The scandal of the Incarnation. The foolishness of the Cross. The beautiful absurdity of Christian faith in a profane world. A Beautiful Absurdity is the first book in Dr. Alan Altany's Christian Poetry of the Sacred series, a four-volume contemplative masterwork that explores the paradoxes, contradictions, and glorious absurdities at the heart of Christian belief. With a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and a career teaching Comparative Religions, Dr. Altany brings theological rigor and poetic beauty to questions that have haunted believers for centuries: How can God die? How can suffering be redemptive? How can we believe what seems impossible? How does the infinite enter the finite? How does the eternal break into time? His poetry, published in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, North Dakota Quarterly, Montreal Review, Valley Voices, and other respected literary journals, refuses easy answers. Instead, it offers intellectually honest wrestling with mystery, grace, and the God who refuses to fit our categories. This is not devotional verse. This is not greeting-card Christianity. This is contemplative, mystically grounded poetry that challenges readers to rethink assumptions about faith, revitalizes theological language through poetic precision, explores doubt and divine absence with unflinching honesty, and speaks to Catholics, Protestants, seekers, and skeptics alike. The series has earned a 4.9-star rating from readers seeking contemplative depth and theological substance in their spiritual reading. PERFECT FOR: - Seminary students exploring theological poetry - Catholic contemplatives and mystics - MFA poetry students researching religious themes - Readers of Commonweal, America Magazine, and Christian Century - Anyone tired of devotional clichés and hungry for spiritual honesty - Poetry and Theology course syllabi - Catholic Studies programs and seminary libraries - Contemplative spirituality centers WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: "This is powerful poetry from a life lived, at times, at the extremes of God's grace and of his own weakness. Many of these pieces leave me with chills." "Intellectually rigorous and spiritually honest. Poetry that doesn't shy away from the hard questions." If you are searching for contemplative Christian poetry that wrestles with profound questions of faith, doubt, suffering, and the sacred, poetry in the tradition of Thomas Merton, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Christian Wiman, this series is for you. THE COMPLETE CHRISTIAN POETRY OF THE SACRED SERIES: 1. A Beautiful Absurdity (2022) 2. The Greatest Longing (2023) 3. Intimations (2024) 4. Poems to God (2025) Dr. Alan Altany recently retired as a professor of Comparative Religions. His work represents a lifetime of theological study and spiritual reflection, offering verse that seeks depth beyond devotional platitudes.