PROGRAM:
Series Theme: Wedded to the Creative Imagination from the beginning, Christianity has sometimes found the marriage troubled, and it has been more fruitful at some times than at others. By “creative imagination” is meant the use of images, stories, and literary themes to illustrate and even advance the Christian mind or world view in popular piety as well as high art. This lecture series concentrates on the unparalleled cultural effects that the historic Christian experience has fostered through the use of the creative imagination in art, architecture, music, and literature.

Time: 7:30 p.m. followed by a reception
Speaker: Dr. Deal W. Hudson, editor and publisher of Crisis magazine
Topic: “Christianity and the Creative Imagination.”

Dr. Hudson will address the debate between those who espouse propositional truths– theologians and philosophers — and the artists whose work often elicits life-changing passions. In what sense can a person be converted by beauty to a life that genuinely embraces propositional truth? Isn’t it the case that apologists for beauty often want to downplay propositional truth for a morally or spiritually admirable life? Isn’t it the case that the fear of beauty and criticism of the artist stems from a fear of disordering passion? He will also consider the phenomenon of conversion, coming from his personal experience converting to Catholicism, that often emerges within the tension between propositional truth and aesthetic experience.

Deal W. Hudson is publisher and editor of CRISIS Magazine, a Catholic monthly published in Washington, DC. His articles and comments have been published in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, National Review, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Village Voice, Roll Call, National Journal, The Economist, and by the Associated Press.

During 1999 and 2000 Hudson worked with Karl Rove in coordinating then Gov. Bush’s outreach to Catholic voters. In December 2000, Rove asked Hudson to put together a Catholic Working Group to advise the White House on issues important to Catholics. Hudson leads a weekly call to the White House of prominent Catholics who advise the administration on issues of mutual importance.
 
Hudson appears regularly on television shows such as NBC Nightly News, One-on One with John McLaughlin, C-Span’s Washington Journal, News Talk, NET’s Capitol Watch, The Beltway Boys, The Religion and Ethics Newsweekly on PBS, and radio programs such as “All Things Considered” on National Public Radio.

Hudson has published many reviews and articles as well as four books: Understanding Maritain: Philosopher and Friend (Mercer, 1988); The Future of Thomism (Notre Dame, 1992); Sigrid Undset On Saints and Sinners (Ignatius, 1994); and Happiness and the Limits of Satisfaction (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996).