Believe to See

We've all been moved by something beautiful, be it the majestic glory of a snow-capped mountain or the homey chords of a country song. And most of us have been told that beauty can point us to God. But this often clashes with how we're used to approaching God, where we've taught ourselves that beyond our daily bread, it is only the invisible and spiritual that matter. How would God have us think a...

We see strangers more often than friends, sit in gridlock more often than in conversation, and hunger for a deeper community we have never seen. Like the character Christian in Pilgrim's Progress, we know isolation far better than we know communion. Yet communion was designed to shape us as individuals and communities. An evening with award-winning poet Scott Cairns, Guggenheim Fellow and National...

The spellbinding Malcolm Guite came to us all the way from Cambridge University, where he is a priest, rock band musician, jazz poet, and teacher. He also smokes pipes we're pretty sure are imported from Hobbiton. This Brit took us on an energetic ride through Shakespeare's sonnets, his own poetry, and John's Gospel, exploring how the "Word made flesh" is the spark at the core of the best Christia...

Alister McGrath says in describing C.S. Lewis that faithful imagination is "a certain way of seeing that brings [reality] into the sharpest focus, illuminating the shadows and allowing its inner reality to be seen." In this conversation, Michael Ward explored the roles of reason and imagination in the thought of C.S. Lewis and the vibrant Christian life. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Michael Ward is a Senior...

We talk about stewarding the natural environment, but what about the built environment? What about our streets, neighborhoods, and cities? How can we promote manmade environments that help people in their pursuit to live well in community with one another? This lecture (with reference to traditional towns and cities) will explore these questions and the question of how Christians can think about t...

In prison, Dostoevsky discovered that the desire for freedom was the wellspring of human action. But this wellspring comes from a deeper source: Christ and his promise of a future kingdom. Focusing on Notes from the House of the Dead, Notes from Underground, and the Brothers Karamazov, this lecture will examine the intertwined themes of Russian nationalism, freedom, and Christ in Dostoevsky's thou...

In The Pilgrim's Regress, C.S. Lewis explored the idea of a person who has to wander in order to recognize and appreciate his own home. In the Narnia Chronicles and the Space Trilogy, Lewis used fantasy to give his readers gleams of divine truth. It's well known that Lewis was a friend of J.R.R. Tolkien. What is less well known is that both the motifs above, and many others, were inherited by Tolk...

The Gospel and Fairy Tale: The Literary Art of J.R.R. Tolkien. Lecture from 2013.