August 19, 2022
Joshua Fullen, author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, editor-in-chief of Wiseblood Books, and co-founder of the new Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, shares his recent A podcast that talks about the essays of Contemplative Realism: A Theological Aesthetic Manifesto:
As ever, but especially in this era of post-truth unreality, we should heed Pope Benedict XVI’s call to “ask more carefully what ‘reality’ really is.” It is. So-called “realism”, when relegated to material concreteness, can blind us to things instead of binding them to what they really are. “Are we not interested in space anymore?” Benedict asks. “Are we really hopelessly confined today to our own little circles? Isn’t it important today that we pray together with the whole of creation?” If this outstanding spirit of our time If this is true, and “those who set aside the reality of God are realists only in appearance,” then with unflinching intensity and frankness we should ask, “What is real? ?” should be asked. Like liturgy, literature asks this question in different ways, and the answers vary widely. Sometimes both art and worship degenerate into self-referential and trivial games, meaningless gestures, or the manners and atmosphere of “banknotes” (according to Benedict) “with no funds to cover them.” It looks like it is. These closed circles of communication separate us from transcendence. In the Liturgy of the Living Cross, on the contrary, “the congregation does not contribute its own thoughts and poems, but is separated from itself and privileged to share universal songs of praise in praise of the cherubim and seraphim.” Something similar happens in living contemplative literature. We suffer and praise along with all creation. Prose fosters a sense of gratitude and encourages us to long for the vision of the whole.
However, this manifesto representing “contemplative realism” does not advocate the following. Former Nihiroa new aesthetic species. Nor does it advance this wild school of literary fish as the preeminent or only “advancement” of modern fiction. Rather, it seeks to articulate not only the potential of living artists, but also the literary approaches already present in popular books. It is trying to collect and activate those souls. Above all, this work aspires to foster a contemplative realist disposition, literary or otherwise, in as many participants as possible. For in a very negative sense (in the words of Joseph Pieper) “man’s ability to see is diminishing.” (Publisher’s description)
link
Read the short version of the manifesto https://benedictinstitute.org/manifesto/
Buy the full version of meditative realism
https://www.amazon.com/Contemplative-Realism-Theological-Aesthetical-Joshua-Hren/dp/1951319567
wise blood book https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/
UST’s MFA Program in Creative Writing
https://www.stthom.edu/Academics/School-of-Arts-and-Sciences/Division-of-Liberal-Studies/Graduate/Master-of-Fine-Arts-in-Creative-Writing/Index.aqf? Aquifer_Source_URL=%2FMFA&PNF_Check=1
This podcast is produced by CatholicCulture.org. If you like our show, please consider supporting us. http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Source: The Catholic Culture Podcast – catholicculturepodcast.libsyn.com
