From the Editor's Desk
by
Wilson Yates
Wilson Yates has served as founder and Senior Editor of ARTS for the twenty-five years of its existence (1988-2013); he is Professor Emeritus of Theology, Society and the Arts, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
This is my last issue after twenty-five years of editing ARTS. A bittersweet moment but one made exciting by the fact that our new editor is Kimberly Vrudny whom many of you will remember from an earlier time when she helped edit ARTS and a later time when she was a founder and officer of the Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies (SARTS). So it is appropriate that I begin, first, with a welcome to Kim, and then with a farewell to you all.
In this issue, I have written a brief article on the history of ARTS, covering twenty-five years and touching on important moments, a handful of opinions, and a story or two about where the journal came from and what difference it made. Small publications are legion; most do not survive. Certainly that has been true with religion and arts publications. ARTS, however, did survive and in surviving managed to stir the pot of ideas and create time and space for conversation that, I think, made a difference. That is all that could have been hoped for.
In this issue, we have articles by Graham Howes, Emeritus Fellow of Trinity Hall College, Cambridge; Charles Pickstone, an art critic leader in ACE (Art and Christianity Enquiry) and parish priest of St. Laurence Church Catford in London; and Jim Malone, Robert Boyle Professor of Medical Physics, Emeritus, Trinity College Dublin and Consultant with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna. Their articles deal with major theological questions regarding the theology and the arts conversation, revolutionary new artists and what they say to us, and an amazing tale of intersections between art and science. These writers are all participants, along with both your retiring and incoming editors, in the organization ACE: Art and Christianity Enquiry. ACE and ARTS have a close relationship and ACE’s members have been frequent contributors to these pages. Bobbi Dykema has also previously published in ARTS and here discusses the work of the artist Mel Ahlborn and her modern treatment of the Madonna and the question of healing. Bob Haveluck, too, returns to the pages of ARTS with one of his marvelous tales and series of cartoons of “the world upside down”—at least for those for whom the world is considered right side up. The humor and bite and wisdom are all there. Pam Wynn, a poet whose works have graced these pages before, provides us three poems: My Dream About God, Belief, and Back Roads, that continue the conversation about the wellsprings of the religious that art—poetry—pulls us into. Lastly, our new book review editor, Mark McInroy, offers us notes about four new books and Kim Vrudny provides us a book essay on Cecilia González-Andrieu’s Bridge to Wonder.
Kim Vrudny and I jointly edited this issue, which is a delight to me, for it brought back memories of the sixteen years we previously worked together to publish ARTS—from Kim’s first days as a graduate student at United in 1993 to when she stepped down for a time in 2009—and it gives testimony to our transition in editors. Kim’s hand is throughout the issue but particularly in its layout, though the design is a gift of the University of St. Thomas and one of its designers, Stacy Drude. The new artistry, new color, new columns, and new design provide a marvelous beginning for the next chapter, and portend well to what all Kim will bring to the 26th year of ARTS and the years to follow.
These articles and poems reflect our own time far removed from twenty-five years ago, yet the themes are still there: art, the religious life, theology, and how they pose questions about how we are to proceed in our larger discussion. In a certain fashion, therefore, we end these twenty-five years where we began and that is, perhaps, as it should be.
Wilson Yates
Wilson Yates has served as founder and Senior Editor of ARTS for the twenty-five years of its existence (1988-2013); he is Professor Emeritus of Theology, Society and the Arts, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
This is my last issue after twenty-five years of editing ARTS. A bittersweet moment but one made exciting by the fact that our new editor is Kimberly Vrudny whom many of you will remember from an earlier time when she helped edit ARTS and a later time when she was a founder and officer of the Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies (SARTS). So it is appropriate that I begin, first, with a welcome to Kim, and then with a farewell to you all.
In this issue, I have written a brief article on the history of ARTS, covering twenty-five years and touching on important moments, a handful of opinions, and a story or two about where the journal came from and what difference it made. Small publications are legion; most do not survive. Certainly that has been true with religion and arts publications. ARTS, however, did survive and in surviving managed to stir the pot of ideas and create time and space for conversation that, I think, made a difference. That is all that could have been hoped for.
In this issue, we have articles by Graham Howes, Emeritus Fellow of Trinity Hall College, Cambridge; Charles Pickstone, an art critic leader in ACE (Art and Christianity Enquiry) and parish priest of St. Laurence Church Catford in London; and Jim Malone, Robert Boyle Professor of Medical Physics, Emeritus, Trinity College Dublin and Consultant with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna. Their articles deal with major theological questions regarding the theology and the arts conversation, revolutionary new artists and what they say to us, and an amazing tale of intersections between art and science. These writers are all participants, along with both your retiring and incoming editors, in the organization ACE: Art and Christianity Enquiry. ACE and ARTS have a close relationship and ACE’s members have been frequent contributors to these pages. Bobbi Dykema has also previously published in ARTS and here discusses the work of the artist Mel Ahlborn and her modern treatment of the Madonna and the question of healing. Bob Haveluck, too, returns to the pages of ARTS with one of his marvelous tales and series of cartoons of “the world upside down”—at least for those for whom the world is considered right side up. The humor and bite and wisdom are all there. Pam Wynn, a poet whose works have graced these pages before, provides us three poems: My Dream About God, Belief, and Back Roads, that continue the conversation about the wellsprings of the religious that art—poetry—pulls us into. Lastly, our new book review editor, Mark McInroy, offers us notes about four new books and Kim Vrudny provides us a book essay on Cecilia González-Andrieu’s Bridge to Wonder.
Kim Vrudny and I jointly edited this issue, which is a delight to me, for it brought back memories of the sixteen years we previously worked together to publish ARTS—from Kim’s first days as a graduate student at United in 1993 to when she stepped down for a time in 2009—and it gives testimony to our transition in editors. Kim’s hand is throughout the issue but particularly in its layout, though the design is a gift of the University of St. Thomas and one of its designers, Stacy Drude. The new artistry, new color, new columns, and new design provide a marvelous beginning for the next chapter, and portend well to what all Kim will bring to the 26th year of ARTS and the years to follow.
These articles and poems reflect our own time far removed from twenty-five years ago, yet the themes are still there: art, the religious life, theology, and how they pose questions about how we are to proceed in our larger discussion. In a certain fashion, therefore, we end these twenty-five years where we began and that is, perhaps, as it should be.
