Tag Archives: John the Baptist

Salomé, the Morning After

By Robin Bates | Published: July 10, 2021

In which I look at some literary versions of the story of Salomé, including an Carol Ann Duffy poem.

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What I Heard Was My Whole Self

By Robin Bates | Published: January 13, 2019

Spiritual Sunday Today’s Gospel reading concerns Jesus’s awakening as he was being baptized by John. That moment was his own epiphany, when the membrane between the sacred and the profane was penetrated and he realized that God dwells within us (Luke 3:21-22): Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Anthem, Book of Hours Love Songs to God, Denise Levertov, Holy Dove, Jesus's Baptism, Leonard Cohen, Rainer Maria Rilke, Variations on a Theme by Rilke | Comments closed

Salomé, a Female Revenge Fantasy?

By Robin Bates | Published: July 15, 2018

Spiritual Sunday The salacious story of Salomé (a.k.a. Herod and Herodias’s daughter) is today’s Gospel reading so here’s a strange and unsettling poem written by Anne Killigrew in the late 17th century. I can’t decide whether it is a feminist revenge fantasy or a drama of sexual frustration. If John the Baptist has been admonishing […]

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Yet Mine It Was To Call

By Robin Bates | Published: February 18, 2018

A lovely poem about John the Baptist by an obscure poet speaks up for those who serve in anonymity.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "John in Prison", Evangelism, Sydney E. Jerrold | Comments closed

God’s Word, the Ultimate Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: December 31, 2017

Poet Jeanne Walker riffs off the opening passage of the Book of John to compare poetic creation to the coming of new truth.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "In the Beginning Was the Word", "John", Jeanne Murray Walker, Jesus | Comments closed

What in Me Is Dark Illumine

By Robin Bates | Published: January 9, 2016

An epiphany is the moment when something divine enters the human realm. During the Epiphany season, Christians celebrate such moments. In the famous opening of “Paradise Lost,” Milton notes that the Holy Spirit is his muse and connects his own inspiration with a number of famous visitations of the Holy Spirit throughout Biblical history.