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Seminar 3:
Glory and Beauty in
Gerard Manley Hopkins
and Robert Bridges

The priest-poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. (1844-1889) made innovations in verse which continue to haunt us. His writing discloses an impassioned quest for relationship with whatever is unique — with friends, with nature, and with God. At Balliol College, Oxford during the 1860s Hopkins met a fellow Anglican poet Robert Bridges (1844-1930), who would publish Hopkins' poems only in 1918. How does this Ignatian quester renew Christian spirituality of the environment? What does Hopkins' career both as a poet and as a Jesuit in Ireland reveal about spirituality — in worship, in singing, and in grieving? Why does he insist on celebrating the uniqueness of each moment?

The three presenters will study the lives of Hopkins and Bridges, evaluate their poetry and read substantial portions of it. As the presenters did during their evening on T.S. Eliot in 2016, they bring a long-standing interest in how Hopkins and Bridges infused Christian vision into verse of disarming complexity. What inspired the innovations? What traditions of theology underlie them? Which of the poems are most worth re-re-reading and why?

 
Date Thursday 27 April, 2017
Time 7.30 – 9.30 pm
Venue St Peter's Hall, Eastern Hill, Melbourne
Cost $15 (concession: $12)
Speakers Will Johnston Dr Will Johnston
been teaching European Cultural History for nearly 50 years. He retired to Melbourne in 1999 where he taught Church History at Yarra Theological Union. He has recently has been working on Dante's Comedy and has spoken about Dante at the NGV in conjunction with the recent exhibition of Blake watercolours inspired by Dante's text.

Robert Gribben The Rev'd Professor Emeritus Robert Gribben
is head pastor of the Uniting Church in Australia and a leading Methodist theologian. For the past 15 years, Dr Gribben has chaired the world Methodist Council's Standing Committee on Ecumenical Relationships. He is a prolific author, having nearly 100 publications, including commentaries on the worship books of the Uniting Church, on architecture and on music. He has been a speaker on numerous subjects at ISS ever since its inception.

Philip Harvey Philip Harvey
is a poet, librarian, and writer. He runs the Carmelite Library in Middle Park and is Poetry Editor of the Jesuit online journal, Eureka Street


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and the Institute for Spiritual Studies
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© 2017 The Institute for Spiritual Studies