From the Editor's Desk
by Kimberly Vrudny
As we put this issue of ARTS to press, the SARTS program committee is arranging the final details for its annual meeting, taking place concurrently with the AAR/SBL in San Antonio, Texas, November 18-19, 2016.
The theme of the paper session for the conference will be “The Arts and Religion in Latin America and the Southwest, 1492 to the present.” SARTS members will consider the reality of Hispanic and/or indigenous peoples in the area historically considered “Latin America” (including California, Florida and the U.S. Southwest) from the colonial period to the present moment. Presentations will treat the use of the arts in the processes of religious conversion, evangelism, worship, devotion, education, or outreach of religious bodies in the aforementioned geographical area. Questions include: Which art forms have proven to be more successful and under what circumstances? Which arts have allowed for a dialogue with “foreign” religious expressions or which have resisted cultural appropriation? Which arts are specific to a particular locale or time period, and which operate across chronological, cultural, or denominational lines? How have the arts in religion responded in times of secularization, migration, or persecution?
The theme of the paper session for the conference will be “The Arts and Religion in Latin America and the Southwest, 1492 to the present.” SARTS members will consider the reality of Hispanic and/or indigenous peoples in the area historically considered “Latin America” (including California, Florida and the U.S. Southwest) from the colonial period to the present moment. Presentations will treat the use of the arts in the processes of religious conversion, evangelism, worship, devotion, education, or outreach of religious bodies in the aforementioned geographical area. Questions include: Which art forms have proven to be more successful and under what circumstances? Which arts have allowed for a dialogue with “foreign” religious expressions or which have resisted cultural appropriation? Which arts are specific to a particular locale or time period, and which operate across chronological, cultural, or denominational lines? How have the arts in religion responded in times of secularization, migration, or persecution?
A reception will be held at the San Fernando Cathedral Center from 6:00-7:00 p.m. on Friday, November 18. Presentations will follow, from 7:00-9:00 p.m., in the San Fernando Cathedral Center, and will include:
“Indians, Stone Angels, and Corn”
Diana Myers-Bennett Roberts, independent researcher
“Andean Originality and Creativity Were Used to Survive and Redefine Selfhood”
Elvi Bjorkquist
Iliff School of Theology
“The Sacred Made Hyper-Real: Christ-Puppets in Colonial Mexico”
Jaime Lara
Arizona State University
“Frida Kahlo’s Transformation of Retablo”
Richard A. Rosengarten
University of Chicago Divinity School
“Bronze Roses, Pink Crosses, and Feminicide: The Art of Lament in Ciudad Juarez”
Colleen Carpenter
St. Catherine University
Diana Myers-Bennett Roberts, independent researcher
“Andean Originality and Creativity Were Used to Survive and Redefine Selfhood”
Elvi Bjorkquist
Iliff School of Theology
“The Sacred Made Hyper-Real: Christ-Puppets in Colonial Mexico”
Jaime Lara
Arizona State University
“Frida Kahlo’s Transformation of Retablo”
Richard A. Rosengarten
University of Chicago Divinity School
“Bronze Roses, Pink Crosses, and Feminicide: The Art of Lament in Ciudad Juarez”
Colleen Carpenter
St. Catherine University
Immediately following the SARTS event, a sound and light show on the history of San Antonio will take place on the plaza.
On Saturday, November 19th, from 1:30-3:00 p.m. in a room yet to be determined, SARTS will host a panel discussion on the recently released title, Modern Art and the Life of a Culture, by Bill Dyrness and Jonathan Anderson. For many Christians, engaging with modern art raises several questions: Is the Christian faith at odds with modern art? Does modernism contain religious themes? What is the place of Christian artists in the landscape of modern art? In 1970, Dutch art historian and theologian Hans Rookmaaker offered his assessment of the relationship between modern art and the Christian faith with the publication of his groundbreaking work, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture. As the title suggests, his interpretation was characterized primarily by great misgivings. Nearly fifty years later, Jonathan Anderson and William Dyrness—an artist and a theologian—have co-authored Modern Art and the Life of a Culture. While deeply appreciating Rookmaaker’s invaluable contributions to the study of theology and the arts, Anderson and Dyrness offer their own interpretation of modern art by arguing that strong religious impulses positively shaped its development. The panel, which includes Kate Barush, Taylor Worley, Kimberly Vrudny, and Ben Quash, will be moderated by David Taylor. Panelists will discuss Rookmaaker’s contribution as well as Anderson and Dyrness’s re-assessment of the relationship between modern art and the Christian faith.
In addition, SARTS will again host a theological conversation in the San Antonio Museum’s collection of religious art. The tour will take place on Sunday, November 20th, at 11:00 a.m., in the San Antonio Museum. Admission is free, but is limited to 25 persons, so sign up to reserve your spot. Visit http://societyarts.org for more details.
This issue of ARTS concludes our twenty-seventh year of publishing. In this issue, Australia-based theologian and musician Maeve Louise Heaney attempts, in her mediation between modernity’s turn to the subject and its requisite hermeneutic of suspicion, to articulate how those who have a hyphenated existence as both artists and theologians hold great promise for the theological enterprise, as they can propel the discipline of theology forward by modeling how to take the selfhood of the theologian seriously. This issue features the piece Mary as Prophet, a sculpture by Margaret Adams Parker installed at Virginia Theological Seminary. Peggy Parker discusses her own work, followed by a photo essay by B. Cayce Ramey treating Parker’s prophetic creation. Mark Burrows curates four poems by Jennifer Wallace, Regina Walton, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, and Harold J. Recinos. Mark McKim, a Canada-based minister, reflects on how the play Tuesdays with Morrie demonstrates how the central symbols of the Christian story no longer resonate with western culture, and he proposes ways to think about Christianity anew. Mark McInroy rounds out the issue with notes about four new titles in theology and the arts.
