Presence: Playing Around with Jesus
9. Jesus Present

Explores how different cultural contexts have influenced the way poets represent Jesus....There is a fascinating chapter on Arabic poetry, T.S. Eliot, cruelty, and waste and another on Samuel Beckett leading back to W.H. Auden....Will interest scholars of poetry and religion as well as general readers of poetry. --Library Journal

The Poets' Jesusis an absorbing book, a passionate and timely survey of the way modern poets have 'configured' the protagonist of the Christian story. With seemingly effortless grace, Peggy Rosenthal covers an astló<