Standards of Validity in Interpreatation of Religious Poetry: A Comparative Study

FAIN: FB-13208-77

Paul L. Gaston
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (Edwardsville, IL 62026-0001)

A study of religious poetry which will attempt to (1) identify and differentiate among aesthetic, devotional, and hortatory intentions, (2) clarify the uneasy relationship between stated theological positions and expressions of religious attitudes, (3) illustrate and elucidate conflicts between aesthetic devotional, and hortatory standards, and (4) measure the differences between explicit and implicit sermonic means and ends. PI hopes to show that revealing correlations join the structure of a belief as he expresses it in his work and the distinctive characteristics of his poetic achievement