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Women of the Word: Abigail course

An art and prayer online workshop
Women of the Word: Abigail

The second of two art and prayer workshops to explore the faces and lives of biblical women through a mix of poetry, images, a led mediation, practical artwork and reflection. These workshops are totally independent of each other and so can be taken either individually or as a pair. What might these biblical figures have to say to us today?

Abigail has been proclaimed as both a prophet and a peacemaker. In this workshop, we will reflect on the story this wise and resourceful woman caught in a life-threatening situation through no fault of her own, who saved not only her own life but those of many others. She would eventually become David’s third wife.

Come and join us to reflect on who are the Abigails of today and how might her story inspire and speak to our own faith and lives?

The workshop combines practical artwork image, music, word and silence: no artistic experience is needed, but also, being artistic is not a restriction for these workshops! All are welcome…wherever you are on your spiritual and artistic journeys.

The first workshop on Miriam is 1 March 2025.

About the facilitator
Carol Maples (PhD) is the artist, teacher, creative liturgist and development worker for the Soul Marks Trust which uses the visual arts as a tool for prayer, worship and community.

Carol graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1988 with a BA (Hons.) in Tapestry. Since then she has regularly exhibited created installations, taught courses and led workshops for all ages and abilities in Scotland, Europe and North America in a variety of contexts: Conferences, retreats, churches, art schools and universities.

Carol completed the Sarum Course in Spiritual Direction course in 2000 and has been leading Art and Prayer workshops since 1999. She gained an MLitt (distinction) in 2012, and a PhD in 2019 from the Institute of Theology, Imagination and the Arts, University of St. Andrews.

Details

Dates & Times

27 Sep 2025

10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Other Notes

This online workshop combines practical artwork image, music, word and silence: no artistic experience is needed, but also, being artistic is not a restriction for these workshops! All are welcome…wherever you are on your spiritual and artistic journeys.

The first workshop on Miriam is 1 March 2025.

What our students say

PhD Research Programmes

Visual Artist Claire Reed

The complex and sometimes fractious relationship between contemporary art and religion has intrigued me throughout my art career, informing my direction as an artist. It has led me to work in sacred spaces with their immediate and wider communities, to study an MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture at Sarum College, and recently to become artist–researcher at Leo Baeck College of Jewish scholarship and learning.

My aim is to examine the extent to which this creative approach might generate fruitful inter-religious theological insights within a Jewish and Christian ministry training context.

Sarum College combines an open-minded embrace of the imagination and the arts with a supportive, questioning and diverse community. Crucially for me, the Sarum-Winchester PhD programme is one of the very few UK university programmes to offer a hybrid thesis in art and theology in which the creative process and resulting art output along with a written critical component are presented for examination.

This PhD research is a key part of my development as an artist engaged with theology and inter-religious dialogue.

Read full article

Stimulating and Challenging

What is Successful Ageing? led by James Woodward

I enjoyed the course immensely from beginning to end – the seamless interweaving of knowledge, ideas and research and the linking with belief and faith.

The content was stimulating, challenging, thought provoking and I was greatly appreciative of the contributions and questions from other participants, your considered and sensitive responses and integration with your presentations.

Thank you!

Netflix, Theology and Pastoral Practice

Peter Butchers on his MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture student experience

How do cultural tropes, like those found in Black Mirror, help bridge the gap between what academic theology espouses and what the everyday Christian believes? In his research as a student on the MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture, Peter Butchers explored platonic philosophy, digital theology and eschatology, and pastoral practice around death and dying.

Rewarding Sabbatical Stay

The Revd Greg Syler, is Rector of Ascension & St. George’s, Resurrection Parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC USA, spent part of his ministry sabbatical at Sarum College in spring 2022.

His account of the experience begins: ‘I loved spending nearly three weeks of my ministry sabbatical at Sarum College earlier this year.

Not only did I rest, and rest well in the comfortable care of the Sarum College staff, I experienced very significant renewal and fresh insights.’

The Road Not Taken

Sarum Graduate Mike Truman

January 2022

Five years ago, I told my Warden of Readers that I would not be renewing my licence when it expired in 2019, as I thought my faith was becoming too unorthodox for a Church of England licensed lay minister. As someone who knew me well, she challenged me to actively explore what I did still believe. Thus started the journey that ended last August with the dissertation completing my MA in Theology Imagination and Culture (MATIC) at Sarum College.

Clergy Study Breaks

The opportunity for clergy to get away occasionally from their own context, to have an overnight stay in the beautiful setting of Sarum College and all that the Salisbury Cathedral Close offers is hugely valuable. All the clergy I have suggested who have spent 24hrs at Sarum College have benefit greatly from the experienced mentoring where they can talk, reflect, think, plan and pray.

The support and encouragement they receive is excellent and has a positive on their on going ministry. This is something the Diocese of Rochester encourages and supports financially in preparation for their clergy preparing for Extended Ministerial Development Leave (Sabbatical).

— Canon Christopher Dench, Diocese of Rochester Director of Formation and Ministry

Retreats and Private Stays

When I arrived, exhausted and sensitive, I was grateful not to be asked by Reception were I came from, whether I had had a good journey etc. That was the kind of hospitality I needed: a non-intrusive welcome that was found in ancient cultures and still survives in some societies today, where the host asks questions about a stranger and his journey only when the visitor has rested and been given food and drink.

— guest on a private stay

Biblical Study Breaks

I just found it very refreshing – as a leader of a church I don’t get as many opportunities to step out and do courses (my fault, not the church!) and so I loved it. I think it was run really well online – which is a difficult medium to work with.

Pádraig Ó Tuama (pictured) was outstanding in his balance of getting us to engage and sharing his learning. Also the quick availability of resources provided by Sarum College Librarian Jayne Downey was excellent.

— course participant, Story Theology: Narrative Approaches to Scripture

Women of the Word: Abigail