NEWSLETTER #27

FALL 2007

On the cover of William Edgar's book The Face of Truth, there is an image of a painting by Mako Fujimura.  It is abstract and, I confess, does not make an immediate impression on me.  I am busy, and turn past it quickly, anxious to get to the message and substance of the book.

And yet I pause, more out of duty than desire.  I know Edgar and Fujimura well enough to know that there is something of substance here.  I also know that, despite my appetite for accumulating information, imagination matters.

Chesterton tells the story of a boy in a park annoyed by the wind in his face.  "Well," the boy said to his mother, "why don't you take away the trees, and then it wouldn't wind."  The  anecdote illustrates the materialist fallacy that what is visible is always and everywhere the real cause behind the invisible.  According to the Christian imagination, Chesterton suggests, it is usually the other way around.

Fujimura, I think, would agree.  His painting, entitled Grace Foretold, was occasioned by a visit to Niagara Falls.  In it, gold (a symbol of divinity) cascades down onto silver (a symbol of death).    "I have used the image of cascading gold as a metaphor," Fujimura writes.  "It speaks of the City of God descending among the cities of men."  The painting is from a series entitled Images of Grace.  "Grace," he writes, "is like this cascading gold. Like the Niagara Falls, a costly city of God may overwhelm us, and such vision captures us both inescapably and irreversibly."

Like Fujimura, I too visited Niagara Falls recently with one of my children.  To me, it was beautiful--an exhibit of God's creativity and power.  But it did not turn my thoughts to the City of God descending to the cities of men.  Which is why I need people like Fujimura, artists to whom God has given the gift of seeing further.  Without  his help, my vision, like the child is Chesterton's story, is woefully inadequate.

The truly remarkable thing is this.  Not only do waterfalls now remind me of God's cascading grace (for those of us who live in Ithaca, that alone is priceless!)  More than that, I now understand grace a little bit better.  What is grace?  We can only understand the transcendent or spiritual by way of reference to the immanent or material.  Grace, I now know, is like a waterfall.  It is attractive yet dangerous, useful yet untamable.  And its effect is to smooth and transform what is below--gradually.

Fujimura, an acclaimed Japanese-American painter and the youngest person ever to be given a presidential appointment to the National Council on the Arts, will be our guest later this week.  More information on his visit and other upcoming events may be found below.

Speaking of grace, we are grateful to all you who are the means of God's provision for the resources necessary to sustain this ministry.  We will be sending our annual end-of-year update out in the mail in a few weeks, and hope you will prayerfully consider joining those who partner with us by praying for and giving to the ministry.

With gratitude for your interest and support,

Karl E. Johnson

Director

 

"Beauty and Being Human"

Mako Fujimura, Artist & Founder, International Arts Movement

6th Floor, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

"Being a Child of the Creative Age"

Mako Fujimura, Artist & Founder, International Arts Movement

First Congregational Church of Ithaca

"Title: TBA"

Owen Gingerich, Astronomer & Historian of Science, Harvard University

Inaugural Beggs Lecture

Statler Auditorium

"Coercing Conscience: The Myth of Religiously Neutral Public Schools & Universities"

Dr. Richard A. Baer, Professor Emeritus, Natural Resources, Cornell

Graduate Christian Fellowship Roundtable

Edwards Room, Anabel Taylor Hall

Rev. Dr. Stephen Um, Author and Pastor, Citylife Church, Boston

Institute of Biblical Studies

"The Great Divorce"

One-man play featuring Tony Lawton

Location: TBA

All Chesterton House events are open to the public.

Mako Fujimura's work, which explores a fusion of contemporary American abstract expressionism with the traditional Japanese art of Nihonga, has been exhibited all over the world. In addition to being the youngest person ever to be given a Presidential appointment to the National Council on the Arts, he is also the youngest artist ever to have had a piece acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.  As artist and Critic Robert Kushner put it, "The idea of forging a new kind of art, about hope, healing, redemption, refuge, while maintaining visual sophistication and intellectual integrity is a growing movement, one which finds Fujimura's work at the vanguard."  Fujimura is also the founder of the International Arts Movement (IAM), a vibrant movement of Christian artists in New York City.  Last year Chesterton House helped a number of Cornell students attend this conference. 

Website:   http://www.makotofujimura.com/

Blog:   http://makotofujimura.blogspot.com/

IAM:   http://www.iamny.org/

IMAGE feature:  http://www.imagejournal.org/aom/fujimura_mako.asp

Essays:    http://www.leaderu.com/focus/fujimura.html

On Wednesday, November 14th, Harvard astronomer and historian of science Owen Gingerich will give the inaugural Beggs Lecture at Cornell.  Gingerich is a highly regarded astronomer, and formerly served as senior astronomer at the Smithsonian Observatory.  He is also one of the foremost commentators on the interface of science and religion, his most recent book being God's Universe (Belknap, 2006).  The Beggs Lecture is presented by Cornell United Religious Work, and co-sponsored by Chesterton House.  More information on Gingerich, including many links to his writings, may be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Gingerich.

Speaking of William Edgar, the CD's of the Heaven in a Nightclub concert are being pressed as you read this.  Save the Date:  They will be available for purchase on CDBaby.com by November 20th.  The recording is really terrific, and could be an excellent Christmas gift for someone you know.  All proceeds from the CD go to support the work of the Chesterton House ministry. 

On Sunday evening, September 2nd, our friend and brother Christian Anible passed away, thereby entering into his eternal rest and the unveiled presence of the Lord.  Christian was on staff with InterVarsity at Cornell and served as a founding board member of Chesterton House.  For those who knew Christian but were unable to join us for his service, audio and video of the service may be found at http://www.newlifepc.net/anible.html.  The Heaven in a Nightclub CD is dedicated to Christian. 

J.R.R. Tolkien

http://www.chestertonhouse.org