Art: a conversation partner in theological education

ABSTRACT

This article explores the role of art as a source for theological reflection. Art extends an invitation for viewers to discover connections between their experiences and their frameworks for interpreting reality and meaning. This examination draws on Tim Gorringe’s argument that art offers a secular parable with a three-fold function: (i) leaning into an eschatological view of an alternative future; (ii) inviting a vision of shalom that contributes to a greater good; and (iii) inviting viewers to attend to what is, and, therefore, to see more deeply. This engagement with art stimulates theological conversation toward insight as viewers ponder their responses and integrate their experiences with their meaning-making frameworks. In this way, art provides a significant resource for ministry and an invaluable source for reflection within the theological endeavour.

KEYWORDS:

• Art
• seeing
• theological reflection
• insight
• education
• wonder

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The author acknowledges the literal interpretation of the Bartimaeus story as the healing of blindness wherein the functional limitation occurs within the social context of the day. This has been challenged by advances in disability theology, in the work of Deborah Beth Creamer (2008) and others, who confront the interpretation of such passages literally. In this paper, the writer acknowledges the limit of the language of sight and blindness, and intends toward the metaphoric capacity in the story, of one gaining insight through attending and reflecting, acknowledging that both sighted and visually impaired people have experiences of spiritual blindness and insight.

2 Anecdotally, I would mention several students who have since engaged in public discourse around Australia’s need for a treaty with the first nations. The overt challenge to colonial history in Mellor’s work has been a visual prompt for their growing insight. Others have gone on in forming church liturgies that account for a richer historical narrative and the need for acknowledgement of sin in our treatment of our Indigenous people and the continuing social gap.