The Poet as Believer A Theological Study of Paul Claudel Routledge Studies in Theology, Imagination and the Arts Series

This is the first comprehensive study of the theological significance of Paul Claudel, a poet frequently cited by literary-minded theologians in Europe and theologically-minded poets (such as von Balthasar, de Lubac and Eliot). His writing combines cosmology and history, Bible and metaphysics, liturgy and the drama of human personality. His work, which continues to arouse discussion in France, was acclaimed in his lifetime as the 'summa poetica' of a new Dante. Aidan Nichols' study demonstrates how Claudel's oeuvre, which is not only poetry but theatre and prose including biblical commentaries, constitutes a rich resource for constructive doctrine, liturgical preaching, and theological reflection. As the comparable example of Geoffrey Hill, Professor of Poetry at Oxford suggests, Aidan Nichols illuminates how Claudel's synthesis of many dimensions remains an important way of practising poetry in the Christian tradition today.

Contents: Preface; Claudel's way; The five great odes; The treatises; The mass; The temporal cycle, from Christmas to Good Friday; The temporal cycle, from Easter to Christ the King; The sanctoral cycle; The Mother of the Lord; The Bible commented; A glimpse of the theatre; Conclusion; Select bibliography; Index.

Aidan Nichols O.P. is an English Dominican who has taught in various countries; John Paul II Memorial Lecturer in Roman Catholic Theology at the University of Oxford 2006-8; author of some 40 books on different aspects of theology (including Redeeming Beauty: Soundings in Sacral Aesthetics, Ashgate).