THE IMAGINARIUM is Cornerstone's annual themed pop-culture extravaganza - one
of the fest's most popular venues! This year, we make a mad swerve from
monsters, fantasy & science fiction into history and politics for some
Colonial Adventures. Our evening film program, "Hollywood-Bollywood,"
explores the subject at hand from two distinctly different angles (if similar
tone). And don't miss our special activities: from Tea & Crumpets to a
Cricket Match to the "British Invasion Dance Party" on Saturday night. Come
join the fun as we "Take up the White Man's Burden" in this exploration of
Deepest, Darkest Empire. God Save the Queen!
2008 IMAGINARIUM SEMINARS HAIL, BRITANNIA: IDOLS OF EMPIRE (Patrick Provost-Smith, 3 sessions) For good or ill, the sun never sets on empire. This crash course on the British Empire and its painfully-mixed legacy offers valuable context for thinking about today's world - neo-colonialism and globalism, the struggle with Islam and proliferation of anti-Western insurgencies. With emphasis on the Victorians, we'll review some of the histories and ideologies of empire, and in particular its complex relationship with religion. Imperial highlights will include European expansion in Africa and Asia, the slave trade, the Charge of the Light Brigade, Gladstone vs. Disraeli, the Indian Raj, the Scramble for Africa, and the consequent post-colonial realities that we live with today. MISSIONS & EMPIRE (DR. LIVINGSTONE, I PRESUME?) (Scott Sunquist, 3 sessions) "Christian Empire" - a contradiction in terms? How did Britain's racist "Civilizing Mission" entangle with Christian missions? Was religious faith used to baptize and legitimize cultural superiority and political/economic domination? Should Christians be embarrassed by, and apologize for 19th century missions? Did the Empire actually advance Christianity - or Islam? This seminar untangles mixed motives, agendas and legacies of British Christianity under empire - without ignoring questions of arguable benefits of colonial influence, and dicier issues of Divine action and individual responsibility in history. As a side benefit, we will meet some very interesting people — mostly dead. COLONIALISM, EMPIRE & MYTH (J. Robert Parks, 3 sessions) Hollywood colonial adventures offer the same satisfactions of myth people get from stories of fairies and aliens. Yet there is real history at stake (or distorted) here, and real peoples affected by this mythmaking - and satisfying myths have always driven the engine of empire. This seminar explores how image-making leads to myths and how those myths affect our ideas of personal and national identity as well as the stories we tell about ourselves... and others. DOROTHY SAYERS vs. C. S. LEWIS (Crystal Downing, 3 sessions) If C. S. Lewis is the Elvis of Evangelicals, Dorothy Sayers is the Elvira: not easily assimilated by that mainstream. This seminar explores the life and thought of a woman who could hold her own with Lewis - even in disagreement. And those disagreements will be probed for relevancies to life in our own postmodern (or even postEvangelical) times. LEGENDS, FOLKLORE, SUPERSTITIONS, FAITH (Bill Ellis, 3 sessions) Terms like "myth" and "folklore" are used by some to dismiss stories taken seriously by others. To a professional folklorist, such terms identify stories always taken seriously, because they embody elements of life human beings consider worth preserving. This seminar explores folklore studies and its relevance for all of us. Learn what roles urban myths, beliefs, rituals, games, folktales, legends, proverbs and riddles play in our lives, including religious and political spheres. DRACULA, MYTH & FACT (J. Gordon Melton, 3 sessions) Dracula has long been a cultural icon in the West, with an enduring fandom and even would-be imitators. Meanwhile, Dracula is a symbol of a different sort for the Romanians, a genuine national hero - and a myth with its own complexities. This seminar explores the history of and behind the Dracula legend, along with the process and moral ambiguities of myth-making. THE GOD WHO LOVES MONSTERS: TOWARD A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF MONSTERS (Daniel Otto Jack Peterson, 1 session) What are we to make of Behemoths and lycanthropes and Leviathans thrashing within the pages of Holy Writ? Or the chilling cherubic beings and nightmare nation-beast-amalgamations haunting the prophetic imagination? What are these and other inspired horrors, by turns hellish and holy, trying to tell us about God and God's world and even what it means to be human? FROM HER TO ETERNITY: NICK CAVE AS CHRISTIAN APOLOGIST (Daniel Otto Jack Peterson, 1 session) Nick Cave's spiritual journey has taken him from a gothic, often seedy post-punk murder-balladeer to self-professed "Christian apologist," who sings lines like: "Get ready for Love! Praise Him!" and "who will pause to see the mystery of the Word?" ? Is Cave translating the Gospel into contemporary culture, or is he transforming Christian doctrine into something other than its historic meaning? Come wrestle with one of Jesus' most intriguing contemporary followers. For more 2008 Cornerstone Festival seminars, see cstoneXchange.
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