Creation as a Divine Game. Jacob Böhme, Angelus Silesius and Adam Mickiewicz in the Context of Weak Theology by John D. Caputo

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to reflect on the sources of the modern postsecular theory presented by John D. Caputo in The Weakness of God. The American theologian reinterprets Genesis’s creation narrative and suggests that God took “the beautiful risk of creation.” One of the guiding spirits of Caputo’s idea is Angelus Silesius, the Baroque poet, who transposed the theosophy of the German mystic Jacob Böhme into a poetic language. The comparative analysis of the mystics’ works also contains the work of Adam Mickiewicz, who creatively paraphrases and applies their ideas to the Polish conditions. If compared with Caputo’s philosophy, the interpretation of Böhme, Silesius and Mickiewicz’s reveals their original anthropology and theology. At the same time, it shows their postsecular intuition. Such analysis helps to understand fully the contemporary dimension of postsecularism.