In a culture where institutional religion is in decline there is a pressing need for new theological strategies. Andrew Shanks argues for a fresh 'theological poetics', providing an eloquent first step towards meeting these needs and an alternative strategy for reconciling Christian theology with poetic truth.Andrew Shanks is a Church of England priest in North yorkshire. He is the author of God and Modernity(Routledge, 2000), Civil Society, Civil Religion(Blackwell, 1995) and Hegel's Political Economy(Cambridge University Press, 1991).