“Poetry is Sane Because it Floats Easily in an Infinite Sea”
One of my favourite quotations is found in G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. "Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea and so make it finite."
I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last few weeks as I’ve been diving into the ancient river of Celtic Christianity and the life and writings of Pelagius. There is a lot in my reformed, Presbyterian, tradition that would be at odds with both Celtic Christianity and Pelagius, but I’ve definitely grown fond of both.
I’ve spent much of my life searching for the right answers, trying to understand the world around me and how it relates to God and God’s activity within the world. I have a couple of thousand books on my shelves as evidence of this quest and have arrived at a place where I think the answers aren’t as important as I used to think because they try to “cross the infinite sea and so make it finite.” There are just too many currents to navigate successfully.
I want to be careful here. I’m not rejecting theological inquiry. I believe good theology has a lot to offer the world and bad theology can be, and often is, highly destructive in its practical application. The problem arises when we seek to make our theology the definitive description of the way things are and the way God works. I have heard many people try to defend their theology as the only correct view. In doing so they have taken the infinite and made it finite, forcing God to be constrained to their preferred way of thinking. Often rejecting and diminishing those they disagree with.
The beauty of poetry is that it does indeed float “easily in an infinite sea.” It is not afraid of unanswered questions; it is not bound by logical reasoning; it is not dogmatic. Rather poetry can more than adequately handle paradox, parallel thinking, and non-linear processes. Poetry is not afraid of the tension.
Systematic theology has left me, in the words of Bruce Clockburn, feeling like, “I ran aground in a harbour town, lost the taste for being free.” Locked in, trapped, cornered, stuck. I recognise that it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way, as there’s much to be gleaned from the variety of Christian theologies. The trouble comes when you have to declare your allegiance to one set of theological principles and reject the others, perpetuating the division within the Christian church.
As Cockburn continues, “Thank God he sent some gull-chased ship, to carry me to sea.” Poetry allows us to leave the safe confines of the harbour and set sail with the wind of the Holy Spirit moving us across the waters. Navigating our way through life following the way of Jesus in the world.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote down the words, “Poetic Theology.” I’m beginning to flesh out how I understand that.
Let’s be less dogmatic and more poetic. Acknowledging the truth of Paul’s words, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Cor.13:12).
