Providence in Triptych

Abstract

The following three poems represent thirty years of reflection on a critical theological perspective, the Doctrine of Providence (bonum ex nocentibus). The first, “A Wilderness of Mirrors,” was written immediately after Paul Tillich's last lecture in 1965. Hours later, he was mortally wounded by the first of three heart attacks. The second, “The Easter Rain,” was conceived the next year, shortly after my father's untimely death. He died on the Father's Day before I entered seminary. In 1985 I completed it after the death of my mentor Carroll Wise. The third poem, “Illumination,” was composed during the Eastertide of 1994, after I first met Rhena Schweitzer Miller, the daughter of Albert Schweitzer—one who lived by Providence and the Reverence for Life.