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Literature, Art and the Christian Imagination

Course Content

This course explores the dynamic relation between Christian spirituality and aesthetic experience through a consideration of particular works of art and literature. The course will explore the theological sources of the Christian imagination and consider the place of the creative arts in the life of the Christian community. It will trace the Biblical sources of the literary and visual imagination and examine how artists, writers and poets have had a prophetic role in giving new life to and bringing new meaning out of those sources. The changing relation between art, literature and Christian spirituality through different historical periods will be considered along with the role of the literary and visual imagination in shaping perspectives on the spiritual quest in modernity and postmodernity.

The 2010 course is fully booked.  Please contact Anne Jensen to register interest in the next course.

8 January
George Herbert and John Donne
(POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER - New date is 16 July; see description below)

5 February
Landscape and the Imagination
With Jane Gledhill and Patrick Moore

Jane Gledhill begins this exploration of landscape and imagination through the English literary and visual tradition from the 17th century to the early nineteenth century. The lecture will consider how different styles represent nature and give a sense of paradise regained. The second lecture will look at ways that we might understand God through revelation and spiritual insights in different literary works from Milton to Dickens. Patrick Moore then recovers the neglected path of the classical imagination embodied in the writings of Swift, Pope and Eliot and considers its implications for Christian spirituality.

19 March
After John: The Fourth Gospel in Art and Literature
With Michael Wheeler

St John the Evangelist has always held a special place in the affections of theologians and preachers, painters, writers and musicians. Traditionally, the ‘Gospel according to St John’ has been regarded as theologically the most important of the four – the gospel in which Jesus is declared to be the Son of God from the beginning and in which his glory is revealed in a series of intimate discourses and powerful stories. In the first session we think about both the evangelist and the gospel, and the ways in which they have been represented in art and literature. In the following three sessions the focus is upon representations of particular passages and episodes, ‘after John’: the miracle at Cana, the raising of Lazarus and the ‘touch me not / touch me’ episodes relating to Mary Magdalene and Thomas. Examples range from medieval to modern, but the Renaissance and the nineteenth century are most strongly represented.

23 April
Spirituality and the Natural World through the eyes of the poet Mary Oliver and artist Georgia O’Keefe
With Anne Long and Margaret Gill

Mary Oliver, a contemporary American poet, was always captivated by the natural world. She described her work as ‘loving the world’. Some regard her as a nature mystic. But when her close friend and editor died, loss and bereavement moved her to a fresh exploration of the Christian faith. We shall look at some of her poems and essays to see how these themes emerge. The American Modernist artist Georgia O’Keefe had no specific Christian allegiance but she did have a genuine spirituality that pervaded the whole of her life. Her journey was one of deep contemplation and a search for beauty and harmony. Using some of O’Keefe’s paintings we will see how her desire to express ‘the wideness and wonder of the world’ can offer us insight into our own spiritual journey. How is the natural world with all its beauty and its darker side reflected in the life journeys of these two creative women?

21 May
Art, Spirituality and Religion
With Graham Howes and Charles Pickstone

The long history of Christianity’s relationship with the visual arts and the more recent history of Art itself being seen as having a profound but less explicitly religious ‘spirituality’, remain of absorbing interest today. Graham Howes and Charles Pickstone examine these two areas both in general terms and through detailed examination of two key topics.

The morning session will look at the connection between religious art and religious experience and consider the whether art and spirituality are rivals or allies. In the afternoon there will be two sessions on ‘Art, Imagination and the Victorians’ and ‘Kandinsky and Mondrian: art and the infinite’.

25 June
Finding Transcendence in Unlikely Texts: Hardy, McEwan and Winterson
With Vernon White and Susan Stephenson

Hardy’s work holds a fascination for many Christians even though it often seems at odds with faith and belief. Why? The morning sessions will explore various ways in which theological beliefs about life, death, and the purposes of God, find paradoxical expression in Hardy’s work. This, in turn, will help illuminate some of the ironies and paradoxes which appear in Christian belief itself, and especially in Christian experience. The outcome of this conversation is nonetheless a very positive affirmation of a Christian ‘world view’ - in spite of its difficulties. Although Hardy is the chief resource there will also be reference back to Wordsworth and Coleridge, and forwards to some 20th century literary figures.

