Creativity at the Edge of Chaos: Theopoetics in a Blazing World

Abstract

Abstract Theopoetics is a diverse movement in which many contrasting understanding of poetics, and the sacred, are articulated. Although there is no essence or core to the theopoetic project, theopoetic practitioners appear willing to sustain a common space for conversation and their work displays a common celebration of creative ways for reimagining the divine. However, creativity itself is rarely interrogated within theopoetics. Nor is the ambiguity of creative making addressed. This article explores this significant but neglected topic in an attempt to generate further theopoetic reflection on the ambivalence of creativity in relation to both human and divine ‘making’. Starting with conversations between Richard Kearney and Catherine Keller, discussions are extended through an engagement with Siri Hustvedt’s works of art criticism and her novel The Blazing World. Through Husdtvedt’s representations of ‘the woman artist’ we are encouraged to move beyond hygienic understandings of creativity and acknowledge the ethical and theological ambiguity of this key concept within theopoetics.