Below is a selection of our previous issues. Access to the every back issue is available to members from the back list on this website. Enter the username and password printed on the inside front cover of the most recent issue of ARTS: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies.
Volume 18, Number 1 features
an article by Mikhail Sergeev on "Crucifixion in Painting: Historical
Considerations and Twentieth-century Expressionism." In addition,
the issue publishes a column on the art of Kiki Smith, "three
theologians and their favorite paintings," the film of Andrei
Tarkovsky, the blending of Diné and Christian cultures, and the poetry
of David Wright.
Volume 17, Number 1 features an article by Michael Patella, associate professor of New Testament at the School of Theology/Seminary of St. John's University in Collegeville where he also serves as chair of the Committee on Illumination and Text for The Saint John's Bible. He discusses the theological dimensions of The Saint John's Bible, a hand-written Bible commissioned to Donald Jackson, the calligrapher to the court of Queen Elizabeth, by the Benedictine monks at Saint John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota. The issue also discusses the silver anniversary of the important organization Christians in the Visual Arts, a column by Frank Burch Brown exploring the Pope's perspective on the arts in liturgy, Scott Robinson's assessment of what makes music spiritual, and a reflection by Diana Pasulka about teaching a course in "Women and Religion" using "story" as a central theme. A paper by one of her students, Lauren Goodman, is included as an example of the sort of work students in theology and the arts can produce. The issue also includes a review of two books: one by James Elkins, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art, and a volume edited by Carol Gilbertson and Gregg Muilenburg called Translucence: Religion, the Arts, and Imagination.
Volume 16, Number 1. Wilson Yates, president and professor of religion and the arts at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, reflects on the design and construction of the new Bigelow Chapel on the campus of the Seminary. Pam Wynn, poet and author of Diamonds on the Back of a Snake, analyzes the use of Christian language in the poetry of Jane Kenyon, suggesting that the artist's spirituality is central to her conceptual framework. One of Wynn's own poems, Inheritance, is also published in the issue. Rod Pattenden, minister of the Paddington Uniting Church in Sydney, Australia, discusses how his church hosted Mirabel FitzGerald as artist-in-residence after a hailstorm hit the region in 1999. A creative presence in the church at this time was central to the congregation's recovery. Cara Anthony, assistant professor of systematic theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, describes an assignment she gives students which requires students to research visual depictions of Jesus and to analyze the Christology present in their chosen images. Two student papers are included in the article to demonstrate the sort of work undergraduates are capable of when offered such an opportunity. The chapter "Toward a Theology of Art" from Art Lessons: Meditations on the Creative Life, by Deborah Haynes, is also published.
Volume 15, Number 1. This issue features an article by Paul Myhre called "Edvard Munch's Embrace of Loss and Grief through Painting and Printmaking: 1885-1900." In addition, the issue reflects on theology and the arts "in the study" in Edward Farley's essay "Being Human and the Arts; A Sacramental Reflection"; "in the studio" in Carolyn Manosevitz's article called "A Search for Healing" which traces the author's relationship to Christianity as a Jewish woman whose family has been haunted by the Holocaust; "in the sanctuary" with a drama written by John Steven Paul called "'Ready?': A Liturgical Drama Based on Matthew 25:1-13"; and "in the classroom" in two articles, the first by Victoria Rue on "Bodied Knowledge: Theatre as a Pedagogical Tool for Religious Studies and Theology," and the second by Fredericka Berger on "Spiritual Formation through Drama."
Volume 14, Number 2. This issue features an article by Wilson Yates on the work of Barbara Hepworth. He reminds us that, even in a world of brokenness, art can point us to what is whole and infinite. Artist and theologian Bob Haverluck contributes an article that offers a radical new interpretation of the Song of Songs. Professors Janet Strain McDonald and Barbara B. Hughes describe how they designed and implemented a seminary course in theology and the arts. Poet Susan Deborah King shares a sermon that suggests the canon of sacred texts is always expanding. Master of the still life, artist Nicora Gangi, describes her own work in order to give one perspective into how an artist does theology. Scholar Kristin Herzog explores how the world religions have considered children in their theological thought. The issue concludes with a review of Richard Viladesau's important work Theology and the Arts, reviewed by J. Michael Joncas.