A core motivation for The Davenant Institute is to bring the strengthening goods of Christian wisdom to as many as possible through a variety of vehicles. Some of those vehicles for Christian wisdom at The Davenant Institute are theology, philosophy, political theory and other vital areas of classical Protestant thought.

Literature has also been essential to the learning and practice of classical Protestant thought. In a word, literature is a key vehicle for bringing wisdom to hearts and minds.

The theme for the 2024 Carolinas Regional Convivium is “Reason and Imagination: Literature as a Vehicle for Truth, Goodness and Beauty.”

C. S. Lewis observed “…reason is the natural organ of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning. Imagination, producing new metaphors or revivifying old, is not the cause of truth, but its condition.”

In contrast to our post-Enlightenment world, Christians affirm that Reason and faith are not in conflict; rather, they have a convivial interplay in pursuit of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. And yet, in a sentimental and utopic age, Christians are more aware than their neighbors of the dangers of imagination untethered from Reason in tearing man away from God’s good design for reality.

At the Davenant Institute’s 2024 Spring Carolinas Regional Convivium, we will explore ways in which both Reason and imagination work in concert for pursuing the telos of Christian wisdom: Christ himself. He is the ultimate telos of wisdom–so how can literature’s use of reason and imagination aid us in all areas of life under his leading?