Speaker's Corner is Upon Us

Tomorrow night is the night when Speaker's Corner officially inaugurates.

A few final details: when you come, come a bit early. When we run out of space we will have to stop letting people in. That is the happy reality of keeping to fire safety.

You can find a campus map here. The list of buildings is in alphabetical order. You can park underneath the soccer field where there is sure to be parking or in the lot just in front of Hope, if there are any spots available. Biola has instituted an "open parking" policy that makes it a bit difficult for visitors.

Hope Hall, however, is hard to miss. You can see the red and yellow "mammoth" (as it was almost named!) here.

We are very excited to have you come tomorrow. Bring a friend and come prepared to enjoy a night of good conversation among friends.

Speaker's Corner: Seeing Life through Painting, Poetry, and Film.
Hope Hall Lobby
7-9 pm.
Free coffee.
Dr. John Mark Reynolds.
Dr. Fred Sanders.
Tim Bartel.


Micah Snell.

Welcome

A hearty welcome to those who are visiting from The Director's site. We're awfully proud of him here at THI, especially now that he has taken the plunge into talk radio, a place as natural to him as, oh, everything else he does.

I should point out (though you'll notice he omitted it!) that we're giving him his own corner this coming Wednesday. He'll be wrapping things up for us. If you've ever heard him speak, you know he is well worth the trip. And even if you think he isn't, the free coffee is, right?

On Free Coffee

I've been told that some people will drive across town for free coffee.

In hopes of that happening, I hereby announce that Speaker's Corner will provide free coffee.

Coffee has turned into a pre-requisite for good conversation. In England, the pubs are the meeting-points, the places where people gather (even though this grand tradition is slowly dying). Americans treat coffee-houses the way British people treat pubs--as places to gather, enjoy drinks, and above all, to converse with one another. Though (alas!) this grand tradition is slowly dying in England, it is still alive and kicking in America. As Starbucks formularized the coffee-house, Christopher Phillips' Socrates Cafe's programmatized the discussion.

So, in the name of the grand tradition of joining drink with talk, Speaker's Corner brings to you free coffee.

Wednesday, March 16th, 2005.
Biola University Hope Hall
7:00-9:00

On the Experimental Nature of Speaker's Corner

What is Speaker's Corner?

Speaker's Corner is a night of interactive presentations on Life. Three presenters, one each for poetry, film, and painting will engage the audience, but all three will be presenting simultaneously. The result will be the marketplace of ideas, brought to life. The result will be Speaker's Corner reproduced in La Mirada.

We are attempting to change how Christians gather and learn together. Contemporary methods usually amount to a lecture with some questions and answers (if there's time) afterward. At Speaker's Corner, we will provide a forum for people to critically engage each other as well as the presenters in order to foster fruitful dialogue and deep thinking. Having the presentations happen simultaneously will mean smaller audience's for each presenter, which means a cozier, more intimate learning environment as well as greater flexibility for those who get engrossed in one topic.

Again, Speaker's Corner is an experiment, but one we are convinced you'll love. On Wednesday, March 16th (one week from tomorrow), from 7:00-9:00 you will have your opportunity to experience the next wave in seminars.

For those who are frightened away by the new format, we've also built in to the evening a special talk by Dr. John Mark Reynolds. Anyone who has ever heard Dr. Reynolds or has read his blog knows that he is worth the price admission himself. Oh, and did I mention it's free?

Before there was Blogging.

Before there was blogging, there was "Speaker's Corner."

In Hyde Park, London, is a corner where Londoners come to preach, where Londoners come to discuss. This place is known as "Speaker's Corner."

Now the Torrey Honors Institute of Biola University is bringing Speaker's Corner to Los Angeles. Come hear thoughtful people who are creating art opine on their subjects, and come prepared to interact throughout their presentation. If you walk away with unanswered questions, you will have no one to blame but yourself. If you hate lectures, you'll love this.

Wednesday, March 16th, at Hope Hall of Biola University, we will inaugurate Speaker's Corner: Seeing Life through Painting, Poetry, and Film. Joe Carter of Evangelical Outpost has recently been blogging about the contemporary artworld. In his latest post on the topic, he writes:

But for Christians to salvage the visual arts we first must recognize the importance of art in creation. We must recognize, as Francis Shaffer contends in “Art and the Bible”, that art is important for those who take the Lordship of Christ seriously:

The arts and the sciences do have a place in the Christian life – they are not peripheral. For a Christian, redeemed by the work of Christ and living within the norms of Scripture and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the Lordship of Christ should include an interest in the arts. A Christian should use these arts to the glory of God – not just as tracts, but as things of beauty to the praise of God. An art work can be a doxology in itself.

Can Christians save the visual arts? Can we lift it out of the realm of toilets and theories and help restore its proper place in creation? I think we can. In the next posts, I’ll outline a modest proposal for how we can begin the process.

We would like to help in the process. If Christians are to redeem the artworld, they must try to understand the artworld. Insert Speaker's Corner, a one-night crash course in how three artists in three different artfields have depicted life. But remember--it's a night of discussion, and ultimately our presenters may learn something from you.

More details to follow.