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"Theopoetics" is a term that refers loosely to the aesthetic theories and poetics of using poetry to regain participatory access to the divine. Though the exact definition of theopoetics is somewhat contested, there seems to be overall agreement within the field defined by the term that it has something to do with recovering the experience of the presence of God as a poetic complement to theological rigor. What remains elusive, however, is a practical definition of theopoetical poetry: how would we recognize a theopoetical poem when we saw one? This article moves toward clarity on all three of these questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How might a Christian poetics of care open up new ground for formations of Christianity more attuned to material care for others, including nonhuman animals and the world? I argue that the openness afforded by a Christian poesis , where one is free to form various ways of being Christian through the aesthetic acts of unmaking, remaking, and making, unbeholden to a narrow presumption of authorized "truth," offers the chance to create variations of and on the Christian, variations that should be finally evaluated by the care they create in and for the world. Because some parts of the Christian past and some parts of the profession of literary studies have been and continue to be so careless, I suggest that such a Christian poetics might help shift Christianity and literary studies into more caring forms of being in the world and the academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article tries to draw this forum together in three ways. First, a Christian poetics has to do with hermeneutics, informed by a long tradition of biblical interpretation. Second, a Christian poetics takes up the discipline of wonder, which remains crucial to the scholarly work of research and teaching. Finally, a Christian poetics combines a sense of wonder with an emphasis on care. It asks how awe and action relate, seeking to understand the many ways texts not just transcend this world, but also transform it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]