author J. R. R. Tolkien was a philologist
and invented languages for his Middle Earth saga — but they don't
realize fully how Tolkien's understanding of how languages work and evolve
actually drove the process of fabricating his famous Secondary World. Verlyn Flieger has spent a career
speaking and writing on Tolkien and his works. In this seminar, Dr. Flieger
will show us what happens when a philologist concocts a story, unpacking in
the style of Owen Barfield the entire history of Middle Earth from the words
of its invented languages — and demonstrating in the process that
Professor Tolkien was even more of a genius than most of us had realized!
Re-Weaving the Rainbow: The Achievement of Owen Barfield
Owen Barfield (1898-1997) is best known as C. S. Lewis' best friend and a
follower of the Austrian mystical thinker Rudolf Steiner, founder of
Anthroposophy. But in his long life Barfield was, in own right, a brilliant
thinker and iconoclast, whose ideas influenced both Lewis' and their fellow
Inkling J. R. R. Tolkien's view of metaphor and myth. Indeed, if we were to
take Barfield's ideas seriously, it would force us to completely rethink our
conception of reality! Co-creator of the film Owen Barfield: Man &
Meaning, David Lavery will
seek in this seminar to introduce Barfield's work and to demonstrate
unequivocally his greatness.
The Discarded Image: Myth, Wonder & Incarnation
The Modern universe, with its emphasis on abstraction and materialism,
emptied the universe of life and meaning, sparking rebellions from the
Romantics to the New Age. Rather than identify and seek to meet the lack
such rebellions evidenced, however, the church has often responded
defensively, seeming to side against wonder, beauty and awe. Louis Markos views such revolts against
Modernity as yearnings for a return to a more sympathetic universe, a cosmos
filled with its Father's presence. This seminar will demonstrate that ideas
and desires too often dismissed as pagan and anti-Christian may mark the
first step on a road to faith in Christ. Beginning with a look back at the
cosmic visions of St. Francis and Dante, this seminar will also engage
biblical passages on the Magi's quest and Paul's speech to the pagans on the
way to rebaptising our vision of the universe. We'll also consider the
postmodern "death of language" and, following the lead of C. S. Lewis and
other imaginative Christians, seek one response in fashioning an "aesthetic
of incarnation"..
Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Fantasy Gaming
Card-gaming, based often on characters and settings from Japanese
animé, has become a world-wide phenomonenon, from Pokemon to Magic: The
Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh. Some religious believers equate the magic in these
card games with occultism. John Morehead takes a more comprehensive and
levelheaded approach to popular gaming magic, in the process
critically-engaging both these imaginative games and wrong-headed
critiques.
C. S. Lewis & Pulp Fiction
Venerable Christian apologist and Oxford Professor
C.S. Lewis was a great intellect, to be sure, but few people realize that he
was strongly influenced by the "pop" culture of his day as well. Children's
books, sci-fi magazines from America, dime novels -- all of them exercised a
strong influence on Lewis' imagination throughout his life. In this three
part seminar,
WONDER Magazine editor Rod Bennett will take a closer look at
the Great Man's "closet" addiction to pulp fiction, and help his listeners to
carry away valuable lessons for Christians interacting with media
entertainment today.
Rooting for Buffy: Why Buffy the Vampire Slayer Inspires Our Faith
The "cult" followers of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer have
always been devout. Their fanatical dedication to the series, in particular
their trust in series creator Joss Whedon, amounts, almost, to a matter of
faith. (Not surprisingly, The Door magazine recently named Buffy "Theologian
of the Year.") Whedon has described himself as an "angry atheist," but he has
spoken as well of his fervent desire to crate a "religion in narrative."
David Lavery (co-editor of Fighting the Forces: What's At Stake in Buffy the
Vampire Slayer) will explore the the contradictions of Buffy as a religious
series.
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: The Continuing Conflict
Last year at the Imaginarium, Paul Leggett took us on an amazing tour of
Hammer Studios' horror films, and we all wondered "Where has this guy been
all our lives?" Well, this year, he's back in the Imaginarium: with another
survey, this time of his own favorite myth, the Jekyll and Hyde story. Using
clips from movies and quotes from literature, Paul will sketch the landscape
of one of the most potent and meaningful myths of Modern man and the
doubleness built into the human condition. Against a background of its
Biblical roots, especially Romans Chapter 7, this classic story illuminates
our understanding of human personality and the nature of evil. The series
will be accompanied by a screening of the classic 1931 movie version of the
myth, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde starring Fredric March.
Word, Image & Criticism: Is Talking About Film Like Dancing About
Architecture? Western aesthetics have always been
troubled by a bias against the visual, a problem magnified by religious
critics' tendency to baptize the privilaging of word over the image. One
result is a critical approach that minimizes the visual elements of the
cinema in favor of ferreting out some "message." Many religious critics have
recently moved beyond looking for "Christian meanings" in film, but to date
no significant theory has been done about what it means to view film
Christianly. In this seminar, Terry Wandtke lays the ground work for such thinking, looking at
the history of film theory and proposing an alternate mode of viewing film
distinctly influenced by Christian ideals and identifying transcendent truth
in film - without falling into the error of proposing a "Christian" film
criticism to save us from the godless criticism of the past. The seminar
will draw upon directors like Eisenstein, De Sica, Hitchcock, Gilliam and
Lynch, critics like Andre Bazin, and religious thinkers such as Martin Buber
in hopes of carrying further the discussion of faith and film.
Brown Baggins Lunch: Lessons of the Rings — From One Wartime Generation to
Another J. R. R. Tolkien hated preachy fiction. But The
Lord of the Rings nonetheless spoke "words in season" to a world at war.
Let's hear them anew. Chris Armstrong is managing editor of
Christian History magazine, whose most recent issue explores Tolkien's
life and Christian imagination.
Panel Discussion: "Word vs Image in the Postmodern
Church" William Dyrness, Brian Walsh, Louis Markos, John
Morehead, led by Terry Wandtke discuss visual culture / faith.
© 2003 Cornerstone Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
