Depending on the author, "theopoetics" is used in different ways, both syntactically and definitionally. To begin, it seems worth addressing the variety of usages first.
Some (Caputo, Wilder, Derr) use it as a discrete noun to refer to a particular text, e.g.
Rilke's Book of the Hours is a theopoetic.
Others (Keller, Faber, Holland,
et al.) use it as an adjective, e.g.
the theopoetic approach is one in which questions are left unanswered.
I most often use the term to refer to a manner in which one can study/create/read a text, e.g.
theopoetics offers us another path, another tool to help us deepen our faith and move toward a deeper becoming.
My insertion of the word "text" in the previous sentence conforms to a
Derridien usage implying that nothing is outside "text." By doing so, I fully intend to imply that theopoetics is nothing less than a means of "reading the world," interpreting reality, creating meaning, and (re)imagining the Divine. A theopoetic worldview invites the construal and acceptance of an eternally changing existence; an in-process, event-based theology; a pluralistic approach to perception.
