The paradox of powerlessness in Robert Pinsky’s early Jesus poems

One of America’s foremost poet-critics, Robert Pinsky has written two relatively unexamined poems about Jesus: “Icicles” and “From the Childhood of Jesus.” These works present three distinct senses of the paradox of the powerlessness of the Nativity through the unruly and destructive actions of an u...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: Mirarchi, Stephen (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: Johns Hopkins University Press [2015]
In: Christianity & literature
Jahr: 2015, Band: 65, Heft: 1, Seiten: 88-103
RelBib Classification:CD Christentum und Kultur
HC Neues Testament
KBQ Nordamerika
TK Neueste Zeit
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Zusammenfassung:One of America’s foremost poet-critics, Robert Pinsky has written two relatively unexamined poems about Jesus: “Icicles” and “From the Childhood of Jesus.” These works present three distinct senses of the paradox of the powerlessness of the Nativity through the unruly and destructive actions of an unnamed youth and the child Jesus, respectively. I compare the second poem in detail to the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas to show Pinsky’s transformation of it. In rejecting both a reductionistic God and a boy Jesus who imposes divine will violently, the two poems point via negativa to the paradox of powerlessness affirmed by historical Christianity.
ISSN:2056-5666
Enthält:Enthalten in: Christianity & literature
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0148333115585489