Poetic ecotheology:

between Psalms and Adélia Prado

Abstract

The present communication aims to present an ecotheology existing in the book of Psalms and in the poetry of Adélia Prado, in order to reflect on the role of human beings in caring for the common home. The book of Psalms addresses nature in some aspects: it is metaphorized, as in psalm 1; she praises the Lord, as in Psalm 150; it is presented as the creation of Yahweh, its true “dominator”, as in psalm 104, among other representations. In this way, we can develop an ecotheology from the psalms, which will be approached more specifically from a poetic-exegetic analysis of psalm 8. In turn, with her “apocryphal” poetry, the Brazilian writer Adélia Prado presents us with a poem that reveals itself in the world. In Adelian poetry, everyday life is a place to experience the divine and that is why when God takes poetry away from her, she looks at stone and really sees stone. However, in her words: “The perched butterfly / is either God / or is nothing”. In accordance with this, the body becomes indispensable for this poetic and religious experience. Therefore, the Psalms present in the Bible and the “apocryphal” poetry of Adélia Prado have a lot to tell us about the “human being-nature” relationship so that we can establish an integral anthropology of the human being and thus, an integral ecology. The human being and nature are within the creation of Yahweh, who as creator, gave the human being power over the created nature, however, the two being part of this creation must live in interrelationship and not under domination by the human being.