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Divine and Human Agency in the Poetry of George Herbert

Divine and Human Agency in the Poetry of George Herbert In this article, I explore the technical poetic strategies by which George Herbert represents the relation between divine and human agency. In Herbert’s poetry, God works upon the human will not by external influence but by indwelling human nature and enabling it from within. I show that Herbert follows the contours of an Augustinian theology according to which God is both immanent and transcendent, both “in and beyond” the human being. My reading of Herbert considers two groups of poems: first, poems of divine revelation that depict God and humanity engaged in a dialogue in which only one voice speaks (“JESU,” “Heaven,” and “Coloss. 3.3”), and second, poems about believers’ growing awareness of the interpenetration of divine and human agency in their lives (“Aaron,” “The Odour”). In both groups of poems, God’s action is represented as both internal to and beyond the resources of human agency. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Anglican Theological Review SAGE

Divine and Human Agency in the Poetry of George Herbert

Myers, Ben
Anglican Theological Review , Volume 105 (2): 16 – May 1, 2023
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References (4)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023
ISSN
0003-3286
eISSN
2163-6214
DOI
10.1177/00033286231163623
Publisher site
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Abstract

In this article, I explore the technical poetic strategies by which George Herbert represents the relation between divine and human agency. In Herbert’s poetry, God works upon the human will not by external influence but by indwelling human nature and enabling it from within. I show that Herbert follows the contours of an Augustinian theology according to which God is both immanent and transcendent, both “in and beyond” the human being. My reading of Herbert considers two groups of poems: first, poems of divine revelation that depict God and humanity engaged in a dialogue in which only one voice speaks (“JESU,” “Heaven,” and “Coloss. 3.3”), and second, poems about believers’ growing awareness of the interpenetration of divine and human agency in their lives (“Aaron,” “The Odour”). In both groups of poems, God’s action is represented as both internal to and beyond the resources of human agency.

Journal

Anglican Theological Review – SAGE

Published: May 1, 2023

Keywords: Augustinian theology; divine and human agency; George Herbert; union with Christ

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