(upbeat rock music continues) (upbeat rock music) hello, on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco, welcome to mosaic. i think we all know the word evangelization and we associate this with religious preaching but back up into the rude parts of this word and it looks a little less narrowed and focused. it indicates a message

and that little sound at the front means good, fortuitous, helpful. it is a person of bringing a welcome message, with useful information. is it only preachers who evangelize in that sense? not at all. our guest today is a literary scholar and will discuss how makers of art, literature, fiction, film and poetry are bringing us good news and revealing truths that can help us live wisely and well. if, that is, we know how to read their books and watch their films. how do we watch and read products of our secular culture that ask us to grow in wisdom and faith. stay with us as we talk about the fiction, film and faith and the depth of the

rich human insight that can be found in the best of art.

welcome to mosaic. this is dr. margaret turek. if you are

a professor of dogmatics at the st. patrick's seminary. you've taught also at the university of dallas and you have an m.a. in systematic theology and a doctoral degree from the university in theology as well. you are an experienced teacher and you are a writer. what do you want to talk to us about today? evangelization, film and art? we know what evangelization is about a catholic people. where do film and literary arts come into that? >> i'd like to suggest that the serious screenplay writer and will be director and novelist, fiction writer, they are all in the business of revolution. by that i mean that

the serious screenplay writer, movie director they apply their imagination and talents to the task of bringing others to see. to see more than action-packed sequences and see more than beautiful costumes and breathtaking scenery. a serious screenplay writer, movie director, has as his or her primary aim to bring others to see a vision of life, a vision of life. i am mindful of what joseph conrad had said. joseph conrad is a novelist. perhaps his best-known work is the novel, heart of darkness that inspired the movie, a pox look

-- apocalypse now. he summed up his task in this way. he said, my task is to bring you to feel. and above all, to make you see. to see the meaning of life. he goes on and says, my stories are concerned with nothing less than the whole point of living. the whole point of living. that is serious. the serious screenplay writer and novelist are intent upon intensifying our capacity to feel. but to feel what it is that we truly hunger for and thirst for. what it is that we long for and hope for. they are intent upon deepening our capacity to see, to see what

makes life worth living. to see what makes life fully human and leads to authentic happiness. >> that is interesting, i mentioned the word evangelize and we think of it as giving a religious message to someone, but what you are talking about is whether conrad is a catholic or not, the seriousness of the humane artist is trying to get us to see and feel, not adopt a position about something maybe not even sent through metaphysics, but to see truly. >> almost to intensify their experience of being human. >> being a human is such an intense experience already, we

tend to defend ourselves. we develop a little crust and shell. is the artist breaking us out of that shell? >> absolutely. referring back to conrad, the task is to make you feel, and to an intensity and depth as never before. flannery o'connor as well. >> active in the mid-20th century. a famous catholic. >> and i know that you know of her works quite well. she will admit that her literary method also involves kind of shock tactics. she has to shock her readers to come to a spiritual awakening to see the human condition, especially in its contemporary setting as never

before. we think we see and we feel but we are riddled with so many blind spots and hampered by so much spiritual blindness. >> let's talk about that. there is endless media available, movies, books, every kind of mode we are discussing. there is so much of it that we may have to guard ourselves against it. but what is the challenge to the makers of this, what is missing? it seems that the structure of christianity as the narrative of our world has sunk into the importance. >> i'm sorry, do you want me to address the challenge that

is faced by -- in the first place you say the christian artist in the christian writer. but also his or her readership and audience. if i add records to the wisdom of flannery o'connor. she bemoaned the fact that today the world is going through something like a dark night of the soul. the world in its increasingly secular condition is losing its capacity to see the presence of god and at the stirrings of grace. as well as conversion experiences. >> hold that thought and we will take a brief break. we will be back shortly to talk about faith, fiction and film.

we are talking with dr. margaret turek and we are talking about evangelizing. that is not only preaching the christian message but seeing the christian truth and finding unexpected ways in which to see it. you mentioned flannery o'connor and her encapsulation as a writer was -- >> she said at one point that the primary gift that she needed as a catholic writer was the gift of prophetic vision. the vision is the capacity to see and see prophetically. by

which she meant not the capacity to read the future but the capacity to see what is hidden. and again, for her it is primarily the hidden presence of god. our god is with us but in our increasingly secular age, god is less and less visible. and more easily forgettable. so god is becoming increasingly hidden. and what she needs to do is find ways in this secular culture to impregnate her stories with the presence of god, often the presence of god is best seen or recognized by the negative pointers she embeds in her

tactics. she forces you to face the seemingly absence of god, this desert experience of our contemporary and secular culture. >> meaning that there is not really nourishment for the soul available. we are talking about film, there is lots of literature such as escapist's and literature. but the serious art is perhaps having a struggle to find itself. you told me that you do teach or hold seminars on watching film and sharpening your vision to see what is in that film. you do this for all ages. >> i do. i've done it for high school students, at the college level and graduate level and i've also gone out to parishes throughout the bay area and

