Christian Scholars Conference at Lipscomb University

June 20, 2009

One of my alma maters, Lipscomb University, is hosting the Christian Scholars’ Conference in Nashville Thursday through Saturday. The conference’s focus is “the power of narrative.” Thus, the speaker line-up (Locke, Robinson, Taylor, and Collins) reads like Cabrera, Pujols, Fielder, and Jeter for baseball fans.

The largest newspaper in Tennessee did a fantastic piece on the conference recently. Click here to read the entire piece. Here’s a snippet.

Those who equate religion with guilt and repression will welcome recent surveys that chart declines in traditional faith.

But religion’s decline, if it happens, means other grand narratives must pick up the slack. What will emerge to infuse life and civilization with meaning if the old spirituality recedes?

Society flirts now with the removal of a whole set of ancient coordinates — belief in the soul, the power of blessing, the wisdom of the past, the mystery of an invisible God who oversees history, and a moral code that respects inwardness, practices courtesy and condemns cruelty.

If those fade, then what? The world scrambles to find replacements — conspiracy theories, anti-semitism, the dream of winning the lottery or becoming a high-maintenance celeb. Science becomes the new faith.

Writer Marilynne Robinson says that won’t work.

If you think this focus sounds interesting, you need to make plans to attend another Lipscomb Conference led by David Fleer in October. I’m proud that my alma mater is taking the task seriously to incorporate the story of God into the emerging cultural landscape.

Labels: Lipscomb