Beauty, creativity, belief, church … Do they all fit together under one roof? In the life of faith, is art a luxury—or a necessity?
The sometimes-contentious place of beauty in the search for God and spiritual community is the subject of the new Spring 2015 issue of Reflections journal, the theological magazine produced twice a year by Yale Divinity School.
The issue theme, “Divine Radiance: Keeping Faith with Beauty,” draws on the insights of some 30 visual artists, theologians, poets, pastors, historians, divinity students, alumni and other practitioners—including a furniture maker and a jazz saxophonist—to explore the elusive relations between beauty and belief.
“This issue of Reflections is intended to help us think through the value of art and beauty in various venues of faith in the 21st century and see its many applications,” YDS Dean Gregory E. Sterling writes in the issue’s Dean’s Letter.
Thomas Troeger ’67 B.A, the J. Edward and Ruth Cox Lantz Professor of Christian Communication at Yale Divinity School, says a Christian vision of beauty offers a countercultural critique to habitual consumerism and human oppression. Faith is diminished without art.
“There is a sadness to a religious faith that fails to embrace the role of beauty in giving witness to God through music and poetry,” he writes in his essay, “The Necessity of Beauty.”
The issue includes YDS faculty members who are associated with the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, including Martin Jean, Peter Hawkins ’68 M.A., ’75 Ph.D., and Christian Wiman, as well as Troeger. Other contributors include YDS professor John Hare, YDS lecturer Felicity Harley-McGowan, ISM lecturer Edmund Ryder, and Yale School of Architecture lecturer Karla Cavarra Britton.
The cover features the painting Golden Sea by Makoto Fujimura.
Saxophonist-composer Dwight Andrews ’77 M.Div., ’83 M.Phil., ’93 Ph.D. argues that art can convey important theological principles, including a trust in God as the author of creativity and transformation. In a Reflections interview, he describes the use of jazz in Sunday services at his Atlanta church, First Congregational United Church of Christ.
“We’re bringing swing into the service—that feeling and rhythm,” he says. “And that’s bringing us back to the early church practice of involving all the senses—your taste, smell, sight, hearing, and now your toes.”
Reflections is produced by YDS as an extension of the Divinity School’s mission to promote faith and intellect in the church and world. See reflections.yale.edu to view this and previous issues, or to start a free subscription to the magazine.