The Namárië Forum

“It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; 

for we have sinned and grown old, 

and our Father is younger that we.”

-G.K. Chesterton- 

WHAT

Every school year, Law Student Ministries (LSM) provides an opportunity for students across the nation to join online to discuss monthly topics to cultivate the Christian Imagination.

The purpose for this Forum is to help law students escape their worldly busyness and develop liturgical habits for work and worship. It is a time to discuss the weightier matters of the law and reflect on God, who made all things for himself and, as such, His Creation daily testifies of His glory. To do this requires tapping into our narrative through a renewed imagination — not in the sense of pretending things to be true that are false, but reflecting on the patterns of everyday existence in order to see God’s glory through nature and our place in His redemptive plan. This Forum beckons us to consider – if only through a dim passage – that Light that knows no evening: to look upon His Creation and know that it is very good.

The name [pronounced NAMA-REE-AYE] is an Elvish chant that translates as “farewell,” sung by Galadriel as the Fellowship of the Ring left Lórien. It is a name that requires one to slow down, reflect, and participate in the aesthetics of language – in the most fundamental way. In our modern condition, filled with transactional engagements and short term pleasures, I hope the name is an opportunity for creating walls of stillness and enhancing our communion with the unseen realm. To escape from the earthly patterns and develop new habits for the eternal sense.

Read the short introduction here for a better idea of what we hope to accomplish.

THE PLAN

In the upcoming year, we will shift from Middle-earth to the metaverse, discussing the new digital landscape and what it means for Christians. Our guide this year will be Jason Thacker, but we will make several stops along the way to visit with the works of Felicia Song, Jacob Shatzer, and many more to learn about the technology undergirding innovation in human development, social media, and online community. Our goals will be simple: to prepare Christians to more intelligently engage their (digital) world with the Gospel.

*September (9/9) | Introduction*

*October (10/14) | Welcome to the Metaverse*

November (11/4) | Restless Devices (#DoItForTheGram)

February (2/3) | Transhumanism & the Imago Dei

March (3/3) | Artificial Intelligence & the Christian Life

April (4/7) | Reclaiming Community in a Digital Age

NOTE: I know you’re busy and law school provides you plenty of opportunities to practice your reading. I will structure each meeting so that we can discuss the material without you having to read anything.

WHERE

Register Now | Restless Devices

G.E.T. OUT

In order to provide a place for you all to Grow and Engage Together, we’ve created a GroupMe page to spice up your evening conversations. You can access that page by following this link. 

RESOURCES

Primary

• Holy Bible
• Jason Thacker – Following Jesus in a Digital Age (2022)**

Further Reading:

• Nick Ripatrazone – Digital Communion: Marshall McLugan’s Spiritual Vision for a Virtual Age (2022)
• Andy Couch – The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World (2022)
• Matthew Ball – The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything (2022)
• Tony Reinke – God, Technology, and the Christian Life (2022)
• Herman Narula – Virtual Society: The Metaverse and the New Frontier of Human Experience (2022)
• Henry Kissinger – The Age of AI: And Our Human Future (2021)
• Felicia Song – Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age (2021)
• Carter Snead – What It Means To Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics (2020)
• Stuart Russell – Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control (2020)
• John Lennox – 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity (2020)
• John Wyatt – The Robots Will See You Now: Artificial Intelligence and the Christian Faith (2021)
• Jacob Shatzer – Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today’s Technology and the Future of Christian Discipleship (2019)
• Martin Gurri – The Revolt of the Public (2018)
• Max Tegmark – Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (2018)
• Sean Carroll – The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life Meaning, and the Universe Itself (2017)
• Calvin Mercer – Religion and the Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement (2014)
• Yuval Levin – Imagining the Future: Science and American Democracy (2008)
• J. Richard Middleton – The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (2005)
• Neil Postman – Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1993)

** This is our gift to CLS students attending the online Forum. If you’d like a copy, please email Anton (asorkin@clsnet.org) with your preferred mailing address. We are working with Hearts & Minds Bookstore in the distribution.

CREATIVE OUTLET

Movies

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, d. Stanley Kubrick)
• Stalker (1979, d. Andrei Tarkovsky)
• Blade Runner (1982, d. Ridley Scott)
• Brazil (1985, d. Terry Gilliam)
• The Truman Show (1998, d. Peter Weir)
• The Matrix (1999, d. The Wachowskis)
• Minority Report (2002, d. Steven Spielberg
• The Fountain (2006, d. Darren Aronofsky)
• Sunshine (2007, d. Danny Boyle)
• Wall-E (2008, d. Andrew Stanton)
• Upstream Color (2012, d. Shane Carruth)
• Interstellar (2014, d. Christopher Nolan)
• Arrival (2016, d. Denis Villeneuve)
• Annihilation (2018, d. Alex Garland)
• The Vast of Night (2020, d. Andrew Patterson)

TV Series

• Halt and Catch Fire (2014-2017)
• X-Files (1993-2016)
• The OA (2016-2019)
• Dark (2017-2020)
• Devs (2020)
• The Expanse (2015-Present)
• Black Mirror (2011-Present)
• The Billion Dollar Code (2021)

Music

• TimeCop 1983
• Holy Other
• Burial
• Memorex Memories
• The Midnight

NOTE: The recommendations above are there to stimulate the imagination and help you think about the topic in more depth. They are not connected to the Forum per se, just something we wanted to share. 

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS

Feel free to invite your friends of any faith or disposition. All are welcome to attend and participate. Everyone is encouraged to engage and challenge one another’s ideas, so long as you remain respectful. While I hope the Forum is a place where you can individually grow in your faith and find a deeper affection for Christ, my ultimate aim is to build a community rooted in common purpose and intimacy.

CLS would like to thank Nick and Ashley Barnett for their generous gift that made this Forum possible. For more content, follow LSM on Twitter at @law_ministry. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Anton at asorkin@clsnet.org.