The Power of the Imagination

so, i went on an adventure last night in the crazy ohio ice storms. and by adventure, i mean i went to go hear a lecture by an old testament professor at mount vernon nazarene university with some friends. but there was fire invovled with the trip... (we saw a transformer on fire on our way home. it was crazy. the colors! blue, then red, then yellow, all in a strobbing fashion. and we could see it from a ways off, too. it was dangerous and beautiful.)

it was actually a really great time. the lecture was given by Dr. Walter Brueggemann, who is a professor of old testament at columbia theological seminary. the title of his lecture was Faithful Imagination as Sustained Subversion. needless to say, going in to the lecture, my friends and i had no idea what to expect on what the actual lecture was going to be on. but while the title of the lecture and a good bit of the lecture were heady, i left very moved and inspired. here are some notes that i was able to get down while trying to keep up with him:

The kingdom of God is a battle of imaginations. We have accepted the imagination of our culture as an inevitable given. The Kingdom of God is a political statement filled with mystery.

The disclosure of revelation is poetic and artistic... Flattening poetry into doctrine robs it of its power.

We have trouble accepting the coming of God's kingdom because we think we can organize it better ourselves.

these two were in response to questions:

Individualism is the great American heresy.

Our society does not need more well educated conformists.

that last one hit me hard. i pray that i will not be another well educated conformist. overall, Dr. Brueggemann did an incredible job. he was mainly discussing how we have bought into the "imagination of our culture," ie. the american dream, and how we need to move away from military consumerism and stop viewing people as commodities. the christian imagination, which is living our lives out of the mindset of bringing the kingdom of God on earth, is subversive to everything our culture is built upon, but real life and real change happen outside of the areas of power.

wanted to get a chance to share that. in other news, it is the last stretch of this quarter, so papers and exams are pretty much dominating my mind. the peace of spring break is on the horizon. may it come soon.