Scott Cairns PhD (Utah), MFA (Bowling Green State University), MA (Hollins College), BA (Western Washington) is a Professor, Director of Creative Writing and Director of the Center for Literary Arts at the University of Missouri. He is the author of six volumes of poetry and a memoir.
Writing With Scripture: The Gift of Enigmatic Text
Speaker(s): Scott Cairns
Date: July 28 to Aug. 1 2008
Length: 5:24:18
Product ID: RGDL3833S
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Description
In this course we examine key distinctions between Greek and Hebrew attitudes towards words, in general, and towards the consequent status of written texts, especially sacred texts and those subsequent texts that operate as explications/interpretations/ commentaries of such scriptures, including rabbinic midrashim. We will also discuss what it is we mean (or, perhaps, should mean) when we characterize a text as poetic. Thereafter, we will attend to examples from a long tradition of poetry that has developed as an imaginative examination of biblical narratives. Along the way, we attempt poetic compositions of our own (probably in prose) in response to various brief and enigmatic scriptural passages, seeking to understand mystery as an invitation and a gift. Lectures include:
- Reading, Poetic and Tradition
- Midrash
- Modern Biblical Poetry
- Workshop I
- Workshop II
See All Audio by Scott Cairns

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