Conference 2.0: Dr. Don Livingston’s Speech

Dr. Don Livingston — retired professor of philosophy, and founder and president of the Abbeville Institute. and Ludwell Orthodox Fellowship co-founder — offered up a thought-provoking speech at our Conference 2.0 held last year in Lockhart, Texas. The event largely focused on the rich heritage of Southern and Orthodox art and music, and the continuity between the two traditions. The conversations surrounded Southern and Orthodox culture, worldview, and values, and the interplay between them; the importance of service in Southern parishes and missions; and the struggles of evangelism and how to navigate these obstacles as they arise both in our parishes, in Dixie’s Land, and in society as whole.

Speaker’s note: “My talk leans heavily on Dr. James Kibler’s magisterial study, ‘The Classical Origins of Southern Literature (2016).’ This exciting and continually stimulating book opens a window into the South’s commitment (unique in America) to educate its young to read the classics in the original Greek and Latin languages. This practice lasted three centuries until gradually snuffed out by modernity. It shaped not only Southern literature but also created a mind in search of the permanent things and instinctively resistant to ideological fashions which have run amok in the last two centuries. Also recommend is James Kibler’s ‘Faulkner the Southerner and the Continuity of Southern Letters (2023).‘”