ETF #1: Aslan's Forum

As I begin this project of Embracing the Funk (ETF), I'm going to start with Aslan's Forum--partly because it's on my mind today, and partly because its contribution to the funk is minimal.

Aslan's Forum is a readers' forum at Oak Hills Baptist Church. The forum, originally facilitated by Wendell Hoffman, was a big reason why my wife and I chose to attend Oak Hills. Moving from the Dallas metroplex to Sioux Falls, I had pretty much given up on the possibility of having a thoughtful, intellectual reading group, or something like Denton Bible Church's Lay Institute. But, when we visited Oak Hills, the sign for Aslan's Forum was stading smack-dab in the middle of the hallway. The group became a real blessing for me.

The forum continues to provide a number of blessings, as I get to enable and participate in an ongoing discussion of books that both interrogate and support the Christian faith. In some ways, Aslan's Forum is what I wish teaching could be--interested and engaged readers gathering to learn from one another. (On the best of days, that's what the classroom can be like.)

Aslan's rarely contributes to the funk. There are, of course, moments when one wishes turnout was greater, but I'm thankful for the core group of regular attenders who allow me to learn from them. There are, also, times when I think I ought to be reading other poets, criticism, etc., in order to reinvigorate my writing life. But the books and the discussions associated with Aslan's Forum provide the sort of nourishment that shapes my thinking about my faith and my world, thereby serving any writing I do, rather than detracting from it. And, the forum comprises my most consistent means of serving and ministering inside the church, which I think is vitally important.

For those who might be interested, the reading list for 2006-2007 is included below. Anyone interested in participating can obtain more details from the web site for Aslan's Forum.

• October 2006: Stephen Prothero's American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a Cultural Icon
  
• November 2006: Kathleen Norris's Dakota: A Spiritual Geography
  
• December 2006: Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz
  
• February 2007: Andrew Beaujon's Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock
  
• March 2007: Marilynne Robinson's Gilead
  
• April 2007: J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
  
• May 2007: C. S. Lewis's The Four Loves
  

Aslan's Forum: 2005-2006

For the past couple of years, I've facilitated a readers' forum at Oak Hills Baptist Church. The forum, titled Aslan's Forum, was started in the late 90s by Wendell Hoffman.

The forum was a big reason why my wife and I chose to attend Oak Hills. Moving from the Dallas metroplex to Sioux Falls, I had pretty much given up on the possibility of having a thoughtful, intellectual reading group, or something like Denton Bible Church's Lay Institute. But, when we visited Oak Hills, the sign for Aslan's Forum was stading smack-dab in the middle of the hallway. The group became a real blessing for me.

Now that I'm facilitating the group, the hardest part of the job is compiling the list of books to be read during a given year. I get several helpful suggestions from group members, but much of the process consists of me putting together a list of books that I find compelling, and then tweaking the list in hopes that it is perceived as intellectually rigorous and compelling without being too academic. I'm never sure if I succeed.

The reading list for 2005-2006 was generated with a loose theme centering on the senses. Four of the seven books have some connection with one of the senses. Of course, some of those books are more closely connected with the senses than others. In any event, here's the reading list for the next year. It goes public in September. Anyone interested in participating can obtain more details from the web site for Aslan's Forum.

• October 2005: C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
  
• November 2005: Philip Yancey's Rumors of Another World
  
• December 2005: Bill McKibben's Hundred Dollar Holiday
  
• February 2006: Henri Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son
  
• March 2006: Robin Jensen's The Substance of Things Seen
  
• April 2006: Michael Schut's Food & Faith: Justice, Joy, and Daily Bread
  
• May 2006: Richard Mouw's The Smell of Sawdust
  

Practice

For the next Aslan's Forum at Oak Hills Baptist Church, we're discussing Lauren Winner's Mudhouse Sabbath. Having grown up Jewish and converted to Christianity in her college years, Winner reflects upon Jewish practices that she misses, "places where Christians have some things to learn"(ix). The following passage convicts me every time I read this book.

Jews do these things with more attention and wisdom not because they are more righteous nor because God likes them better, but rather because doing, because action, sits at the center of Judaism. Practice is to Judaism what belief is to Christianity.(ix)

Certainly, I'm thankful that my ability to have a relationship with Christ is based upon faith rather than works. And, certainly, in a mature Christianity the dichotomy between belief and practice becomes almost a false one, as the two undergird and support one another. I do think, however, that perhaps the pendulum has swung a bit too far in one direction. I fear that most of us--myself included--too easily dismiss the spiritual disciplines meant to enrich and deepen our faith and steady us in those times when belief lags or wavers. Combine this tendency with R. R. Reno's discussion of acedia (see previous post), and we risk cultivating a faith that remains incredibly abstract and qualified.

As an academic, I believe in critical distance. I sometimes wonder, however, if our embrace of critical distance is pursued as a corrective to an un-practiced belief. I suspect the conviction I feel from Winner's passage is sparked by the likelihood that critical distance (which comes fairly easily) must be combined with spritiual discipline (much more difficult) if our belief is to purposeful, tangible, and vital.