From the introduction: There has been a revival of Christian poetry in America, and our hope is that this anthology will demonstrate as much by presenting some of the best poems by some of the best poets, established and new, over the past 50 years....
We have also decided to focus on poems that, for the most part, treat matters of Christian doctrine and practice directly. There are a great many contemporary poets whose work is "spiritual" or whose faith is implicit rather than explicit in their work. These include poets like Louise Erdrich, Carolyn Forché, Li-Young Lee, Margaret Gibson, Gregory Orr, Martha Serpas, and Aaron Belz, among many others. Some readers may find this odd, but there are already a number of anthologies that gather many of these poets, and we wanted to do what few, if any, anthologies of contemporary poetry have yet to do--gather poems that are distinctly Christian in subject matter.
This volume in no way provides a comprehensive picture of contemporary Christian poetry in America. It is a selective volume, with significant selections from and substantial introductions to the work of major figures in the field. But the hope is that it is still a representative one, capturing something of the diverse styles and interests of Christian poets in this country, and one that has space for poets whose work, we believe, deserves more attention. As with any anthology, the volume is limited by the tastes and interests of the editors. Our hope is that readers will not allow this to distract them from the many pleasures and wisdom of the work included.
