There may never be anything new to say, but there is always a new way to say it. —Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners . . . This book makes the argument that, through her fiction, Flannery O'Connor subverted the conventional notions of truth, goodness, and beauty, not merely from a position of Christian dogma but out of aesthetic impulse. . . . … [Read more...] about Introduction to “A Subversive Gospel” (IVP)
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Making the Second City Church Lenten Cross
Sculptor and art professor Theodore Prescott describes a collaborative Lenten project he led for a congregation in the city of Harrisburg, PA. We hope it provides rich reflection for readers as Holy Week begins. The project will also be featured in the forthcoming InterVarsity Press book Contemporary Art and the Church: A Conversation Between Two Worlds. I professed faith in Christ in 1970, right as I was completing my M.F.A. in sculpture. I was living in Baltimore, where I studied at the Rinehart School of … [Read more...] about Making the Second City Church Lenten Cross
Book Review: Modern Art and the Life of a Culture
Modern Art and the Life of a Culture: The Religious Influences of Modernism, Jonathan A. Anderson and William A. Dyrness. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2016. Summary: A response to the classic work Modern Art and the Death of a Culture by H. R. Rookmaaker, arguing that Rookmaaker was unnecessarily pessimistic in his assessment of modern art, overlooking the religious impulses that shaped much of modern art. … [Read more...] about Book Review: Modern Art and the Life of a Culture
QU4RTETS (Scholar’s Compass)
QU4RTETS from Pilar Timpane on Vimeo. In the winter, Bruce Herman shared about this "robust 'cross-pollination' . . . between visual, literary, and musical forms" through Scholar's Compass: QU4RTETS: A Collaboration. As we're in the summer I thought that it would be good to once again soak in the work. May you likewise find the video, paintings, and reflection a blessing as you take a time of rest. To God be the glory! … [Read more...] about QU4RTETS (Scholar’s Compass)
Learning to See (Scholar’s Compass)
When I teach students to look at art, the first question I ask them is “what is it?” By this, I do not mean "what do you think you see?" but "what do you actually see?" - Sarah Awad, “Art Identity: Christian. Artist. Stranger.” In Faithful is Successful. Sarah Awad is writing about art here, and her words are deeply relevant to Christian artists. But at the risk of wresting her words out of their context, I think there's something academics outside the arts can learn from her reflections on how professional artists … [Read more...] about Learning to See (Scholar’s Compass)