I will rally to the cry "Pass away, refuge of abstractions." How fitting that you quote Bonhoeffer here, the rare theologian who was willing to give his life away for the truth. I wonder if one of the reasons the romantic poets (Shelly, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge) were all political and social activists as well as writers was because,…
I will rally to the cry "Pass away, refuge of abstractions." How fitting that you quote Bonhoeffer here, the rare theologian who was willing to give his life away for the truth. I wonder if one of the reasons the romantic poets (Shelly, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge) were all political and social activists as well as writers was because, unlike philosophy and theology, poetry does not allow one to dwell in the clouds of abstraction but forces one into the imminent. And in the imminent, one must act. Musings.
Also—T.S. Eliot, Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, Calvin, Chesterton, and Augustine. All in one short essay. Wonderful curation of thinkers!
Glad the essay gave you rallies and musings, thanks! Bonhoeffer wouldn't accept only contemplation (I think) because he was a pastor, as well as a theologian. Pastors must serve actively — I'm thinking of the apostles specifically, who were teachers and doers at once because they were called to both roles. Calvin (a civil magistrate as well as a teacher) could slot into this description too.
As to the Romantics, I think their poetry (and philosophies) best envisioned what they felt they had to do for their societies: abstractions that prepared the way of the imminent, maybe?
Yes, the Romantics probably had more bark than bite. But they did demonstrate some effort trying to live their beliefs out. I recently discovered that Coleridge was on the verge of buying land in Pennsylvania to start a commune called Pantisocracy with radical friends. Byron died fighting in the Greek war for independence against the Ottomans.
It’s a shame Pantisocracy never happened, though I wonder if the Quaker utopia of Pennsylvania approximated it. Poor Byron (died of disease before reaching the battlefield). I guess I don’t mean to ding the poets’ action - I’d meant that they envisioned what they lived, in their verse.
I will rally to the cry "Pass away, refuge of abstractions." How fitting that you quote Bonhoeffer here, the rare theologian who was willing to give his life away for the truth. I wonder if one of the reasons the romantic poets (Shelly, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge) were all political and social activists as well as writers was because, unlike philosophy and theology, poetry does not allow one to dwell in the clouds of abstraction but forces one into the imminent. And in the imminent, one must act. Musings.
Also—T.S. Eliot, Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, Calvin, Chesterton, and Augustine. All in one short essay. Wonderful curation of thinkers!
Glad the essay gave you rallies and musings, thanks! Bonhoeffer wouldn't accept only contemplation (I think) because he was a pastor, as well as a theologian. Pastors must serve actively — I'm thinking of the apostles specifically, who were teachers and doers at once because they were called to both roles. Calvin (a civil magistrate as well as a teacher) could slot into this description too.
As to the Romantics, I think their poetry (and philosophies) best envisioned what they felt they had to do for their societies: abstractions that prepared the way of the imminent, maybe?
Yes, the Romantics probably had more bark than bite. But they did demonstrate some effort trying to live their beliefs out. I recently discovered that Coleridge was on the verge of buying land in Pennsylvania to start a commune called Pantisocracy with radical friends. Byron died fighting in the Greek war for independence against the Ottomans.
It’s a shame Pantisocracy never happened, though I wonder if the Quaker utopia of Pennsylvania approximated it. Poor Byron (died of disease before reaching the battlefield). I guess I don’t mean to ding the poets’ action - I’d meant that they envisioned what they lived, in their verse.