Sunday 9 October 2011

Audio lecture: the aesthetics of Christian mission

Last night I had a wonderful time giving a lecture to the Uniting Church's Queensland Synod on "The Aesthetics of Christian Mission". There's an audio recording here (the lecture starts at about 7 minutes – it goes for about 45 minutes, followed by a brief response and some Q&A). The video clip halfway through the lecture is this one:



And here are some suitably deranged snaps from the Synod website:


11 Comments:

notjustabewilderedape said...

''the church is a kind of flash mob'' - I can see how that would work. Also it is good you brought up the online gaming/social networking environment, this is an area of mission seemingly misunderstood and perhaps misused (if not ignored by the majority) by the Church.

DWLINDEMAN said...

Self-effacing. Understandable. When I was in grad school, we did not see photographs of art historians until they were retired (Festschrift) or dead (Obituary). The electronic revolution has changed all that, of course. I recall seeing B.F. Skinner lecture. He came off as nearly robotic, as though he had already carried out the absurd tests in Walden Two on himself. If "deranged" implies "toward emotion", I see no problem with that. Photographs are often regarded as revealing, however, they contain a problematic bias to the instant, precluding before and after the instant. Since this photographer, is neither Karsh of Ottawa (modern hagiography) nor Avedon (modern dystopia), I think he/she can be forgiven.

Ben Myers said...

Apparently the next day a flash mob was staged during the Synod - I wish I'd been there to see it!

DWLINDEMAN said...

NB: W/Reg. to my previous anecdote about the psychologist B.F. Skinner: it may be that he was an extremely shy person, or, especially self-absorbed (as would befit a research scientist), or both. My point was to the various issues surrounding self-presentation in a lecture, not a characterization of someone I actually knew.

Anon said...

"the church is a flash mob planted secretly in the world, waiting to surprise the world with glimpses of glory..." Great stuff!

Moriarty99 said...

Johnny Depp visited your church,synod ,temple or whatever? Fockin A,blokes.

notjustabewilderedape said...

lol. Ben does strike a resemblance to J.D.

Ben Myers said...

For me, an epic compliment: for him, a humiliating insult! :)

Paul Clark said...

We flash mobbed at Synod the next day Ben!

Paul Clark said...

Yep, a bunch of theol students and extras like me [Gen X Min] flash mobbed the song, "My God is soooo Big!" with actions, each line coming from around the venue, standing on chairs.

Ben Myers said...

I salute you!

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