In a few weeks, I’ll be down in my old stomping grounds of New Orleans for the meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society. I just decided (as in, about five minutes ago) to do a special mini-lecture for the first twenty people who sign up to come.
Here’s what we’ll do. We’ll take a quick walking tour around Jackson Square. I’ll point out some important places (where William Faulkner lived and wrote at the onset of his career, where the conservative movement in the Southern Baptist Convention started, etc.), and then I’ll do a mini-lecture on the banks of the Mississippi River on “Finding Jesus in the French Quarter: What New Orleans Culture Can Teach American Christianity.”
We’ll talk mostly about the New Orleans literary tradition, especially Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Walker Percy, John Kennedy Toole, and Anne Rice, and how all that relates to the gospel. But we’ll also talk about jazz, Mardi Gras, voodoo, seafood, David Duke, and evangelical/Catholic relations.
It’ll be like a gumbo of a discussion, lots of things to mull over, and, hey, if you don’t like okra, there’s always some stuff in there you will like.
After, as many as want to, we’ll go have coffee and beignets at the Cafe Du Monde. I’m thinking we’ll do this on Wednesday, November 18 at 6pm, for the first twenty people who can do it. Email me at [email protected] if you’re in.
Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez.
