Beginning September 30th, join us for a grand conversation on Faith across the Multiverse: Parables from Modern Science with author, Andy Walsh. Yes, that’s the weekly ESN science blogger! Since Andy’s part of our network, I thought I’d ask him a few quick questions:
[Read more…] about Faith Across The Multiverse Book Club Event
Books
Reimagining the Sacred & the Cool: A Literary Symposium (Highlighting Community)
Missing Books and Culture? Want to have awesome conversations about literature and faith? Wishing you could hang out in a cool Christian study center this spring? Our friends at Upper House, a Christian study center in Madison, Wisconsin, have a way to address all three of those longings. John Wilson of Books and Culture will be a panel moderator at Upper House’s literary symposium on April 7, an event designed to gather Christians across the region for thoughtful conversations in an amazing space. Browse the event description below, or go straight to the event website.Â
Reimagining the Sacred & the Cool: A Literary Symposium at Upper House
Many have argued that the cultivation of a shared literary and moral imagination is vital in a flourishing democracy. And yet the study of literature, and the humanities at large, is no longer central in our educational institutions. While some blame pop-culture, a lack of funding, or technologies of distraction, others have looked within. In Lisa Ruddick’s groundbreaking essay, “When Nothing is Cool,†she argues that “decades of anti-humanist one-upmanship,†and a general “thrill of destruction,†have resulted in a sweeping malaise of suspicion that now defines academic discourse. “Nothing in English is ‘cool,’†she says, but “on the other hand, you could say that what is cool now is, simply, nothing.†Which begs the question, if nothing is cool, what can we celebrate, let alone enjoy?
In this one-day symposium, we will examine the landscape of a literary culture at the limits of hermeneutic suspicion. One path forward, according to philosopher Richard Kearney, would be to reimagine the sacred as a fundamental category of criticism, even for scholars and artists who do not think of themselves as explicitly religious. Looking to the work of 20th century atheists, agnostics, and apostates, like James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Marcel Proust, Kearney illustrates how spiritual and moral impulses consistently inform the literary imagination. In a contemporary setting, the same impulses are voiced in the poetry of Fanny Howe, the late Mark Strand, and Adam Zagajewski, along with the novels of Elena Ferrante, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Don DeLillo, and Michel Houellebecq.
On April 7, 2017, we warmly welcome both Ruddick and Kearney, along with literary critic Jon Baskin, poet G.C. Waldrep, and editor John Wilson, to help us reimagine the sacred, and the cool, and reconsider the place of the literary imagination in our world today.
Enjoy Campus Resources from IVP :)
Campus Resources from InterVarsity Press: 2015-2016 Academic Year Edition offers classics, practical resources, and new releases by InterVarsity Press (IVP) which can serve as a blessing to Emerging Scholars (and others) as they engage InterVarsity‘s Graduate & Faculty Ministries:
- focused ministries — don’t miss page 2!
“Living” . . .
Pray for the World
Since attending Urbana Students Missions Conference in 1993, God’s Spirit has placed upon my head, heart, and hands a passion to pray for and engage with “the nations” in the context of higher education. As such I have appreciated in depth resources such as Operation World, a copy of which I picked up — with a number of other books — at the huge Urbana bookstore 🙂 I wonder how many editions I have collected through the years . . .
So when InterVarsity Press shared with InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministry staff their release of Pray for the World in an Urbana year, I couldn’t help but invite you to join me in prayer for the nations as we journey toward the upcoming missions conference (December 27 – 31).
- Reminder: With the Urbana15 early registration deadline just over a month away (June 30), please review the focused opportunities offered by InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries. If scholarship money would be of benefit, please connect with your InterVarsity campus staff member and/or your local congregation. If your campus does not have an InterVarsity campus staff member, then please contact me to explore additional possibilities.
- Bonus: Stay tuned for details regarding a special opportunity for Emerging Scholars which I just confirmed today 🙂 Announcement with link coming next week. [Read more…] about Pray for the World
Interview: Chris Smith on Slow Church
When Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus (InterVarsity Press, 2014) came to my attention, the theme resonated with me both “on” and “off” campus. So I dropped C. Christopher Smith an email to see if he would be open to an interview and a visit to South Central Pennsylvania. Chris responded with a resounding, “Yes!” Enjoy the conversation — even join in by making comments 🙂
Note: As with previous interviews, I take full responsibility for the related links and pictures. In this case the pictures highlight the off-campus offerings of the Christian Scholar Series, in partnership with the local congregation of which I am a member. With regard to Chris’ visit I’m currently exploring coffee shop venues. Some information available at the end of the post.