With the next volume, ARTS will begin publishing two expanded, 96-page issues a year. This decision comes after extensive conversations with a consultant, and with deep introspection as we attempt to make this academic issue sustainable, both practically and financially. As always, your support means so much. Because you value the level of interdisciplinary scholarship and the ways in which ARTS and SARTS are making this conversation accessible to an ever wider audience, please make a contribution today: http://societyarts.org/donate. —kv
Kimberly Vrudny is an associate professor of systematic theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she has been a faculty member since 2001. She received a bachelor’s degree in art history and religion from Gustavus Adolphus College, a master’s degree in theology and the arts from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, and a Ph.D. in historical theology from Luther Seminary. She is the author of Beauty’s Vineyard: A Theological Aesthetic of Anguish and Anticipation (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2016), and Friars, Scribes, and Corpses: A Marian Confraternal Reading of the Speculum humanae salvationis (Peeters, 2010), as well as co-editor of two books on theology and the arts. She has written numerous articles and chapters that treat the theological dimension of social realist art and photography. She served as an assistant and associate editor of ARTS for sixteen years before becoming the journal’s senior editor in 2013.
On Saturday, November 19th, from 1:30-3:00 p.m. in a room yet to be determined, SARTS will host a panel discussion on the recently released title, Modern Art and the Life of a Culture, by Bill Dyrness and Jonathan Anderson. For many Christians, engaging with modern art raises several questions: Is the Christian faith at odds with modern art? Does modernism contain religious themes? What is the place of Christian artists in the landscape of modern art? In 1970, Dutch art historian and theologian Hans Rookmaaker offered his assessment of the relationship between modern art and the Christian faith with the publication of his groundbreaking work, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture. As the title suggests, his interpretation was characterized primarily by great misgivings. Nearly fifty years later, Jonathan Anderson and William Dyrness—an artist and a theologian—have co-authored Modern Art and the Life of a Culture. While deeply appreciating Rookmaaker’s invaluable contributions to the study of theology and the arts, Anderson and Dyrness offer their own interpretation of modern art by arguing that strong religious impulses positively shaped its development. The panel, which includes Kate Barush, Taylor Worley, Kimberly Vrudny, and Ben Quash, will be moderated by David Taylor. Panelists will discuss Rookmaaker’s contribution as well as Anderson and Dyrness’s re-assessment of the relationship between modern art and the Christian faith.
In addition, SARTS will again host a theological conversation in the San Antonio Museum’s collection of religious art. The tour will take place on Sunday, November 20th, at 11:00 a.m., in the San Antonio Museum. Admission is free, but is limited to 25 persons, so sign up to reserve your spot. Visit http://societyarts.org for more details.
This issue of ARTS concludes our twenty-seventh year of publishing. In this issue, Australia-based theologian and musician Maeve Louise Heaney attempts, in her mediation between modernity’s turn to the subject and its requisite hermeneutic of suspicion, to articulate how those who have a hyphenated existence as both artists and theologians hold great promise for the theological enterprise, as they can propel the discipline of theology forward by modeling how to take the selfhood of the theologian seriously. This issue features the piece Mary as Prophet, a sculpture by Margaret Adams Parker installed at Virginia Theological Seminary. Peggy Parker discusses her own work, followed by a photo essay by B. Cayce Ramey treating Parker’s prophetic creation. Mark Burrows curates four poems by Jennifer Wallace, Regina Walton, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, and Harold J. Recinos. Mark McKim, a Canada-based minister, reflects on how the play Tuesdays with Morrie demonstrates how the central symbols of the Christian story no longer resonate with western culture, and he proposes ways to think about Christianity anew. Mark McInroy rounds out the issue with notes about four new titles in theology and the arts.
With the next volume, ARTS will begin publishing two expanded, 96-page issues a year. This decision comes after extensive conversations with a consultant, and with deep introspection as we attempt to make this academic issue sustainable, both practically and financially. As always, your support means so much. Because you value the level of interdisciplinary scholarship and the ways in which ARTS and SARTS are making this conversation accessible to an ever wider audience, please make a contribution today: http://societyarts.org/donate. —kv
Kimberly Vrudny is an associate professor of systematic theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she has been a faculty member since 2001. She received a bachelor’s degree in art history and religion from Gustavus Adolphus College, a master’s degree in theology and the arts from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, and a Ph.D. in historical theology from Luther Seminary. She is the author of Beauty’s Vineyard: A Theological Aesthetic of Anguish and Anticipation (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2016), and Friars, Scribes, and Corpses: A Marian Confraternal Reading of the Speculum humanae salvationis (Peeters, 2010), as well as co-editor of two books on theology and the arts. She has written numerous articles and chapters that treat the theological dimension of social realist art and photography. She served as an assistant and associate editor of ARTS for sixteen years before becoming the journal’s senior editor in 2013.