About Malcolm Guite

Malcolm Guite, a poet, theologian, and songwriter, is Life Fellow, and former Chaplain, of Girton College (Cambridge) where he also teaches for the Divinity Faculty. He lectures widely in England and North America on theology and literature. Revd. Dr. Guite has published poetry, theology, and literary criticism, and worked as a librettist. His books include Word in the Wilderness, Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination, and Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Nathanael’s Epiphany

By |2024-01-13T21:52:59-06:00January 13th, 2024|Categories: Christianity, Malcolm Guite, Poetry|

The Gospel reading for this second Sunday of Epiphany (John 1:43-51) takes us to one of the most mysterious and beautiful moments in the New Testament. As the disciples begin to gather around Jesus, Philip finds Nathanael and says “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets did write, Jesus [...]

“O Sapientia”: An Advent Antiphon

By |2023-12-17T20:25:08-06:00December 16th, 2023|Categories: Advent, Audio/Video, Christianity, Malcolm Guite, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

The poem I have chosen for December 17th in my Advent Anthology from Canterbury Press Waiting on the Word is my own sonnet “O Sapientia,” the first in a sequence of seven sonnets on the seven great ‘O’ antiphons which I shall be reading to you each day between now and the 23rd of December. You [...]

All Hallow’s Eve: A Sonnet of Reclamation

By |2023-10-30T18:56:53-05:00October 30th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Halloween, Malcolm Guite, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

As we come towards Hallowe’en, it's worth remembering that the word "Hallowe’en" itself simply means "the eve of all Hallows", and All Hallows is the Christian feast of All Saints, or All Saints Day’, a day when we think particularly of those souls in bliss who, even in this life, kindled a light for us, [...]

Mariner: A Voyage With Samuel Taylor Coleridge

By |2023-12-16T13:18:13-06:00October 20th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Books, Christianity, Essential, Featured, Malcolm Guite, Poetry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Timeless Essays|

We may find in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s writings essential guides for the seas we have to navigate in the “post-modern” era. Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Malcolm Guite (Hodder & Stoughton, 2017) The following passage is a brief extract from my book Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This book was written [...]

Michaelmas: A Sonnet for St. Michael the Archangel

By |2023-09-28T18:20:47-05:00September 28th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Christianity, Malcolm Guite|

The end of September brings us to the feast of St. Michael and All Angels which is known as Michaelmas in England, and this first autumn term in many schools and universities is still called the Michaelmas term. The Archangel Michael is traditionally thought of as the Captain of the Heavenly Host, and, following an image from [...]

“Transfiguration”

By |2023-08-06T22:03:23-05:00August 6th, 2023|Categories: Christianity, Malcolm Guite, Poetry|

Continuing my series of sonnets ‘Sounding the Seasons’ of the Church’s year, here is a sonnet for the feast of the Transfiguration when we remember how the disciples, even before they went to Jerusalem to face his trials with him, had a glimpse of Christ in his true glory. The Transfiguration is usually celebrated on [...]

Our Mother-tongue Is Love: A Sonnet for Pentecost

By |2023-05-27T23:06:27-05:00May 27th, 2023|Categories: Christianity, Malcolm Guite, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

Today the gospel crosses every border / All tongues are loosened by the Prince of Peace / Today the lost are found in His translation. / Whose mother-tongue is Love, in every nation. Drawn from Sounding the Seasons, my cycle of sonnets for the Church Year, this is a sonnet reflecting on and celebrating the themes [...]

Holy Saturday: Stations XIII and XIV

By |2023-04-07T20:17:02-05:00April 7th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Christianity, Easter, Malcolm Guite, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

Holy Saturday is a strange, still day, hanging in an unresolved poise between the darkness of the day before and the light that is not yet with us. No more so than now, in the preternatural stillness emptiness and grief of this pandemic, when life is paused, but also perhaps poised on the threshold of [...]

Good Friday: The First 12 Stations of the Cross

By |2023-04-06T17:12:20-05:00April 6th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Christianity, Easter, Lent, Malcolm Guite, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

The Stations of the Cross, which form the core of my book Sounding the Seasons,  are intended to be read on Good Friday. We will read the 13th and 14th tomorrow on Holy Saturday and then on Easter Morning we will have the 15th’ resurrection’ station and also a new villanelle that I have written for [...]

Holy Week, Wednesday The Anointing at Bethany

By |2023-04-05T06:48:24-05:00April 4th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Christianity, Easter, Malcolm Guite, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

The Gospel of John (John 12 1-8) tells us of how Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus. I love this intense and beautiful moment in the Gospels, The God of the Cosmos enters as a vulnerable man into all the particular fragility of our human friendships and intimacy. I love the way Jesus responds to Mary’s [...]

Holy Week, Monday: Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem

By |2023-04-03T08:09:12-05:00April 2nd, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Christianity, Easter, Lent, Malcolm Guite, Malcolm Guite’s Lenten Sonnets, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

This strange Holy Week has begun in tears: tears of frustration, tears of lament, and for so many who have been cruelly bereaves, tears of grief. It’s hard to see through tears, but sometimes its the only way to see. Tears may be the turning point, the springs of renewal, and to know you have [...]

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