Transforming Culture: Artworks in the Context of Public Assemblies

Posted on April 2, 2008

Plenary #3 – John Witvliet, Artworks in the Context of Public Assemblies

John Witvliet of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship noted for meanings of “worship”: 1) all of life 2) public assemblies and 3) personal acts of explicit adoration, in or outside of the church. Focusing on 2) worship in public assemblies, Witvliet set the stage through a 2 minute slide show of culturally diverse forms of worship. His delivery was rather banal, so here are just a few insights:

  • He notes that all artwork is constrained by its surroundings, not just liturgical worship, worship in the church. His aim is to do away with the idea that art within the church space must be “watered down.”
  • Architectural space and arrangement can enhance or impede community worship. More thought and attention needs to be given to worship space.
  • Liturgical worship is about the “we” not just the “I.”

Darrell Guder in Austin

Posted on April 2, 2008

Darrell Guder, author of Missional Church, will be speaking at Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church in Austin on April 12 & 13.

APRIL 12th 4:00 PM
“What Happened to Christendom?”
7:00 PM
“Reclaiming the Missionary Nature
of the Church”

APRIL 13th
8:15am, 9:30 and 11:00 AM
“Praying for the Conversion of the Church”

Transforming Culture: John Wilson on the Church and Cultural Ideas

Posted on April 1, 2008

I have been at the Transforming Culture conference all day, one of the best conferences Ive been to in a while. Interestingly, its a mix of creativity, academics, community, & campiness, yes it’s a bit campy in a wonderfully, playful way. Something really right about that campiness.

John Wilson (of Books & Culture fame) just finished his breakout session on “The Church and Cultural Ideas.” Stimulating. Here is the take-away quote:

If I had influence on seminary education, I would like to see a course where students read some first-rate theology of creation-along with Attenborough and Eisner and Nasrecki, and maybe E. O. Wilson on ants thrown in for good measure. Too much talk about Creation is divorced from the messy particulars. Too much talk about insects is divorced entirely form their Creator. It would be good to bring them together.

transforming culture

Breaking Up Over Books!

Posted on April 1, 2008

Would you break up with someone over books? What about a failed literary reference? Some would. In “It’s Not You, It’s Your Books” Rachael Donadio of the NY Times traces book snobbery to its real world zenith, for advocates, and for the detractors, its social nadir. Marco Roth’s comment brings balance to the article:

Marco Roth, an editor at the magazine n+1, said: “I think sometimes it’s better if books are just books. It’s part of the romantic tragedy of our age that our partners must be seen as compatible on every level.” Besides, he added, “sometimes people can end up liking the same things for vastly different reasons, and they build up these whole private fantasy lives around the meaning of these supposedly shared books, only to discover, too late, that the other person had a different fantasy completely.” After all, a couple may love “The Portrait of a Lady,” but if one half identifies with Gilbert Osmond and the other with Isabel Archer, they may have radically different ideas about the relationship.