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Incarnation: Contemporary Writers on the New Testament
The twenty-eight books of the New Testament provide the focus for essays by such writers as Mary Gordon, Reynolds Price, Annie Dillard, John Updike, and John Hersey
- GenresChristianityReligion
352 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1990
About the author
Alfred Corn
55 books8 followersAlfred Corn was born in Bainbridge, Georgia, in 1943. He grew up in Valdosta, Georgia, and received his B.A. in French literature from Emory University in 1965. He was awarded an M.A. in French literature from Columbia University in 1967, his degree work including a year spent in Paris on a Fulbright Fellowship and two years of teaching in the French Department at Columbia College.
His first book of poems, All Roads at Once, appeared in 1976, followed by A Call in the Midst of the Crowd (1978), The Various Light (1980), Notes from a Child of Paradise (1984), The West Door (1988), and Autobiographies (1992). His seventh book of poems, titled Present, appeared in 1997, along with the novel Part of His Story. Stake: Selected Poems, 1972-1992, appeared in 1999, followed by Contradictions in 2002, which was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award.
Corn has also published a collection of critical essays titled The Metamorphoses of Metaphor (1989), The Poem’s Heartbeat (1997), and a work of art criticism, Aaron Rose Photographs (Abrams, 2001). A frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review and The Nation, he also writes art criticism for Art in America and ARTnews magazines.
Corn has received fellowships and prizes from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Academy of American Poets, and the Levinson Prize from Poetry magazine.
He has taught at the City University of New York, Yale, Connecticut College, the University of Cincinnati, U.C.L.A., Ohio State University, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Tulsa.
His first book of poems, All Roads at Once, appeared in 1976, followed by A Call in the Midst of the Crowd (1978), The Various Light (1980), Notes from a Child of Paradise (1984), The West Door (1988), and Autobiographies (1992). His seventh book of poems, titled Present, appeared in 1997, along with the novel Part of His Story. Stake: Selected Poems, 1972-1992, appeared in 1999, followed by Contradictions in 2002, which was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award.
Corn has also published a collection of critical essays titled The Metamorphoses of Metaphor (1989), The Poem’s Heartbeat (1997), and a work of art criticism, Aaron Rose Photographs (Abrams, 2001). A frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review and The Nation, he also writes art criticism for Art in America and ARTnews magazines.
Corn has received fellowships and prizes from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Academy of American Poets, and the Levinson Prize from Poetry magazine.
He has taught at the City University of New York, Yale, Connecticut College, the University of Cincinnati, U.C.L.A., Ohio State University, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Tulsa.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 6, 2011
This is a wonderful book for anyone who ever felt that the way the Bible was presented to them was a bit off. These writers (many of whom have done some really good research on their subject!) each take a book or two of the New Testament and write about how it strikes them or affects their lives. There is insight and poetry in this; there is peace to rival the best meditation practices; there is good stuff for thinking about the Bible's original contexts; there is plenty more.
Somewhere in my copy there's a note that it is a book to be savored, and not read quickly. I made a practice of reading it when my mind was pretty well at ease to begin with during bus rides to work (if my mind was full of things, I wouldn't bother trying to read any of it). Sometimes I'd set it back down within a few paragraphs because something got me thinking immediately; other times I'd read one of the brief chapters. It's good fodder for thinking through the books of the Christian New Testament, or for imagining what meaning they might have to even the least-likely life to receive the wisdom in them. I cannot recommend this enough to anyone with any curiosity about the subject!
August 3, 2008
I really enjoyed this collection of contemporary writers and poets expressing how they feel about particular books of the New Testament. A lot can be learned by looking at the scriptures as forms of literature. I think it's also wise to read authors from varied religious backgrounds. Sometimes we actually learn things! My favorite essays are the ones on Paul and on the book of Acts.
Shelved as 'need-to-finish'
November 29, 2007Thesis reading to be done over Christmas break.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews