The twentieth-century Welsh poet R.S. Thomas has been called a poet of Holy Saturday. Holy Saturday falls between the day of Christ’s crucifixion and the morning of His resurrection. Commemorative of Christ’s descent to the realm of the dead, Holy Saturday, and the poetry of R.S. Thomas, also speak evocatively to times when we feel caught somewhere between devastation and hope, between periods of spiritual suffering and the experience of God’s blessing. With Easter approaching, we spoke with Richard McLauchlan—an independent scholar, professional biographer, and author of Saturday’s Silence: R.S. Thomas and Paschal Reading—about the day between crucifixion and resurrection, a day of suffering and silence that speaks to the spiritual realities so many of us feel.
Interview by Matthew Wickman, Founding Director, BYU Humanities Center.
Produced and edited by Brooke Browne and Sam Jacob
Jessica Coblentz is an assistant professor of religious studies and theology at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. With Daniel Horan, she co-edited...
Irena Dragaš Jansen is a freelance writer who explores the power of art and faith. During the 1990s, she and her family were refugees...
Belden Lane is Professor Emeritus of Theological Studies, American Religion, and History of Spirituality at Saint Louis University. He is the author of several...
