Dec

05

General update from Bird&Key

Art / Ministry / Theology
birdandkeyBLOG_POST-01

Hey All,
I had hoped to do a more extensive piece on some things I have been thinking on lately, but having a paper due on Wednesday coupled with holiday activities curbed that notion for now.

I will tell you WHAT I have been thinking about lately, and I hope to write some things on both these subjects in the future. I have been reading a book on “evangelism” during my devotional times of late and it has caused me to think more on that subject…a subject that is quite “taboo” in our culture. So I have been formulating a “defense” of sorts, on evangelism. I don’t want to give a defense strictly from the Bible because even a cursory reading of the Bible does a good job of defending itself in that. I want to focus in on the humanity of persuasion….or evangelism…or proselytizing. We hate those words, but I would argue that they are closely united to what it means to be human – perhaps that is why they are hated so much. Frankly we “evangelize” every where, all the time…we just don’t admit it.

The other area I have been thinking about is related to the series of talks I have been listening to done by Malcolm Guite on the Inklings…

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Nov

25

Googling “Thanksgiving Fine Art”

Art
Thanksgiving-Brownscombe

Considering the holiday I (Kirk) wondered what kind of fine art existed that was made in the spirit of Thanksgiving. In America the holiday is about 150 years old, but the kind of celebration it is based on, “fall harvest” has been around much longer. So I “Googled” it and found a couple of websites that I thought I’d share with you. Most of the links I surfed were related to education for kids, but even there I found some gems. I liked all the pieces listed in the “Glencoe” site.

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Nov

18

The Place of Beauty: A historical and theological observation – Part 6

Art / Theology
Gravity & Grace by Makoto Fujimura

For the last few weeks I have explored the idea of Beauty as related to the Church and the art world. We looked at a definition as well as the source of Beauty, and I argued for a dialogue to be opened between the Church and the art world that would be mutually beneficial. But is there an actual visible expression of this kind of dialogue? Is there a place where theology and art meet? These “diametrically opposed” ideas, one conservative, the other liberal, can they live in harmony? Is there a practical example of an art that is both obedient and transgressive at the same time?

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Nov

10

The Place of Beauty: A historical and theological observation – Part 5

Art

The Trinity 1635, Jusepe de Ribera

That being said, is perceiving integrity, proportion, and radiance in an art work truly enough to see and know full Beauty? I don’t think so. I came across many descriptions of beauty from people in the art world that are similar to Nehamas’ quote in the last blog post. Some descriptions were almost other worldly, or transcendent.[1] The latter half of Elaine Scarry’s quote I used earlier ends with a description of Beauty’s immortality, “What is beautiful is in league with what is true because truth abides in the immortal sphere.”[2] If Truth is in the immortal sphere and Beauty is united with Truth then Beauty is also in the immortal sphere.

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Nov

04

The Place of Beauty: A historical and theological observation – part 4

Aquinas / Art World / Beauty / Church / Guernica / Maritan / Picasso

Thomas Aquinas

So what is beauty?

A good source for characteristics of beauty is Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica. Several key advocates of the arts in the Church have referenced Aquinas as a guide to thinking about beauty.[1] In the Summa Aquinas writes:

Beauty must include three qualities: integrity or completeness – since things that lack something are thereby ugly; right proportion or harmony; and brightness – we call things bright in colour beautiful.[2]

Fuglie recounts that in the 20th century while the art world was humming along ignoring the content of beauty, there were several key “Neo-Thomists” who espoused Aquinas’ characteristics of beauty; one of those was Jacques Maritain.[3]

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