This Friday I will be attending a reading by one of Amanda's and my favorite authors, Wendell Berry. Mr. Berry has made his way into many of my blog posts. I have always love Berry's fiction. He writes mostly about the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky. He follows the town and its "membership" through generations. I have just recently begun to read his nonfiction. He writes mostly about Agrarianism. "To Berry, agrarianism is about applying the principles of respectful utilisation of resources to all walks of life." [Prism Magazine] It is a difficult topic. What I have gleaned from my readings of both his fiction and his prose is that we have become a country of disconnected technologs. The next innovation and the lowest price is more important than respect for ourselves or our neighbors. I am hoping to get a little bit more at the solution this weekend. I am digging deeper into his writings and the writings about him. If you're interested, check out Orion Magazine. My friend Jared Friesen turned me on to this. Authors like Rick Bass and David James Duncan also write for Orion.Interestingly enough, Gregg (Amanda's brother) and I began some conversations about similar topics while we were on vacation. We have been continuing those conversations via e-mail this week. I am learning much from his dissection of the points that I raise. I will write more about the reading next week. This is the next step in my journey.
5 comments:
How fun!! His photo is just as I had pictured him.
Thanks for the Orion link. I will find that interesting reading. On the page that you linked me to is "A Wedding Poem" by Chris Dombrowski whom I went to Hope with, who introduced me to Rick Bass, and is now a guide in Missoula while writing poems. Great to see more of his work. We wrote for the Opus mag at Hope at the same time...obviously he did a little more with his poetry than I did. Fun.
Tricia
Wow Wow Wow. Read the David James Duncan article. So much meat to think on! He states many ideas I've felt in my heart, but being a Christian, have been led to believe that my thoughts/heart can't be truly Christian, which makes no sense! According to the GOP ie American evangelicals, I'm supposed to support Bush, the war, drilling for oil, neglect for endangered species and the environment, etc.
What Duncan fails to mention is that the US Democratic party are guilty of the same and other atrocities in different ways, they just don't claim to do it in the name of the Lord.
Is is possible to associate yourself with one political party AND be a person of faith...they seem to all be corrupt. Unfortunately it's up to them to vote for the protection and rights of the people and the condition of the land in which we live!
Interesting topics to ponder. Thanks for hurting my brain :)
Allison,
I too have read the David James Duncan article. While be very enlightening, it is also very biased. You can always read when someone has been hurt by the church. I always feel bad for people who let the things that the church has done cloud their view of Jesus. When one gets to know Jesus and all of the grace, mercy and gifts that he offers and lavishes on us, it truly does seem irresistible.
The issues that you raise though are so important. These are issues of congruence. I think I'll write a whole post about congruence. More to come.
andy
Excuse me for dropping in uninvited, but just found this post via a search for stuff about David James Duncan. The Wendell Berry mention is a nice bonus, hope the reading was good!
Andy - if you read a bit more of Duncan, you'll find that while he is highly critical of the church, he is a self-described "evangelical" (isn't that what he discusses in the Orion article? it's been a while since I've read it). Duncan is a student of many faiths, but has little bad to say about Jesus. :) He truly does seem to "get" Jesus' love and grace, and knowing that only makes the crimes of the church in exploiting and manipulating that message more offensive to him.
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