Preludes

Description:
All of the glory that had broken on me
Surrounded me and saw me through and through
Although I had no idea how to name
A power that engulfed me totally
And turned my soul onto another road.

--Book XVI, lines 700-704


Preludes is a soul's journey from infancy to adulthood--from the Ohio Valley to south Florida, from grade school to college in New England and travel abroad, and ultimately to a knowledge of its maker. The author is unabashedly and sometimes almost naively Romantic, and the poem shows both adoration of nature and the ultimate failure of such an obsession. The poem's many passages are windows onto past landscapes, and through them comes an affirmation of life and the goodness of life. Ultimately, the author encounters and is transformed by a power beyond himself.


Endorsements:
""Preludes is much more than a conventional autobiography. The reader will find here in equal measure spiritual sensitivity, classical learning, and descriptive poetry of great power and precision, all in the service of a compelling personal narrative. The evocations of the Florida of his youth--a paradise now all but lost--are particularly moving. I enthusiastically recommend Preludes.""
--Sean McDonough, Professor of New Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary


About the Contributor(s):
Jeffrey Jay Niehaus is Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He is the author of God at Sinai (1995) and Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology (2008), as well as commentaries and articles.