My Theology

They asked if I was a pantheist,
and I said yes--
I see the sparks of God
in everything, divine intelligence
in every grain of sand, holy light
permeating the distant dark of space.

They asked if I was a panentheist,
and I said oh, yes--
there is godliness in all we see,
and also gods grown out past
the borders of time: aunts
and cousins and grandmother gods
in brilliant bodies, spirit coursing
eternity through their veins.

Then they asked if I was a polytheist,
and I said only
on days when I see
the god-to-be waiting
behind your eyes.

And they asked if I was a henotheist,
and I said, listen, Israel,
there are gods and gods
across the omniverse
but the God I worship is one.

So they asked if I was a monotheist,
and I said it's true
there's just one Way
to be God...
and without it,
God's own godhood
would cease.

So they asked if
I was an atheist.
And I told them:
if God stops being good,
then creation itself should disbelieve. 

And they asked me
to look close at this world
and admit whether I wasn't,
deep down, a kind of agnostic.
And I said--
of course! of course!
how am I supposed
to know anything
when the glare of God's glory
has blinded me!

James Goldberg is a poet, novelist, and champion of Mormon literature. His works include The Five Books of Jesus and A Book of Lamentations.

Art by Egon Schiele