Date of Award

4-24-1972

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Abstract

The poetry of The Temple is hermeneutic: it attempts to speak of God and to speak to God, and most important it attempts to re-enact Scriptural writings keeping the living Word alive, allowing the spoken Word to speak to men. Hermeneutical poetry is particularly though not peculiarly Protestant. With a reliance on the authority of Scripture rather than Church, and with a dedication to individual faith and conscience, the Protestant must constantly be aware of and open to Biblical interpretation. The Word of God was made flesh and dwelling among men (John 1:14). As a result language has become the medium between man and God. The contemplation and growth to understanding of language leads to an understanding of God, for, as a modern Protestant theologian has written, "it is ... the consideration of the nature of word that lead to an understanding of what 'God' means." In the Old Testament, God spoke to men, His word was law. In the New Testament, God's word becomes incarnate and speaks a human voice to other men. It was one of the accomplishments of Christ that he brought God's message to human language so that it could be heard, understood, recited, and preached. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world" (Rom. 10:17-18). Human language carries within it the message of God. A Catholic theologian has remarked on the Incarnation of the word that, "All the previously spoken words of God are only the anticipatory echoes of this Word of God in the World."

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