What’s the Story? (1)

 

I. Required readings

 

 

 

Jonah 1-4

Luke 1-4

 

Christian Biography for the Day: Hildegard of Bingen

 

Reflect on the two artistic representations to the right and the familiar stories behind them:

 

Jacqui Banaszynski, “Why We Need Stories”
(Copyrighted article available through Canvas)

 

Chimamanda Adichie, "How to tell a story" (Ted Talk)

 

"Seeing White" Podcast, Episode 1 ("Turning the Lens" 16 m) and Episode 2 ("How Race was Made" 28 m)


  

 

II. Quotations for the day

 

"A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species Homo sapiens--second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative, and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to the vast incommunicable constructs of psychopaths."

--Reynolds Price, A Palpable God

 

 “Jesus was not a theologian.  He was God who told stories.”

            --Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

           

III. Journal prompts

 

1. What do you learn about God’s character by reading the book of Jonah? 

 

2. Much of the opening four chapters of Luke is very familiar. Try to read slowly and notice things you haven’t before.  If you had never heard this set of stories before, what do you think would most surprise you about the God revealed in and through them?

 

3. If one of the main ways (if not the main way) we come to understand ourselves and the world around us is through stories, it probably makes sense to pay attention to the storytellers who shape our imaginations.  Who do you think are some of the most influential storytellers in our society and what are some of the primary “storylines” that we are offered through which to make sense of our lives? (Don’t limit yourself to individuals here; the Banaszynski article above reminds us, for example, that journalists rightly think of themselves as storytellers.)

 

 4. What resonates with you about the story Chimamanda Adichie tells about the dangers of a single story and the ways this contributes to the development of dangerous stereotypes?  Where have you seen this happen in your own life?

 

5. In Episode 2 of "Seeing White," the podcast tells a story of how the concept of "race" came into existence.  Which parts of this story do you think are most significant and why?  What do you make of their suggestion that "race" is not a biologically coherent notion but does still have enormous cultural and social power?

 

IV. Links of possible interest

 

Are you interested in learning a bit more about Hildegard’s music?  If so, read the excellent introduction to this topic here.

 

Since 2003, award-winning documentary producer Dave Isay has been involved in a massive national oral history project called StoryCorps.  This project is intended to collect hundreds of thousands of stories from everyday Americans.  Isay writes:

 

"Over the past year and a half, we've seen the profound effect StoryCorps has had on the lives of those who have participated in the project, and we've seen the power that these stories have had on the millions who have heard them. We believe that listening is an act of love. StoryCorps will engage communities, teach participants to become better listeners, foster intergenerational communication and help Americans appreciate the strength in the stories of everyday people they find all around them."

 

Click here to listen to some of these powerful stories.

 

There’s a rapidly expanding movement in the business world called (among other things) “Corporate Storytelling.”  Click here for a brief introduction to why businesses have to pay serious attention to the importance of stories.

 

The International Storytelling Center is located in nearby Jonesborough, Tennessee (about 15-20 minutes from campus).  Among other things, the center sponsors the annual National Storytelling Festival which attracts thousands of people to this area each fall.