Provocate.org

Author, songwriter, and national religious leader Brian D. McLaren along with coach, and consultant Linnea Nilsen Capshaw, invite you to imagine that another world is possible. Take a fresh look at the teachings of Jesus through creative worship stations, original music by Restoration Project, small-group interaction, art and poetry-writing exercises, and multimedia presentations designed to fire our personal and collective imaginations toward solutions for global change.

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“Can citizens understand the war in Iraq without knowing something about Islam? Can they truly engage in thoughtful debate about gay marriage or stem cell research without knowing something about the Bible?” The United States is one of the most religious places on earth, but it’s also a nation that knows little about religion. Stephen Prothero, author of the bestseller Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know — And Doesn’t, pinpoints religious illiteracy as one of our most pressing civic problems. Only through understanding the complexity of the world’s religions, including the diversity within Christianity, can we as a nation imaginatively explore solutions and develop a greater understanding to pressing national and global concerns. If Americans come to appreciate religion better, Prothero argues, they will be able to better evaluate the words and actions of those who claim moral authority.

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“Gender, Race and Religion in American Politics” … anything they aren’t covering at this year’s Bulen Symposium?

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Discuss Stephen Prothero’s New York Times bestseller, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know … And Doesn’t, which won a 2007 Quill Book Award. Dr. Prothero will be lecturing the next Friday, get a head-start on preparing questions with which to test his religious literacy.

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One of the most terrible and terrifying stories from the Bible is Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son Isaac. Such blind and unthinking obedience from Abraham and Isaac, such an assumption of a bloodthirsty and capricious God. We need multiple tellings to make sense of this tale. And then, Provocate asks, what about Wilfred Owen’s telling?

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Frequently misunderstood within Christian circles, the imagination is often either demonized or unreservedly celebrated. How should Chris-tians understand the imagination and what role, if any, should it play in their lives? These questions take on increasing significance in contemporary culture, which seems at times obsessed with the imagination. Dr. Middleton’s lecture will address these questions, while focusing on the possibility of the cultivation and education of the imagination, with especial reference to the thought of the Church Fathers and C. S. Lewis.

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Eboo Patel, founder the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), an international organization that enables young people to bridge religious traditions to serve humanity, visits Indy. His visit will include candid conversations with area high school students hand-selected by their adult advisers; a presentation to college students interested in religious and philanthropic studies; a breakfast dialogue with interfaith clergy, lay leaders, and religion faculty; and a formal luncheon with business executives and civic leaders. Details to be announced.

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Domestic violence often occurs in a predictable pattern. If that pattern is recognized, and those involved seek help from community resources, it is possible to prevent an unfortunate tragedy. Religious groups have to play a big part.

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Discuss the church, food and economy; explore what it means for churches to be faithful witnesses to God’s work of redeeming a fallen creation. Food is one of the basic elements of human life, and yet in many churches there has been little reflection upon how eating habits intersect with the call to live peaceably with all humanity, and indeed all creation. In recent years, there have been plenty of prophetic voices (e.g., Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan) calling us to re-examine how we eat, but how do communities of God’s people respond to these calls? Maybe we eat less. Maybe we eat more local foods. Maybe we work together to grow some of our own food.

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Part of the Hoosier Storytelling Festival will be some workshops and experiences of telling hard-to-believe stories that are true whether they happened or not.

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