So, sorry for the hiatus! I am writing to you on an absolutely STUNNING day in Oxford--so stunning, in fact, that it has all the native Brits somewhat befuddled. I simply cannot remember the last time we had rain, or even a fully cloudy day, and I'm a little worried that all the sun is going to start affecting the people. Who knows, maybe they'll start being, heaven forbid, emotionally demonstrative! My Irish friend frankly admitted that all the sun was making her uncomfortable, but I must say seeing the sun glint off of the shimmering vermillion hues outside my window, or running through blankets of cherry blossoms, or challenging geese for dominance at our picnic spot along the river Thames--well, I can imagine worse fates.
But I must get back to Macedonia, before I forget about it! I believe I left off (roughly) on Thursday. This was our second day of lectures, featuring Deborah on Milton and Helen on TOEFL prep. But the evening was the main event: the Veritas Forum, the very public inaugural launch of the Balkan Institute for Faith and Culture. The mission of the BIFC is, as I may have stated earlier, to bring Christianity out of the shadows into the public discourse. Nowhere was this more explicitly manifested than in the Veritas Forum, a Harvard-founded program that has spread across the globe, bringing Christians and non-Christians together in dialogue on issues relating to faith. For our incarnation, Jonathan gave a fascinating talk about his research into the intersection of spirituality and film. Art, and this medium in particular, he argued, has a unique ability to act as a conduit for profound spiritual experiences. We have all been touched by a particular movie, and many people can relate to the possibility of film as a life-changing experience. God, in other words, can act through art, using people's expressive gifts to communicate important, otherwise inexpressible truths.
It was a fascinating talk, even when broken up by translation. It's just too bad that Jonathan's respondent, a Macedonian academic, couldn't have been disrupted likewise. We had utterly no idea what he was saying--well, except for when we caught words like "Nietsche," or "Marx," etc. Before my mind started to cloud over, and before we all fell into giggling fits at Christian's Macedonian "translation," I caught a surprising number of such words. Evidently, we heard later, the professor went on a long, meandering "who's who" of philosophical thought in response to Jonathan's talk (which only put the latter's presentation in a better light, incidentally).
The Macedonian-speaking audience clearly did not have trouble following the discussion, though, since the question and answer time was active, engaged, and abundant--not just in terms of thoughts, but of people! There must have been over 200 people in the meeting room of the Skopje Holiday Inn (a very nice establishment, by the way), including some inquisitive students who we had spoken with earlier in the week at the Nova School, and who were eager to continue the discussions started there. It was a great cross-section of people, of all demographics, from Christians whose extended lifespans had given them much opportunity to come to know God, to young people who were still exploring matters of faith. Furthermore, the talk was filmed by national television, and since there aren't that many programs to fill its roster, the people of Macedonia will have many more opportunities to hear Jonathan's paper!
The forum was therefore a fantastic experience, not just for the discussions started, but for the exposure it gave to the BIFC. Hopefully Kosta and Nada will now be able to build upon a public perception positively enhanced by the talk.
Friday dawned, though, and with it a whole different experience of Macedonia. From issues of media and culture, disseminated by national television, we went to probably the most distanced place from it: St. Peter's Monastery, an orthodox brotherhood perched high on the side of one of the Macedonian mountains.
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