Wednesday, January 30
A day of Buechner…
Six of us spent Monday in Bristol, TN with about 300 or so ‘Frederick Buechner Groupies’. It was an incredibly fascinating day.
Buechner, 81 years old, received an honorary doctorate from King and spoke in the first session in the morning. He read two unpublished pieces and one older piece, “The Innkeeper”. In the evening Walter Brueggeman hosted an interview with Buechner.Throughout the afternoon were three 45-minute sessions led by various people…Buechner: The Novelist, The Memoirist, and The Preacher.
(Here is a picture of Tim Sutherland getting a book signed. Tim said he told Buechner a poem, the one about a man from Nantucket)
We also learned that King College’s creating of the ‘Buechner Institute’ is not just about a one day gathering like we experienced. We learned the vision includes the eventual building of a center that will include a library and classroom space.
The most fascinating part to me revolves around considering the appeal of this man’s writing. What is it that impacts us so much in these over 30 books this man has written? We’re talking about a whole institute developed to honor a man most people have never heard of with a last name no one can pronounce.
I’d love to know, if any of you have any opinion on this, what is it about Buechner’s writings that make them so influential?
If you’d like an 18 minute introduction to Buechner, click here.
Mark Nelson at 2:11 PM 2comments
2 Comments
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at 5:49 PM
Josh said... wow, you got to meet Buechner and here Brueggeman speak?! that's either really awesome or i am super nerdy... and i am saying there is no way it's the latter!
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at 10:49 AM
Nicole said...
So, so, jealous. Reading my first Brueggemann right now in my OTBT course, and I'm digging him.
Getting to hear both speak? Awesome!