New TWU online series called Equipping Lectures offers wisdom for a digital world
Exploring “insights and wisdom for today's digital world” is the theme of a new series of free online lectures from faculty at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C.
Created by professors who seek to be faithful Christian thinkers, these talks address timely questions such as, Do we still matter in the age of A.I.? How are we interconnected to our natural environment? In a digital world, how can we learn to pay attention to ourselves and those around us?
These videos can spark discussion for small groups or provide greater tools and insights for anyone looking to approach art and digital media topics from a Christian lens.
“How can we be salt and light to the world through our creative acts, connecting our passions with the world’s great needs?” asks Scott Macklin, a professor and dean at the university’s School of the Arts, Media + Culture. He helped make the lecture series to address those very questions.
The Equipping Lectures series includes:
- Creativity and Participation: Being Joygantic by Scott Macklin
Professor Scott Macklin asks the listener to pause in their life and learning to open themselves up to moments of joy and discusses how TWU’s SAMC encourages faith-fueled creativity and flourishing.
- Do You Still Matter in the Age of A.I. by Kevin Schut
Professor Kevin Schut discusses the changing landscape of game design since the advent of artificial intelligence and asks how we can balance worry and enthusiasm for this new technology.
- Developing Cultural Intelligence by Divine Agodzo
Professor Divine Agodzo shows listeners that cultural intelligence is essential in today’s world and teaches them how to wield that skill to better understand individual differences across cultures and contexts.
- Paying Attention and the Cost of Inattention by Erica Grimm
Professor Erica Grimm seeks to change the listener’s perspective, emphasizing that “paying attention” is a verb, requiring action, and practicing that skill will unlock a better understanding of both one’s internal and external reality.
- Creativity and Cultivating Interconnection by Joshua Hale
Professor Joshua Hale focuses on connection, advising the listener to learn from complex interconnections in the natural world and to use those lessons to enhance their own lives, relationships, and community.
The trailer and entire video series are available on YouTube.
On the topic of artificial intelligence, Macklin and others recently held an online event entitled Human and Machine in the Age of Artficial Intelligence – Exploring Faithful + Faith-filled Social Interaction in a Shifting Media Landscape. The June 7, 2024 “unconference" explored implications of A.I. in all segments of public and private life. There is a videorecording available as well as a description of the event details.
Macklin's career mixes faith and creativity
Macklin’s early introduction to combining faith with creative works came from his father.
“Every night, he would read stories and pray with me and my two younger brothers,” he recalls.
Such bedtime readings inspired him to engage with the voices and imaginations of writers like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle.
Beyond feeding his young spirit with faith-filled creative thinking, Macklin’s father also instructed him to bring the fullness of his heart and mind to serve the hunger of the world. Your vocation in life, his dad would often quote, is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest needs. For Macklin, that joy was experienced in storytelling.
Now, many years later, Macklin has taken his passion down many creative paths. From documentary filmmaking with Indigenous communities, to fostering Seattle’s opportunities for arts, media, and youth development, to his current roles as a professor and dean.
Wherever his journeys have led him, Macklin has been keen on encouraging the creative participation of those around him, by showcasing the work of other storytellers, makers, and educators.
About TWU and SAMC
The School of the Arts, Media + Culture, says Macklin, is “a place for faith-fueled creativity to flourish, where we are called to create responsibly and redemptively, opening ourselves up to the reality and presence of grace beyond ourselves."
SAMC, as it is called, is part of Trinity Western University. Founded in 1962, TWU is a Christian university offering liberal arts and sciences as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has campuses in Langley, Richmond, and Ottawa. Learn more at twu.ca.