"Bridging Worlds: Ecumenical Conversations Across Liturgy, Worship & the Arts" — which Boston University School of Theology, the Lilly Foundation, and the Boston Theological Institute are hyping as the "first conference focusing on the arts, worship & liturgy to be held in Boston" — might not sound like a must-attend this Friday and Saturday. There’ll be the usuals: a plenary speaker (the Reverend Dr. Thomas F. Best, from the World Council of Churches in Geneva), symposia, workshops, a trolley tour of Boston churches, a worship service, liturgical dance, a gospel choir, and a short movie. This last is, however, anything but usual. The work of local filmmaker Sean Lorenz, "String Theory," in his own words, is "the story of a man who gives up his cello after the death of his wife, who was killed in an auto accident on the way to one of his concerts." It screens on April 19 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the conference’s "Festival of the Arts." The following day, at 2:30 p.m., Lorenz will lead a workshop called "String Theory: Discovering God in Physics and Film," with Pi, The Sixth Sense, Donnie Darko, The Matrix, and What Dreams May Come as the cinematic examples.
It only gets more unusual: Lorenz is the co-founder of Brattle Street Films and a member of the Soli Deo Gloria ministry at Park Street Church, but he’s also a graduate of Oral Roberts University, which is better known for promoting a conservative image of God than for studying string theory or screening movies like Donnie Darko. So do people have the wrong idea about Oral Roberts? "That’s more the administration," Lorenz, who was a philosophy major, explains, "and anyway it’s changing. The intellectual climate is not what you might imagine — I stayed because there were open-minded, fast-moving thinkers there."
What drew him to the films he’s selected for his workshop? They’re not conventional science-fiction stories: "We actually think this could happen — that’s what attracted me." Certainly there’s nothing conventional about "String Theory," which hinges on the connection between the vibrating strings of our hero’s cello and the oscillating filaments that according to physicists like Brian Greene (Lorenz recommends Greene’s 2000 book The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory) are the building blocks of the universe. Or about "Mr. Tubb," the latest from Brattle Street Films (which Lorenz founded with his friend Jason Redmond). In this movie, which will be part of Harvard’s Dudley Film Festival May 10-12, Mr. Tubb decides to videotape his restless sleep; when he looks at the result, he sees the Sandman orchestrating his slumber. What dreams may come indeed.
Meanwhile, Lorenz is bridging more worlds at Park Street Church as part of the "multidisciplinary Christian creative arts ministry" Soli Deo Gloria ("Glory to God Alone"), which this past Sunday opened "Crucifixion:Resurrection," an installation that he describes as two pillars each with a video screen in the middle, the images on one suggesting crucifixion and on the other resurrection. It’ll be up at the church through May 12.
"Bridging Worlds: Ecumenical Conversations Across Liturgy, Worship & the Arts" takes place April 19 and 20 in the Boston University School of Theology Building. For the full program of events, go to the Boston Theological Institute Web site at www.bostontheological.org/lwa, or call (617) 527-4880. Registration is $20 ($15 for students), plus $15 for the trolley tour; e-mail mainoffice@bostontheological.org.
