<\/p>\n
Emily Dickinson, the poet of exquisite doubt, was born today
\nin 1830. <\/p>\n
Progressive faith makes room for doubt. <\/span>In many ways, Dickinson should be One of her biographers writes of this as Dickinson’s “disenchantment,” Nowhere was the paradox more grace-filled than her depiction \n<\/p>\n Life–is what we make it– He–would trust no stranger– All the other Distance His sure foot preceding–
\nconsidered the patron saint of ambiguous Christianity. <\/span>She grew up in revivalist New England,
\nwhere she several times flirted with her peers’ evangelical religion and
\nattempted to have a conversion experience. <\/span>Evangelical Christianity, however, never took. <\/span>Ultimately, she refused to confess the
\nfaith, ceased attending church, and transformed the language of doubt into her
\nprimary language for God. <\/span>She
\nexplained her religious experience as “a loss of something ever felt I–\/The
\nfirst that I could recollect\/bereft I was–of what I knew not.”<\/p>\n
\nsomething that few of her contemporaries experienced but that would become a
\nwidespread phenomenon in the twentieth century. <\/span>Another describes Dickinson as “the Cheshire Cat” of
\ndoubt who welcomed ambiguity “playfully” and embraced an unsettled version of
\nChristianity that “doubts as fervently as it believes.” <\/span>Certainly, Emily Dickinson wrote for a
\nsort of spirituality in which doubt and faith existed in a paradoxical
\nrelationship.<\/p>\n
\nof Jesus as “the Tender Pioneer,” a compelling figure worthy of both imitation
\nand love:<\/p>\n
\nDeath–We do not know–
\nChrist’s acquaintance with Him
\nJustify Him–though–<\/i><\/p>\n
\nOther–could betray–
\nJust His own endorsement–
\nThat–sufficeth Me–<\/i><\/p>\n
\nHe hath traversed first–
\nNo New Mile remaineth–
\nFar as Paradise–<\/i><\/p>\n
\nTender Pioneer–
\nBase must be the Coward
\nDare not venture–now–<\/i>
\n(#698)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n