I wonder what I’m getting myself into.

I wonder what I’m getting myself into.Tonight I attend the interview with David Adams Richards as part of the Lorenzo Reading Series. My girlfriend and I attended a reading he gave on campus a few years ago and had a wonderful time. To hear Richards read from his works, giving the characters the proper colloquialisms and dialects, really aids in bringing his stories to life. But his new book, God Is, is quite different from anything I’ve read from Richards in the past. For one thing, it’s non-fiction. Secondly, its described on the book jacket as “a subtly argued, highly personal polemic” where “David Adams Richards insists that the presence of God cannot be denied.” As a life-long atheist, I wonder what I’m getting myself into.
Did you ever have one of those moments when you learned too much about one of your favorite artists? For instance, I remember when I found out that one of my favorite musicians, Beck, was a (GASP!) scientologist. Now, I believe to each their own, especially when it comes to faith, but I have to admit that listening to Beck right after I found out he was a scientologist felt weird. I wasn’t judging him(well not intentionally), but it was really hard to think of him in the previous light.
Don’t get me wrong, context is great. And personally the proper contextualization can make me appreciate any type of art. If the real-life story behind a work of art is compelling, then usually the art is too, at least that’s been my experience.
However, I must admit I’m a little torn. Richards is an educated and well-respected man. If he is coming on campus to argue Christian faith, then I think I may have a problem with that. Do we really need another person to argue for Christian faith, especially at an academic institution of all places? I wonder what I’m getting myself into.

Advertisement