From Shade to Shine: New Poems

By Jill Peláez Baumgaertner

This collection of poems begins in the growing darkness of November, stretches through Advent and the seasons leading to Easter and to Pentecost, and ends in the budding light of the Scottish Orkney Islands, where the canonical hours measure time over centuries and where God broods over an austere and beautiful landscape. The measurement of time passing and returning, year after year, in the rhythms of the seasons and of the liturgical year, create the pace and the song. But in the biblical voices of Magdalene, Mary, Abel, and Eve, and in the grim historical and political realities of war and suffering, one also hears lament and finds the poet’s clear-eyed gaze straight into life’s challenges. Memory is at work here, too, in personal reminiscences and in theological reflection. As one philosopher has said, “All truth is God’s truth.” 

From Shade to Shine is published under Paraclete Press's Iron Pen imprint. In the book of Job, a suffering man pours out his anguish to his Maker. From the depths of his pain, he reveals a trust in God's goodness that is stronger than his despair, giving humanity some of the most beautiful and poetic verses of all time. Paraclete's Iron Pen imprint is inspired by this spirit of unvarnished honesty and tenacious hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paraclete Press
• Release date: Apr 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781640605992

Jill Peláez Baumgaertner

Jill Peláez Baumgaertner received her BA and PhD from Emory University. She taught at Valparaiso University and joined the faculty of Wheaton College in 1980. She is the author of five collections of poetry, including Finding Cuba, an exploration of her Cuban ancestry, and What Cannot Be Fixed. She has also edited a collection of poetry, Imago Dei: Poetry from Christianity and Literature; written a textbook/anthology, Poetry; and published Flannery O’Connor: A Proper Scaring, still in print after thirty years. She was a Fulbright fellow to Spain, served as the poetry editor of The Cresset and First Things and currently serves as poetry editor of The Christian Century. She is also past president of the Conference on Christianity and Literature and is Professor Emerita of English and former Dean of Humanities and Theological Studies at Wheaton College. She has written libretti and lyrics for the music of Carl Schalk, Michael Costello, Richard Hillert, and Michael Gandolfi. She and her husband, Martin, a retired judge, live in Chicago. 

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