C. S. Lewis Conference "Faith Set Free" 2007
Intro/Background
This was a conference sponsored by the C. S. Lewis Foundation and took place in Nashville, Tennessee on September 15, 2007. Its full title was Faith Set Free: C. S. Lewis and the Quest for Joy. The theme was C. S. Lewis's concept of "joy" as a key to setting our faith free.
Links
The C. S. Lewis Foundation
The foundation has as its mission "to advance the renewal of Christian thought and creative expression throughout the world of learning and culture at large." This includes bringing Christian thought back to a central place in the academic world. They use Lewis himself as he described the use of joy: not as an end in itself but as a signpost on the way to Christ.
Nature of the Conference
The conference struck me as somewhere between academic and popular. It was a combination of lectures, worship, music and dance presentations, breakout sessions, and a "chalk talk" by an artist who drew an annotated picture of Lewis while he spoke. The speakers were a mixture of Protestant and Catholic. Meals were furnished, and there was a bookshop set up featuring books by and about Lewis, and books of related authors and on topics of interest to conference attendees.
Outline of the Conference
The morning began with a welcome and a brief time of worship. The worship included a presentation by the StillPoint dance company. Then Stan Mattson, president of the C. S. Lewis Foundation, gave a presentation on Lewis's life, based largely on his autobiography Surprised by Joy. Following a coffee break, vocalist Stacy Jagger sang, with some songs accompanied by dances from StillPoint. Then Joseph Pearce gave a presentation entitled "Faithful and Free: C. S. Lewis and the Joyful Intellect." After lunch, Stan Mattson spoke briefly about the C. S. Lewis Foundation and its work. Then Jeff Kepple and his daughters Kelsey and Natalie played and sang. After that, Andrew Lazo spoke on "The Quest for Joy in the Chronicles of Narnia," giving brief examples of how the theme appears in each of the books.
Following were various breakout groups, each devoted to a particular topic. During dinner, David Payne appeared in character as C. S. Lewis. The evening program consisted of more music by the Kepples, more dance by StillPoint, a "chalk talk" by artist Joe Castillo, and finally the screening of a Disney Film documentary entitled C. S. Lewis: Dreamer of Narnia.
Thoughts on Joy
C. S. Lewis uses the word joy in a unique way. He distinguishes it from fun and happiness. To him, joy is a longing: a longing for something unattainable, a lack that, in itself, is better than the having of anything else. To Lewis, this longing points us to another world where it may be fulfilled.
One of the interesting observations that Lewis made about joy is that it is not an end to itself, but only something given to us by God to draw us on to another world and, ultimately, to Himself. Lewis stated that after he became a Christian he lost interest in joy for its own sake.
Lewis's background was partly Welsh. In describing his concept of joy, he used the German word sehnsucht. I wonder why he went so far afield when he had a perfectly good Welsh word to use: hiraeth. I have heard Welsh people say that hiraeth is not merely longing, but longing for Wales. In that case, I find it interesting to view Wales itself as Lewis might, as not the end, but another means to awaken joy or hiraeth, so that it would point us beyond itself to God.
Experiences at the Conference
I enjoyed the presentations, and learned much that I did not know about Lewis's life. I still have more to learn, of course, and need to read Surprised by Joy and a biography of Lewis that I have. At the book tables, I saw many writings by Lewis of which I was not aware. I bought only three books, resisting the temptation to spend lots of money. I have really only scratched the surface of Lewis in my reading, and have much more to go.
The conference organizers think of Lewis's work as a way to arouse interest in Christian thought in a post-Christian and postmodern world. The worship and artistic presentations given were presented as examples of how this is to work. The thinking now seems to be that postmodern people will be reached more by art, music, dance, and images, than by words. So they encourage us to use our Christian creativity in these areas.
I have no problem with using these means to communicate the Gospel. The apostle Paul said, "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22, ESV). The issue that I have is that whatever approach is used should communicate the gospel. The apostle also said, "And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?" (I Corinthians 14:8, ESV)
Dance
The StillPoint dancers were technically very good dancers and gave an excellent performance. Yet that is what it seemed to me to be: a performance. I did not find it to be a worship experience. Parts of the dance involved lying and rolling on the floor. Indeed I had trouble recognizing anything specifically Christian in what they were doing. If a non-Christian saw this, without any idea that it was supposed to be communicating Christian truth, what would the non-Christian get out of it?
