Power of the Word International Conference V – The Prophetic Word: Poetry, Philosophy and Theology in Conversation

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Location: Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford

The Power of the Word International Conference V

Organized by the Heythrop Institute for Religion and Society (Heythrop College, University of London) and the Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture, Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford).

The fifth Power of the Word international conference, to be held at Oxford in September 2017, focuses on the prophetic genius of literature, particularly of poetry. ‘Prophetic genius’ is understood here to be that relentless impulse of literature to challenge the world from which it has arisen and, looking beyond, to propose alternative visions, practicable or utopian, of individual and collective fulfilment. In some authors – Dante, Milton and Blake are three obvious examples – the prophetic word is overtly religious, in others – Virgil, Shelley and Yeats, say – it is not. Often the distinction becomes blurred, as in the poems of H.D., Denise Levertov and Allen Ginsberg. The conference will explore this theme in conversation with theology, philosophy, the three main Abrahamic religions and Greek and Latin literature and learning, and address some universal questions. For example, what do these various traditions and their understanding of the prophetic have in common? Are they mostly different or even in conflict? How do their audiences discern true from false prophets? How do they know when ‘good spirits not evil ones choose poets for their instruments’ (Czesław Miłosz)? Can poets really claim to have a prophetic authority comparable to that attributed in Scripture to the prophets? How persuasive is Seamus Heaney’s sense of the ‘redress of poetry’, of its power to stimulate alternative ways of being in the world?

The programme will include contributions by literary scholars, creative writers, theologians and philosophers, all working on texts and authors from different backgrounds and traditions. Confirmed keynote speakers:

• John Barton (University of Oxford) “The Hebrew Prophets: Seers or Poets?”
• Tina Beattie (University of Roehampton) “Hope as Prophecy: Interpreting the Silence of Holy Saturday”
• William Franke (Vanderbilt University) “Poetry as Prophecy: From Anthropological Origins to Postmodern Apocalypses”
• Michèle Le Dœuff (ENS Paris) “Equality and Prophecy”
• Christopher Rowland (University of Oxford) ‘Diversely and in many ways God spoke by the Prophets’: the perspectives of the New Testament and the texts and images of William Blake on ‘the Prophetic Word’
• Alessandro Schiesaro (University of Manchester) “Empedocles and the Prophetic Word”
• Mona Siddiqui (University of Edinburgh) “The Poetry of Piety: Between Divine Word and Prophetic Word”

The Conference will host a public poetry-reading event with Jay Parini and Mark Burrows and a public lecture in relation to the topic of the conference.

Programme and Abstracts

The full and final programme is available to download here:

Conference programme (pdf)

The full list of abstracts for the short papers to be presented at the conference can be viewed below:

Conference abstracts (pdf)

Registration

The fee for the conference will be £95. To register please visit the Regent’s Park College site