Theopoetics: What We Talk About When We Talk About God

Tripp Fuller

What do we talk about when we talk about God? There are so many problems with the inherited concept, language, and vision of God, that ‘god’ might just need a time out. You would be surprised how familiar theologians are with ‘god’ problems! One cluster of constructive responses to the predicament of divine discourse is theopoetics. If you ever wondered what would happen if 600 people got to nerd out in person with a bunch of craft beverages and sat down to hear three outstanding theologians tackle this problem, then you were likely at Theology Beer Camp. There, I was joined by Catherine Keller, Kristy Whaley, and Ilia Delio to wrestle with the language we use about ‘god’ and the theopoetic turn in theology.

If you want to get info, updates, and access to pre-sale tickets for Theology Beer Camp 2025, you can sign up here.

Kristy Whaley is faculty at St. Petersburg College, where she teaches both religion and humanities. Her interdisciplinary interests are primarily centered on Christian theology and literature, but often also stray into pop culture, mainly about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost. Her most recent book, Wounded Images, is a work in theopoetics. She is also a podcaster and you can put her in your earbuds by checking out Theology on the Rocks.

Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD is a Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC, and American theologian specializing in science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics, and neuroscience and the import of these for theology.

Catherine Keller is George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology in The Graduate Division of Religion of Drew University. If you are new to Catherine Keller and Process Theology this is the book to start with – On the Mystery: Discerning Divinity In Process.

Previous Podcast visits from Catherine

• Deconstructing Divinity & Embracing Diversity
• Theology in the Capitalocene
• Theology in Process
• Apocalyptic #ProcessParty with Catherine Keller & Jacob Erickson
• Theological Possibilities with Catherine Keller
• God-ish?:Logos of Theos in a (Seriously) Uncertain Time
• on Cloud of the Impossible
• Catherine Keller on Process, Poetry, & Post-Structuralism
• Theology for the People: Keller, Cobb and God
• The Birth of God and a new JC – part 2 Keller AAR
• Keller-riffic + Caputo Tells Pete the “lack” is BS

Previous Episodes with Ilia Delio

• Thinking Theologically about AI with Teilhard de Chardin
• The Not Yet God
• Bonaventure & the Cosmos in Process
• Catching a Cosmic Faith
• the Entangled God of my Heart

Spend a week with Tripp & Andrew Root in Bonhoeffer’s House in Berlin this June as part of the Rise of Bonhoeffer Travel Learning Experience. INFO & DETAILS HERE

Join our open online class this DECEMBER exploring the ‘Theologians of Crisis’ – Breaking into the Broken World. Join us to learn about Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Rudolph Bultmann as we explore their thoughts and timely reflections in their Advent/Christmas sermons.

Join my Substack – Process This!

Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community.