Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12 — The Georgia Bulletin, February 5, 1987
Christian Writers, Artists Are I Medjugorje
Subject Of Bookstore Lectures Further Study
BY CHRIS VALLEY
The sign in front of the building at 2495 Lawrenceville
Highway in Decatur reads, “Cokesbury Bookstore — Books
and Church Supplies.” But periodically the building is
transformed into more than a store. It becomes a focal
point for ecumenical dialogue, as it is the home of the “Lec
tures on the Christian Classics” series.
Periodically, from 20 to 80 people gather in the con
ference room at the bookstore on a Saturday afternoon to
hear speakers and to participate in discussion on the works
of major figures in literature, theology and the arts. The
lectures are free and open to the public.
“Our purpose is to show the richness and depth of Chris
tianity, as translated by artists, poets, novelists, and not
just by theologians,” says Stephen Hemphill, Cokesbury's
director of educational seminars.
Hemphill initiated the lecture series in the summer of
1982. He contacted Dr. Dabney Hart at Georgia State
University, a scholar on Christian novelist and commen
tator C.S. Lewis. Hart’s lecture launched the series.
Subsequent speakers over the past four years have in
cluded faculty from Agnes Scott, Emory, Georgia State,
Mercer, and writers and artists from the Atlanta area. Deal
Hudson, chairman of the philosophy department at Mercer
University-Atlanta, works with Hemphill to identify poten
tial lecturers.
“We try to have a mix of Catholic and Protestant writers
and composers,” Hemphill explains.
Besides the lecture on C.S. Lewis, the series has included
talks on Jacques Maritain, St. Thomas Aquinas, John
Milton and “Paradise Lost," Catherine Evans on modern
art, Flannery O’Connor, and “Christ and Poetry.'”
Upcoming is a lecture by Tom Key, actor, producer and
star of “The Cotton Patch Gospel” on Walker Percy (Feb.
21 at 2 p.m.), and one by Emory professor of theology Don
Saliers on Bach and his music (March 14 at 2 p.m ).
“Too often in the popular view, Christianity is seen as
narrow and myopic in contrast to secular culture," says
Hemphill. “We want to educate the public and share the
richness of the Christian tradition by presenting examples
such as John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins or Bach — ar
tists and craftsmen as well as Christians."
Hemphill has a long list of subjects he would like to have
treated in this series. One is Danish Protestant theologian
Soren Kierkegaard’s contribution to Christian literature.
Another is an appraisal of the work of Julian Green, an
American writing in French. Green’s novel about St. Fran
cis of Assisi, “God’s Fool,” recently was published in
TOM KEY, star of The Cotton Patch Gospel,
will be a speaker on Walker Percy in the series
of lectures at the Decatur bookstore.
English by Harper and Row. Others include Dostoevsky.
Tolstoy, G.K. Chesterton, and Tolkien.
As a spinoff from the lecture series, Hemphill hopes to in
itiate poetry readings, exhibits of visual arts such as
photography, and writers’ seminars.
“There are thirty-eight Cokesbury bookstores nation
wide," notes Hemphill. “I see ours as a pilot project. Some
day I hope to videotape our lectures and circulate the tapes
among our stores in other cities."
The Cokesbury bookstores are retail outlets of the United
Methodist Church. The name “Cokesbury" comes from the
last names of two eighteenth century Methodist “circuit-
rider" ministers: Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury. Coke
and Asbury rode horseback in the Northeast and
throughout Georgia and Florida to bring Christianity to
isolated communities.
If Hemphill’s dream of videotaping and distributing the
“Lectures on the Christian Classics” nationwide becomes
reality, it will be a fitting tribute to the work of Coke and
Asbury: a form of “circuit-rider" ministry for the twen
tieth century.
Of Apparitions
BY JOHN THAVIS
NC News Service
The Yugoslavian bishops' conference is forming a
new commission to study reported Marian appari
tions in the country, a statement by two bishops said.
At the request of the Vatican Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, the commission will carry out
“further explorations" of events at Medjugorje, a
village in western Yugoslavia where the apparitions
have been reported since 1981. the statement said.
An earlier commission appointed by Bishop Pavao
Zanic of Mostar-Duvno, the diocese that includes
Medjugorje, finished its work last year and forward
ed its findings to the doctrinal congregation. The con
gregation has asked a new commission on a national
level to continue to gather information about the ap
paritions' authenticity, the bishops said.
The Jan. 9 statement was signed by Bishop Zanic
and Cardinal Franjo Kuharic of Zagreb, president of
the bishops' conference. It was published Jan. 14 in
Yugoslavia's Catholic weekly, “Glac Konhlia"
(Voice of the Council.)
The statement reiterated that until the church
makes a judgment on the apparitions’ authenticity,
church organizations should not make official
pilgrimages to Medjugorje. The doctrinal congrega
tion made a similar request in 1985.
The apparitions to six young people reportedly
began in a field outside the town and later moved to a
small chapel in St. James Church in Medjugorje. Ac
cording to supporters, the young people see, hear and
touch Mary during regular visions in the chapel.
Some have said the youths have been given secret
“messages" foretelling world events.
The debate over the authenticity of the visions has
caused divisions among Yugoslavian Catholics.
Bishop Zanic has publicly questioned the apparitions,
and the earlier commission said it had found
"disciplinary and theological difficulties" in the
events.
Others have strongly supported their authenticity,
and Medjugorje has continued to be a popular
pilgrimage spot.
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