Even when we were told what the dance was supposed to represent, I had trouble seeing the representation. For example, the troupe's director told us that one dance represented creation, while another represented body, soul, and spirit in harmony. If we have to be told what the dance represents, does that not defeat the purpose of using the dance as non-verbal communication?
I think that it would be possible to use dance in worship, and even in evangelism. I ask only that it portray some recognizable Christian concept.
Breakout on Postmodernism
There were several breakout sessions, and it was hard to choose one, since they all looked good. I chose "Joy and Desire in Postmodernity" by Aaron Simmons and his father John Simmons. No, that is a different John Simmons, not I. Amusingly, they made only one name tag for the two of us, and I was mistaken for him twice by name. In this session, the son was to discuss how the work of Lewis could provide a Christian approach to postmodern thinking. Then the father, an artist, was to present some of his art along with thoughts on how art could be used to express Christian truth to postmodern people.
Unfortunately, I found this session disappointing. Aaron, a philosopher, presented some brief thoughts on postmodernism and stated that Lewis's concept of looking "at" or "along" something, as presented in the essay Meditation in a Toolshed, was a close approach to postmodern thought. One thing that I found troubling here is that, not really understanding postmodern thought, I am not sure whether Aaron was giving a fair account of it from the viewpoint of its proponents, or was trying to give it a more palatable Christian "spin." His basic explanation is that postmodernism says, "You can't look over God's shoulder." The way I understand that is that you cannot get a vantage point for observing something that is completely separate from what you are observing. Perhaps this is saying that you cannot make an absolute subject-object distinction. Whatever you observe, you are part of it, or at least related to it. Quantum mechanics would say that you can't observe something without changing it. For example, the very act of bouncing light off a particle so that you can observe its position and momentum imparts energy to it, thereby changing its position and momentum.
A corollary to this is that each person has a personal, and different, vantage point. Thus we all see what we are observing in different ways, even if we are observing the same thing. For example, every person in a football stadium is viewing the game from a different seat, and thus in a slightly different way. The way that it appears to a person in an end zone seat is quite different to the way that it appears to someone on the fifty yard line, yet it is the same game. And of course, the game appears quite different to the players on the field.
Aaron claimed that this is all that postmodernism is really saying: we each have a unique perspective, and the observer is always related to the observed. The dire warnings that postmodernism denies that absolute truth exists are, in his view, overrated.
Now on rereading Meditation on a Toolshed, I find that Lewis does, in fact, equate the "modern" view with the idea of always looking "at," never "along." He also says, in a statement that sounds rather postmodern (or perhaps, pre-modern?), "In other words, you can step outside one experience only by stepping inside another." One might, though Lewis does not, say that postmodernism is always looking "along," never "at." Lewis, however, finds both ways of looking valuable, and insists that only on a case by case basis can we determine which is appropriate in a particular case.
The postmodern idea of our each having a unique perspective could easily lead, or perhaps be twisted to lead, to some undesirable results. Aaron said that, being a white male, he has a white male perspective. It is sometimes claimed that we are so limited by such perspectives that we cannot understand those with radically different perspectives. While it is true that difference of perspective can make understanding difficult, overgeneralizing this would lead to the conclusion that communication and understanding between different groups, and even different individuals, is impossible. This leads to the "you can't represent me in Congress because you are white and I am black" mentality that we in Memphis have heard recently.
I wish that the whole session had been devoted to a discussion and question and answer period on postmodernism. The art presentation did not really add to it. There was no cogent presentation on how to use art in evangelism. Basically it came down to the idea that art is a celebration of God's creation. I doubt that any non-Christians are going to be led to think of Christ simply by viewing art that deals with nature.
Evening Performances
Of the chalk talk by artist Joe Castillo, I must confess that I can remember little except the picture that he drew. It was based on the famous picture of Lewis lighting his pipe. In the smoke, the pipe, the clothing, Lewis's hair, and even his eyebrows and glasses, Castillo drew figures from the Narnia chronicles.
The DVD presentation gave a good overview of Lewis's life and thought that formed the background for the Narnia chronicles.
Overall, the conference was well worthwhile. Interestingly, what moved me most was a performance, with music and dance, of Yeats's "Isle of Innisfree."
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