THRS349

Arts & Sciences

THRS

349

What role do the arts and creative expression play in the task of theology, the disciplined and critical reflection on belief and the nature of God? The meanings discoverable through art and the creative process lead to deeper questions, enhancing critical thought. Art expresses our nature as spiritual beings inseparable from the material world; it explores morality, politics, emotion, the subconscious, and the unknown. The “theological imagination” is a way of perceiving and appreciating the sensible world, as Margaret Miles points out, “with ‘a certain slant of light,’ in which other human beings, the natural world, and objects appear in their full beauty, transformed.” The thesis of the course is that great art, whether explicitly containing religious symbolism or not, reveals the depth dimension of reality, what might be called “God.” This course will consider the meaning and function of theological aesthetics, and attempt to cultivate tools for the appreciation of visual culture: a sharper awareness of seeing, attention to detail, and the habit of mind that recognizes the beautiful as well as the ambiguous. Prerequisite: Any lower division course with the FTRI core attribute.