Mystical Poets, session 5: Audre Lorde
This session looks at the work of American womanist and lesbian poet, philosopher and activist, Audre Lorde. Although not generally listed as a ‘mystic’ this webinar will consider the nature and theological nature of many of Lorde’s poetry collections. Drawing together the resonances of Lorde’s work with the Biblical lament psalms and ideas of resistance, hope and the importance of diversity, this webinar will consider Lorde as an important womanist voice for modern mysticism.
About the tutors
Dr Elizabeth Dodd is Lecturer in Christian Doctrine at Sarum College where she leads the postgraduate programmes in Theology, Ministry and Mission. Beth is an expert on theology and poetry, focusing particularly on lyric theology from the Psalms through to spoken-word poetry today. As well as several articles and book chapters, Beth has authored Boundless Innocence in Thomas Traherne’s Poetic Theology (Ashgate, 2015) and The Lyric Voice in English Theology (T&T Clark, 2023) as well as co-authoring two books, Thomas Traherne and Seventeenth-Century Though (with Cassandra Gorman, D. S. Brewer, 2016) and Innocence Uncovered: literary and Theological Perspectives (with Carl E. Findley III, Routledge, 2016).
The Revd Canon Jarel Robinson Brown is Vicar of St German’s Church, Adamsdown in Cardiff. Jarel is Visiting Scholar at Sarum College and an EDI Fellow of Regent’s Park College, Oxford as well as having previously been chair of the LGBT+ Christian charity, OneBodyOneFaith. Jarel works on early Christian History, Patristics and Egyptian Late Antiquity, particularly on issues of body, sex, gender and ethnicity. Jarel has contributed chapters to several books, including Bearing Witness: Intersectional Perspectives on Trauma Theology (ed. Karen O’Donnell and Katie Cross, SCM, 2022) and The Book of Queer Prophets (ed. Ruth Hunt, Collins, 2020), and is the author of Black, Gay, British, Christian, Queer: The Church and the Famine of Grace (SCM, 2021).
Together, Beth and Jarel recently edited Hurricanes Roar: 30 Reflections on Black Spiritual Poets (Canterbury Press (2026).
About the Series
Sarum College and the Church Times are jointly hosting a series of five webinars on the theme of ‘Mystical Poets’.
A frequent topic of discussion when mystical writings are read or taught is: how does this relate to the great poets? Certainly there is much in common that can be noticed even in an initial reading of many mystics. But we also have to remember that many mystical writers explicitly used poetry as their form of writing. This is not new to Christianity and we can think particularly about the Psalms or the Song of Songs and the way they influenced theology and particularly mysticism. Many scholars such as Michel de Certeau, Alexander Hampton and Kris Trujillo have particularly emphasised that when we consider how poetry functions and the linguistic strategies of mystical writers (who use language to point towards that which cannot be contained or described by language) a range of further questions and ways of reading both poetry and mystical texts emerge. This concerns not only the theological meaning that find structure in the rhythms of poetry (or song) but also the transformative and performative impact such language can have on the reader or the listener. It is when we dive deeply into this intersection of the poetic and the mystical that we can learn more about the Christian spiritual tradition and the writers who chose to utilise this style.
This series will look at five major poets who can be described as mystics, working from the 13th to the 20th century. Each session will be led by an expert on the figure and will contain a 50-minute introductory lecture to the life, mystical poetry and continued importance of the mystic, followed by a 30-minute Q&A session.
Each webinar will take place on Monday evenings, 7:30-9 PM (UK time) via Zoom. The five sessions are:
1. Monday 25th January: Hadewijch, with Lydia Shahan
2. Monday 22nd February: Dante, with Mark Vernon
3. Monday 22nd March: John of the Cross, with Edward Howells (and Colin Thompson)
4. Monday 26th April: George Herbert, with Mark Pryce
5. Monday 24th May: Audre Lorde, with Beth Dodd and Jarel Robinson-Brown
If you would like a discounted series ticket for all five sessions click here
Recordings of the lecture and Q&A session will be made available for 30 days after the webinars exclusively to those who have signed up to attend.
An online page turner of the latest edition of the Church Times will be made available to attendees, and the Church House bookshop will make available a dedicated list of books for each webinar at discounted prices.
