Transpositions Tidbits

This Tidbits is partly organised thematically offering links and resources on the topics of “The place of the artist,” Food and Theology, and the Church and Social Media. But that’s not all. Before we dive into links on those topics, we’ve got a few other links to share –

• David O. Taylor, author of the book Beauty for the Church that elicited a week of in-depth reviews from Transpositions, has begun a new series of posts about the Landscape of Church & Art in the US (and to some extent internationally) and the questions at hand. Here is his Prologue to the series.
• Bruce Herman, who we’ve previously Featured on Transpositions, has a new website.
• Cardiphonia, based in Raleigh, NC, has put together an full songbook of hymns based on the Apostles Creed with the assistance of a large group of musicians and sound technicians.  Musicians had 2 weeks to write and record an original tune to a “collection of fairly arcane hymns” written by Samuel Stone for each article of the Apostles Creed. These hymns are now freely available. The artwork for the project is also work taking a look at for its own merit.
• One of the writers on the Cardiphonia project, Brian Moss, has a site called the PrayerBook Project that he describes as an experiment in music and prayer.
• If you ever need songs to help you learn the Westminster Shorter Catechism, then Reformed Music has what you’re looking for with a series of song books covering 107 questions.
• Poet, and regular commenter on Transpositions, Chris Beal shares his Australian landscape infused poetry on his website.
• Emily Watkins thinks about liturgy – “the order given to worship and the observance of traditions when a community of faith gathers” – and writes about creating an environment where the rhythms of home are liturgical. We’ve been fortunate to have Emily guest post here in the past with her piece on the importance of play.

“The Christian artist needs to interact in community because of what he will bring out in others and what they will bring out in him.” – Tim Keller.

• Originally published in 2000, It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God is a collection of essays offering perspectives on the why of being a Christian Artist and one’s relationship to the church. Some of the contributors to the project include sculptor Ted Prescott, musician Charlie Peacock, photographer Krystyna Sanderson, Painter Gaylen Stewart and lyricist and poet Steve Scott, artist Mary McCleary (also one of the featured artists here on Transpositions), commentator and pastor Tim Keller, installationist Roger Feldman, artist Sandra Bowden and Image Editor, Greg Wolfe.
• In the last Tidbits installment, we shared a link to Makoto Fujimura’s “Letter to North American Churches”, a thoughtful and beautifully written piece about the role of the Christian artist and their place within the church. If you’ve already seen that one, then check out his recent Letter to Young Artists. Makoto Fujimura’s Illuminated Gospel Book Project: “The Four Holy Gospels” is also strongly recommended!
• Also, IAMEncounter has opened registrations for their 2011 conference. Register for IAMEncounter11 now and be part of this engaging time together as artists.
• We’ve written quite a few posts on the place of the artist in the church. The role of the artist, in and of themselves and in relation to the church, has been a theme oft visited. Jenn explored where service of the Christian artist lies in the context of the Church (Part 1 and Part 2) along with the place of artistic creation in the life of the church and the calling of Christian artistry. Wes has written about what it means to learn to be critics with our hands and feet, while Sara has written in the past about what an artist can bring to theology and vice versa and about the burden of autonomy for artists.
• This article about an art exhibition in London featuring the portrait of Murdered Mexican Women is particularly thought-provoking.
• In addition to a post from our own Ben Guthrie on Cooking in Community and  The abuse of cake, food is something we need to survive (Bob Covolo recently wrote about the way fashion in its simplest form is also a necessity) and so I thought it’d be helpful to share some links to posts about Theological approaches to food. Whether you are a essentialist, eating to live or living to eat, a gourmand, a master of the domestic art of the communal meal, hopefully some of these links offer food for thought.
• Caleb Roberts has a couple of posts around about this topic, Eating to live, Living to Eat and Eschatological Butter. Another blog offers an introduction to the theology of food, titled aptly enough, Toward a Theology of Food: Introduction.
• For Fun: Fast Food through the Lens of Still Life Photographers: Four contemporary artists approach the subject of a Burger. 
• Peter Leithart has a succinct post offering a Theology of Food and Feasting which might be of interest.
• The UK Christian New Media Awards were held recently, and Transpositions was honored as runner-up in the Best Newcomer Blog Category. You can find a full list of winners, runners-up and finalists of this group of award-winning blogs based in the UK.
• Church and Social Media Resources: an electronic resource of the Presbyterian General Assembly 2010

We’re always on the look out for anything related to Theology, Imagination and the Arts. Do you have a blog, website, article or organisation that you think we should include in a future Tidbits? Just send us an email (see contact page above) and let us know!