You Tube Theology

In the thirty-second episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Jeremy Begbie, the Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Research Professor of Theology at Duke University. Begbie opens by discussing the role of the imagination, the ways appreciation for the imagination waned in terms of perceived dependability through Enlightenment, and the renewal of interest the imagination experienced in recent years. In unique ways, Begbie contends, music brings individuals into expressions of the true, the beautiful, and the good in ways that defy reductionistic thinking, firing a properly ordered imagination. Begbie discusses his own calling to Christianity, how music came first but then, when theology also proved critical, it opened previously undiscovered horizons that neither music nor theology alone could have opened. While it took time, Begbie came to view his calling as one that lived at the intersection between music and theology, deriving deep joy from performing but also from mining the riches of Scripture and doctrine. Those insights then animate Begbie’s own writing as well as the leadership he currently seeks to provide the Duke Initiative in Theology and the Arts (DITA. Music plays a critical role in DITA’s offerings. Those offerings, however, also include dance, writing, and painting, all oriented as means of teaching theology. Begbie then concludes by offering his understanding of the academic vocation, one in which he believes patience is important. Patience then also proves critical in reminding scholars across all disciplines that mastery of the true, the good, and the beautiful remains illusive this side of eternity.