Reflections on faith, imagination and creativity will take center stage at an upcoming campus event featuring poet and literary scholar Malcolm Guite. An Anglican priest and chaplain at the University of Cambridge, Guite is known for his work on writers such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and for exploring the relationship between Christianity and the arts.
In addition to speaking in chapel on Wednesday, Feb. 4, Guite will be speaking at an event hosted by the Asbury University Honors Program entitled “Image and Imagination: some reflections on the creative imagination as an aspect of the Imago Dei.”
“Talks like this are designed to open up the topic of inherent human value and reflections on the social virtues that are required in the light of that bestowed value” stated Dr. Paul Nesselroade, psychology professor and director of the honors program. “It is the hope of the AUHP that through this event and others like it that all students, in the AUHP or otherwise, will be drawn deeper into the ongoing human conversation as to who we are, who is the other, and how we are to treat each other,” he continued.
According to Nesselroade, the themes Guite will address are particularly relevant in the current cultural moment. Questions of identity and value, he said, sit beneath many of today’s social, political and communal conversations. These discussions are often shaped by unexamined assumptions about what it means to be human and how individuals relate to one another.
“There has never been a better time for our assumptions about the human story to be brought up for inspection, critique and improvement,” Nesselroade said. “The hope is that a richer understanding of Christian anthropology will allow for more productive political, social, and interpersonal conversations.”
Guite’s visit offers students an opportunity to engage these questions through the lens of faith, literature and imagination, encouraging thoughtful reflection on how creativity and belief inform both personal identity and life in community.
The event will take place on Monday, February 2, at 7 p.m., in the Shaw CLC auditorium and is open to all students, faculty and community members.