In the afternoon, Susan Stephenson takes up the exploration of theological echoes in the writing of contemporary novelists Ian McEwan and Jeanette Winterson. McEwan has described himself as an atheist and Winterson as a ‘devout sceptic’ but the search for transcendence and the redemptive power of love are central themes in their novels and both writers offer important insights for Christian Spirituality.

16 July  (POSTPONED date from cancelled 8 January session)
George Herbert and John Donne
With Barbara Mosse

The priest-poets John Donne (1572-1631) and his younger contemporary George Herbert (1593-1633) make a fascinating pairing. The morning sessions will explore the parallel vocations of each as priest and poet, set against the turbulent religious and political background of 17th century England. The first afternoon session offers the opportunity to work with selected texts, and our final session will consider the legacy of both poets for Christian life and spirituality today.

Timetable

10.00 Arrivals and Coffee
10.30 Session One
11.30 Coffee break
12.00 Session Two

1.00 Lunch

2.00 Session Three
3.00 Tea Break
3.30 Session Four
4.30 Departures

Price: £270, including lunch and refreshments

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Course Tutors

Dr Jane Gledhill
has taught M.A. courses on Literature and Spirituality and Literature and Theology at Sarum College and at the University of Kent. She is currently Programme leader for the M.A. in Theology, Context and the Pastoral Imagination. Her research interests are in the relationship of art to literature, Modernism and the First World War and ‘Women and Vocation’ in the Nineteenth Century Novel.

Dr Margaret Gill
is a recently retired doctor whose specialism was psychosexual medicine. She has a long-term interest in art and creativity and has a BA in Visual Art from Winchester School of Art. She is currently studying for an MA in Fine Art in Farnham. She is the author of ‘Sexuality and Pastoral Care’. She worked with Anne Long for many years on The Christian Listeners project for the Acorn Christian healing foundation.

Dr Graham Howes
is an Emeritus Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He lectures extensively in Britain and abroad and has written widely on topics related to art and spirituality. His Art of the Sacred was published in 2007.

Revd Anne Long
formerly taught English and, later, theology. A retired Anglican priest, she has recently taught a course on Mary Oliver at Sarum College. She has written ‘Listening’ and two Grove booklets on Spiritual Direction and is currently pursuing her interest in contemporary poetry. She worked with Margaret Gill for many years on The Christian Listeners project for the Acorn Christian healing foundation.

Br Patrick Moore
is a De La Salle brother and has taught in California, Cambridge and London. He is presently Scholar-in-Residence at Sarum College and has been a Guest Fellow at Yale. His doctoral studies were in aesthetics.

Revd Barbara Mosse
is Lecturer in Christian Spirituality at Sarum College. She is an Anglican priest and writer, and was formerly assistant spirituality adviser in Portsmouth diocese. Her research interests include Celtic and Medieval spirituality, Thomas Merton, and spirituality in the life and work of George Herbert and John Donne. She has written on prayer for Church Times, and contributes regularly to Redemptorist Publications. Her book The Treasures of Darkness was published by Canterbury Press in 2003.

Revd Charles Pickstone
iis an Anglican priest living in South London. Educated in Oxford, Paris and Leeds he lectures and writes widely on the subjects of art and spirituality.

Dr Susan Stephenson
is Programme Leader for the MA in Christian Spirituality at Sarum College. She previously taught at the Universities of Southampton, Oxford Brookes, Edinburgh and Reading. Her current research interests include: Spirituality and Continental Philosophy; and Spirituality and the Contemporary Novel.

Professor Michael Wheeler
current project is a book on John's Gospel and the Victorians. Formerly he was Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University, where he was responsible for creating the Ruskin Library, and more recently at Southampton, when he was co-Director of Chawton House Library. He has lectured in sixteen countries and is visiting Professor at the universities of Lancaster and Southampton. A widely published author, specializing in theology and the arts in the nineteenth century, he now writes full time and lectures to special interest groups. His most recent books are all from CUP: Heaven, hell and the Victorians; Ruskin's God; and The old enemies: Catholic and Protestant in nineteenth-century English culture.

Canon Vernon White
is currently Principal of the Southern Theological Education & Training Scheme and Canon Theologian of Winchester. He was previously Chancellor of Lincoln and special lecturer at Nottingham University, a Parish Priest, and Chaplain & Lecturer at Exeter University. He has published academic books on the subject of providence, Christology and atonement, and human personhood. His most recent publications are Counterpoints (a short collection of essays and addresses), and Life Beyond Death (the 2005 Sarum lectures).