i've given evening presentations, full days of retreat, a weekend where i train the eye to seek god and find god and find his patterns of relating to us and to recognize also the stirrings of grace and promptings of grace. he is always trying to who was back to himself. to see us with him in any condition. and since the current condition is most pervasively in the dark, we've got to develop in a division. this prophetic vision to see god in the dark and recognize stirrings of grace. opportunities for conversion in shadows, in the twilight. in a faith illumined vision. >> i think it is difficult to develop a humane sensibility

these days. either we are sort of accidents or we are sort of a virus on the planet's health. where is the affirmation of my human nature and my soul, where cannot be found? we will talk about films from here on out, it seems to be a vivid specialty of yours. you mentioned groundhogs day. is that a examination of a despairing world? >> yes. as i see and interpret groundhog day. >> the film from the '80s with bill murray. lives the same day over and over again. >> it stars bill murray and andy mcdowell as his eventual love interest. it is a story and a portrait that is about the whole point of living. it

is a wonderful illustration of conrad's pointing film. this story is about the whole point of living, what makes life worth living. and as the movie opens, phil connors believes he knows what makes his life worth living. and as i view the movie and there is a variety in which you can view it, i see phil connors initially illustrating freudian psychology. the freudian theory of the ultimate motivating factor for human behavior. why do we do what we do? what are we truly seeking? freud is well known for the pleasure principle, what ultimately motivates us is the pleasure that we seek. and today more than ever and sexual

pleasure. so phil connors initially goes about his life seeking sexual pleasure and does so quite willingly, we could say. but it's not enough. you watch his character, because according to the story, he has to live this day again and again. he is forced to live out and intensifying and concentrated form, this theory of life. and he comes to realize soon enough, experientially, that the pleasure principle is not enough. phil will choose to kill himself and stop living rather than be forced into this one theory. it's not enough. the pleasure principle is not worthy of his humanity. that's

what he shows us. he is better than that. >> let's pause on that thought, let's take a break and we will come back soon for our final segment of this program to talk about the film, gravity.

hello, and welcome back. dr. margaret turek, with keen insight into films and a sense for where the serious artist is revealing god to you, whether they intend to or not to read we've talked about this wonderful film from a few years ago, gravity, a space movie. tell us about what you see there. >> the movie at the surface level is a survival story. it is about a woman who survives a life-threatening accident in outer space. but the story is really about much more. it is really about the whole point of living. the title, gravity, in my mind -- this is my interpretation, it alludes to gravitas, though weight in depth and fullness and meaning

of life. gravitas, meaning meaningfulness, to prompt us and motivate us to say yes to our next breath. to say yes to a life that often is shrouded in darkness. that often confronts us with very tragic and heartbreaking events. in this movie it begins with a dark screen. the screen is black and then these stark letters in white emerge. basically it says that life in space is impossible. now, space is a metaphor. outer space is a metaphor for interspace. what this woman, dr. ryan stone is

living on earth and the condition of her life on earth is impossible. it is impossible to affirm it and adore it in any meaningful way. so what the filmmakers do is they show you what life in space is about. it is cold, it is dark, it is silent. there is no communication. there is no air to carry sound. it is a state of isolation, silence, noncommunication, darkness, coldness and so forth. that is really the state of dr. stone's life on earth. in space she is now living this out in a way that is magnified for us dramatically. what the story brings us, what her story brings us, the themes that come

prominent art themes such as the importance of being tethered and being in communion with others. we learned that on earth she lost her four-year-old daughter. she died a very tragic and accidental death. from that moment on dr. ryan stone lived a life disconnected, disengaged and disoriented. every day she said she would wake up, she would go to work and just to drive. it was purposeless and aimless, dark and cold. in outer space she finds herself following this accident, the drift. and she is, time and again she is trying to communicate with houston. to

say, houston, i'm in the blind, i'm running out of air and i'm adrift. and that describes her life on earth. >> that is a wonderful moment to stop because i think she is now in dante's position, in the midst of life i think i lost my way. would you recommend that everybody watch it? >> absolutely. and look for the cues. this filmmaker is quite deliberate in bringing you to see that she is going through a journey from the dark from spiritual blindness to insight and everything depends on the discovery of the importance of being tethered. not only to her comrade, but she discovers she remains tethered to her daughter in the afterlife and

all of this is because she is ultimately tethered to god. she will speak about the importance of prayer. no one ever taught her how to pray in this original and fundamental way of being tethered to our god who provides our tethers with each other. this communion of love and life that makes this life worth living and indoors into the afterlife. >> we have about 60 seconds left. i know you told me that when you have developed your vision in various ways you should return over and over again to scriptures. to read those better and better. >> yes. the best authors of novels and poetry and screenplays are those who have learned something from sacred scripture. the human drama as

portrayed like never before. and they will embed their works of art with hints and clues that lead you to see and experience the poignancy of these limits because you recognize these illusions through the biblical meanings. >> developing your vision for art can blow the dust off the old scriptures and bring new possibility. i want to thank you for spending time with us. we urge you to see the movie, gravity and read everything and see everything you encounter in the arts with a discerning eye for revelation that will serve you well. thanks for being with us on mosaic.

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