Second Event: May 4-6, 2018
Renowned scholars and artists return to campus for seminal work on Sacred Arts.
A group of renowned scholars and artists took part in a three-day symposium during the weekend of May 4-6, 2018 at St. Vladimir’s Seminary as they worked to explore sacred arts both in historic and new, possibly groundbreaking ways.
The symposium builds on an earlier meeting at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in 2016 and continues the efforts of the seminary’s Sacred Arts Initiative (SAI), which is funded by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. Dr. Peter C. Bouteneff, the seminary’s professor of Systematic Theology and director of the SAI, coordinated the symposium, along with Dn. Evan Freeman, seminary alumnus and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of the History of Art at Yale University, and Richard Schneider, professor of Iconology and Hermeneutics at the seminary.
“’Sacrality,’ ‘the sacred,’ ‘arts,’ and ‘Sacred Arts’ show up in a lot of different fields and disciplines, often without definition…and a lot of these terms are taken for granted,” said Dn. Evan. “So, what we wanted to do was to try to bring a truly interdisciplinary group of scholars and artists [together] to discuss this.”
Among those presenting papers were historians of Byzantine and Armenian art and architecture Charlie Barber, Annemarie Weyl Carr, and Christina Maranci; musicologist Peter Jeffery; musicologist and theologian Margot Fassler; Orthodox priest, composer, conductor, and musicologist Ivan Moody; iconographer George Kordis; poet Nicholas Samaras, theologian and Roman Catholic priest Richard Viladesau; and Professor Schneider.
“Getting scholars and practitioners of this caliber to reflect on fundamental themes isn’t easy,” said Dr. Bouteneff. “It is a testimony to the level and character of the people assembled here that they contributed so thoughtfully, enthusiastically, and brilliantly, to the theme of sacredness in the arts. We realized together that we have here the potential of offering something new and useful to Christian reflection on theology and the arts."
Dr. Bouteneff added that one of the goals of the Sacred Arts Initiative is the future publication of a book based on the papers presented at this recent symposium.
View full event photo gallery here.
First Event: September 16-18, 2016
Highly influential global scholars and artists took seriously the task of “Rethinking Sacred Arts” at a weekend symposium entitled the same and held on our seminary campus September 16–18, 2016. Participants drew from their respective disciplines and expertise in exploring both historic categories and new ways of thinking about “sacrality” and “art.”
The symposium, which included a public Panel Discussion on Saturday evening attended by an audience of 75 people, was the first in a series of events planned between Fall 2016 and Spring 2018 by the Seminary, all of which are a part of its Sacred Arts Initiative (SAI) funded by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. Peter C. Bouteneff, professor of Systematic Theology at the Seminary and director of the SAI, coordinated the symposium, along with Dn. Evan Freeman, seminary alumnus and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of the History of Art at Yale University, Richard Schneider, professor of Iconology and Hermeneutics at the Seminary, and Megan Carlisle Rakowski, a trained archivist and seminary alumna.
“In thinking freshly about what it means to call something ‘sacred,’” noted Dr. Bouteneff, “our symposium participants reflected on the dialogical relationship between God and the human person. It is in the human response to God that we create and partake in objects, spaces, words, and sounds that bring us to the encounter with and praise of God.
“Our symposiasts also spoke appreciatively of the unique contribution that the Orthodox world can offer in reflecting theologically on the material world, on human creativity, and on the coming together of the sacred arts in the context of the Liturgy,” he noted. “Their participation in our chapel services made a great impression on them in that regard.”
Several of the symposium participants also recorded video interviews on sacred arts and St. Vladimir's Seminary, which can be viewed here.
Among the prestigious participants, three were within the Orthodox Christian tradition: sacred music composer Fr. Ivan Moody, chairman of the International Society for Orthodox Church Music and currently a researcher at CESEM-Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Vasileios Marinis, associate professor of Christian Art and Architecture at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Divinity School; and George Kordis, iconographer and former professor in Iconography (Theory and Practice) at the University of Athens.
Other participants represented a wide spectrum of confessional beliefs and disciplines and included: Gordon Graham, Henry Luce III Professor of Philosophy and the Arts, Princeton Theological Seminary; Helen C. Evans, Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator for Byzantine Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Annemarie Weyl Carr, University Distinguished Professor of Art History, Southern Methodist University (Emerita); Peter Jeffery, Michael P. Grace Chair in Medieval Studies and Professor of Musicology and Ethnomusicology, Notre Dame University; Margot Fassler, Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Music and Liturgy, University of Notre Dame; Judith Wolfe, senior lecturer in Theology and the Arts, University of St. Andrews, Scotland; and Mary Carruthers, professor of English, New York University (Emerita) and Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
View full event photo gallery here.
