Educating in the Ways of the Spirit: Teaching and Leading Poetically, Prophetically, Powerfully

Abstract

This article is an attempt to awaken the life of the spirit through the creative imagination. In form and content, the artcile encourages teachers and leaders to recognize and value the poetic and prophetic dimensions of their works as a way of deepening human consciousness. Within this article, creative ways of the spirit are explored through the rich language of poetry. Such language is intended to invite educators to visit their own interior landscapes where the Spirit moves, stirs, and plays. The article begins by attending to the voices of Latin American women whose poetry denounces oppressive silence as a threat to human subjects. Next, it explores poetry as dissent and desire and advances prophecy as the voice and the vision of poetic imagination, then concludes by challenging educators to notice and respond to the poetic and prophetic dimensions of their work as powerful intersections for both disclosing and concealing the Gracious Holy Mystery of God.