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Aug 19, 2022<\/p>\n
Joshua Hren, author of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, As ever, but especially in our But this manifesto on behalf of Links<\/strong><\/p>\n Read a short version of the manifesto\u00a0https:\/\/benedictinstitute.org\/manifesto\/<\/a><\/p>\n Buy the full version of\u00a0Contemplative Realism<\/em> Wiseblood Books https:\/\/www.wisebloodbooks.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n MFA program in creative writing at UST This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like
\neditor-in-chief of Wiseblood Books, and co-founder of a new Master
\nof Fine Arts program in creative writing at the University of St.
\nThomas in Houston, returns to the podcast to discuss his recent
\nessay, Contemplative Realism: A Theological-Aesthetical
\nManifesto<\/em>:<\/p>\n
\npresent age of raging post-truth unreality, we ought to heed Pope
\nBenedict XVI\u2019s summons to \u201cask rather more carefully what \u2018the
\nreal\u2019 actually is.\u201d So-called \u201crealism,\u201d when relegated to material
\ntangibilities, can blind us\u2014instead of binding us\u2014to things as they
\nare. \u201cAre we not interested in the cosmos anymore?\u201d Benedict asks.
\n\u201cAre we today really hopelessly huddled in our own little circle?
\nIs it not important, precisely today, to pray with the whole of
\ncreation?\u201d If this preeminent mind of our time is not wrong, and
\n\u201cthe man who puts to one side the reality of God is a realist only
\nin appearance,\u201d then we ought to ask with unflinching intensity and
\nopenness: what is real? Like liturgy, literature asks this question
\nwith a range of forms that answer it very differently. At times,
\nboth art and worship seem to devolve into the manners and mood of
\nself-referential and inconsequential play, gestures without
\nmeaning, or \u201cbank notes\u201d (says Benedict) \u201cwithout funds to cover
\nthem.\u201d These too-closed circles of communication wall off
\ntranscendence. In living cruciform liturgy\u2014on the contrary\u2014\u201cthe
\ncongregation does not offer its own thoughts or poetry but is taken
\nout of itself and given the privilege of sharing in the cosmic song
\nof praise of the cherubim and seraphim.\u201d In living contemplative
\nliterature something analogous happens: we suffer and praise with
\nthe whole of creation; the prose cultivates a grateful disposition,
\nprompting us to yearn for a vision of the whole.<\/em><\/p>\n
\na \u201ccontemplative realism\u201d makes no claims to create, ex nihilo<\/span>, a new aesthetical species. Nor
\ndoes it advance this rough school of literary fish as some
\npreeminent or sole \u201cway forward\u201d for fiction in our time. Rather,
\nit seeks to articulate a literary approach that exists already in
\ndiffuse books as well as in the potencies of living artists. It
\nseeks to gather and galvanize those souls. More than anything, it
\nyearns to quicken a contemplative realist disposition among as many
\ncomers as possible\u2014literary chops or no. For, in a very bad way (to
\nborrow from Josef Pieper), \u201cman\u2019s ability to see is in
\ndecline.\u201d<\/em> (Publisher’s description)<\/p>\n
\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Contemplative-Realism-Theological-Aesthetical-Joshua-Hren\/dp\/1951319567<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttps:\/\/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<\/a><\/p>\n
\nthe show, please consider supporting us! http:\/\/catholicculture.org\/donate\/audio<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n