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<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nChristopher Villiers\u00a0is a British theologian and freelance writer who has written about religious matters for a wide variety of publications, both academic and popular. He holds the Bachelor\u2019s and Master\u2019s degrees in Theology from Durham University, United Kingdom, with a specialization in the history of Christian doctrine. His postgraduate thesis addressed the Divine impassibility in the theology of Saint Cyril of Alexandria<\/em>, with reference to modern theological debates on divine impassibility deriving from biblical, historical and philosophical scholarship.\u00a0Villiers is a practicing Catholic with an interest in ecumenism, particularly in relation to the Eastern Orthodox churches. He writes on a regular basis for the ecumenical theological journal Sobornost<\/em>. Villiers is the winner of the 2008 Jean Cowling Prize in Theology and the first prize-winner of the 2015\u00a0Sonnets for Shakespeare<\/em> Poetry Award.<\/p>\n PETE: Can you tells us what the inspiration was for writing Sonnets from the Spirit<\/em> and how did you develop it?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0CHRISTOPHER VILLIERS:<\/strong> I started writing some poetry at the beginning of 2015 \u2013 mostly sonnets \u2013 and when Lent began, I thought it would be a good devotional exercise to write sonnets based on episodes from Scripture, partly following the readings from Holy Week. Over time, my project seemed to take on a life of its own. I did not originally think my efforts would end up in print! Many people saw and liked my poems, including those posted up on Facebook, which encouraged me to carry on after Easter and eventually I ended up with a whole volume of the stuff.<\/p>\n PETE: <\/strong>How can you best see this book being used?<\/strong><\/p>\n CHRISTOPHER VILLIERS:<\/strong> It would probably be best read as it was written \u2013 poem by poem, through the course of the Christian year. The beauty of the sonnets is that they are fairly concentrated little poems that can be read in a short time, and ruminated over in a longer time \u2013 a kind friend likened them to little chocolates worth savouring. However, it is ultimately for the reader to judge how best to read my book.<\/p>\n PETE: How did you choose which Bible stories to focus on?<\/strong><\/p>\n CHRISTOPHER VILLIERS:<\/strong> I just started writing poetry from Bible stories worth considering in Lent, such as Samaritan Woman <\/em>and No Stone Cast<\/em>; about Jesus breaking into lives where He was least expected, offering redemption to people commonly regarded as beyond it. As I already mentioned, I worked through the liturgical year, writing such poems as Ascension <\/em>and Pentecost.<\/em> But I also, sometimes, just wrote about something that caught my eye in the Bible, such as the death of King Saul. The Bible is full of real people who are interesting, even when they are monsters, and it was great to present them and their situations as interesting, rather than as bloodless, Sunday School fodder. I wanted people of all faiths and none to realise that Christianity is a lot more complex and exciting than it sometimes seems.<\/p>\n PETE: Were there poems that did not make the cut? Will there be a follow-up volume?<\/strong><\/p>\n CHRISTOPHER VILLIERS:<\/strong> I did not \u2018cut\u2019 any of my poems, although I modified them a great deal as I prepared them for book publication. A lot of my poems have been heavily revised, such as, for example, David and<\/em> Bathsheba, <\/em>which was originally told from Bathsheba\u2019s perspective in a way that perhaps unfairly questioned her own moral character \u2013 there is a question mark over her own behaviour with King David. Did she really have much say in the matter? Some of my earlier poems were rather rhythmically clunky and clich\u00e9d, so I tried to improve them, although I worried about tearing out the wheat with the tares. If there is sufficient public interest in my poetry, then I may try and have another volume of my work published, including \u2018secular\u2019 as well as explicitly religious\/Biblically inspired verse. I admire poets like Gerard Manley Hopkins who wrote meaningful, religious poetry that was not narrowly churchy and difficult to appreciate beyond a certain ghetto; which took nature and the human condition seriously.<\/p>\n PETE: Time for my signature ending question. This is a blog about books. What books are currently on your bookshelf to read?<\/strong><\/p>\n CHRISTOPHER VILLIERS:<\/strong> Appropriately enough, I am currently reading Paradise Lost. <\/em>I love the cadences of Milton\u2019s blank verse and his epic treatment of creation fall and ordained redemption. He evokes Heaven, Hell, Chaos, and Eden with great power. There is a breadth of vision which is breath-taking, equal in its way to Dante. Satan is an intriguing character \u2013 as the saying goes, you have to give the Devil his due; but the greater glory of God is affirmed without being facile. Here is the climax of a great Christian poet\u2019s vocation. I am also reading Young Eliot <\/em>by Robert Crawford, <\/em>a biography of the young T. S. Eliot, and am fascinated by his relationship with Ezra Pound who helped lick The Waste Land <\/em>into shape. I love reading the biographies of writers, but have to be careful not to let it distract me from writing!<\/p>\n ___________________________________________________________________________________________
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