'The Stock of Available Reality'

Last week, Wendy and I traveled to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the 2011 edition of the Festival of Faith & Music, which alternates with the more venerable Festival of Faith & Writing (coming up next in April 2012). Headlined by concerts featuring Matisyahu, Shara Worden/My Brightest Diamond, The Civil Wars, Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot and Fiction Family), and Vienna Teng (a polymathic young songwriter and pianist), complemented by offsite music on Saturday, the program also included time for worship, outstanding plenary lectures by Greg Wolfe (editor of Image) and Luke Powery (of Princeton Theological Seminary, who sang—and led the audience in singing—to accompany and embody what he said about the "unknown black bards" who wrote the Negro spirituals), and a wide range of concurrent "workshop" sessions.