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Book Cover for: The Third Renunciation, Matthew Henry

The Third Renunciation

Matthew Henry

Heeding St. John Cassian's call, The Third Renunciation rejects classic depictions of divinity and religious dogma to see God more fully. Each poem begins with a proposition (e.g. "Say God is the music we strain to hear"), or an explanation for a Biblical story (e.g. "maybe Jesus was having an off day"). Henry's poetry offers answers to the myriad whys at the center of faith and doubt, gives voice to the notion that both singing and screaming are authentic responses to suffering, and argues that "grace is a Twinkie or a cockroach-/something that never goes bad, can survive/anything the cold world throws.../ despite all our best efforts to quell it."


Book Details

  • Publisher: NYQ Books
  • Publish Date: Jun 5th, 2023
  • Pages: 122
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.50in - 5.50in - 0.29in - 0.36lb
  • EAN: 9781630450946
  • Categories: American - African American & BlackSubjects & Themes - Religious

About the Author

Henry, Matthew: - Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of the Colored page (Sundress Publications), Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag), and Dust & Ashes (Californios Press). The editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal, and an associate poetry editor at Pidgeonholes, MEH's poetry and prose appears in Barren Magazine, Fare Forward, The Florida Review, Massachusetts Review, New York Quarterly, Ninth Letter, Ploughshares, Poetry East, Relief Journal, Saint Katherine Review, Shenandoah, Solstice, Spiritus, The Windhover and Zone 3 among others. MEH's an educator who received his MFA yet continued to spend money he didn't have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. You can find him at www.MEHPoeting.com writing about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground.