We are pleased to announce the next installment of The Forum event series. The title of our next event is “Can Artists Be Atheists? The Role of Religion in Art.” Our speaker will be David Robertson, Minister of St Peters, Dundee and Director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity. The event will take place on the 10th of December in the Byre Theatre’s Levy Studio from 6:00 – 7:30 PM. See this map for directions. Following a short presentation by David, there will be time allowed for a formal discussion of this provocative topic.
In this Forum we will ask some of the basic questions about art. If life is meaningless, can there be any meaningful art? What is the role of religion and philosophy in art? Does art reflect the culture or lead and change it? Can art exist without a Supreme Artist? Looking at the works of artists such as Chagall, Kandinsky and Van Gogh, we will look at how art answers, reflects and questions the perennial great questions regarding the existence of God and humanity.
The Forum is an experiment in doing public theology. It is a series of free, public events. Each event will begin with a presentation that explores the interesting theological questions raised by a cultural artifact. The presentation will be followed by time for formal discussion and informal mingling. Each presentation is intended to be accessible and relevant to a large public audience. The organizers hope that The Forum will provide a public space in which people can discuss questions about God and human existence.
The Forum was created by a group of postgraduates in the divinity school of the University of St Andrews who wanted to take the kind of interdisciplinary work they were doing beyond academia. They believe that bridging the gaps between academic theology and popular culture is both fruitful and challenging. The Forum is intended to be for anyone who is interested, and all are welcome to attend this series of free, public events.
This is the kind of event I would love to watch live online. Just saying.
Andy, we’re trying to work out ways to incorporate more social media and streaming into what we do! We need to figure out some issues with platforms before we move forward. Is there anything else you’d be interested in seeing more of on Transpositions?
Anna, I am glad to hear you are thinking about adding that dimension to the conversation. I am also grateful for the blog itself—I’ve been looking for such a place for quite some time. One discussion I’d love to see is how artists are responding to the recent missional shift—how does the critique of consumerism impact how we embrace, create, use, sell, collect fine art etc. Would love to see such a post. That’s a topic suggestion, and that’s all I have for now.