By: Garrick Roegner on September 12, 2013
In The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice, author David Morgan explores the connections between visual culture and religious practice and feelings. He makes the case that images have real power over people and communities of faith, and are even used to impose power or convince others. Morgan explains that the world…
By: Phil Smart on September 12, 2013
A talisman is an object that is believed to hold magical or mystical powers. We all subscribe to various talismans – I think. It can be something very simple, such as wearing the same shirt on a special day. Tiger Woods is one who always wears red on the Sundays of each golf tournament, believing…
By: Chris Ellis on September 12, 2013
In The Sacred Gaze, David Morgan expounds upon how images can impact our view and understanding of reality. He writes, “Sacred gaze is a term that designates the particular configuration of ideas, attitudes, and customs that informs a religious act of seeing as it occurs within a given cultural and historical setting. A sacred gaze…
By: Sharenda Roam on September 12, 2013
Jesus – Idol or Icon? As we arrived at church on Sunday morning in St. Louis this past weekend, my three year old nephew asked my Mom, “Mimi, did God make Jesus or did Jesus make God?” My Mom and I looked at each other and then she quickly answered, “There’s one God with three…
By: Richard Rhoads on September 12, 2013
I had just finished eating while taking in a stunning sunset located on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And now, the time had come, what I had waited for and long anticipating for almost 35 years, a ride across the Sea of Galilee at night. I could hardly contain myself as I…
By: Ashley Goad on September 11, 2013
Warning: before we go any further, you must know I love pictures. I am nearly addicted to Instagram and documenting my life through pictures. My kids and my youth groups accuse me often of being the paparazzi, embarrassing them to no end, and documenting every life event from plates of food to birthday parties to baseball…
By: Sandy Bils on September 11, 2013
In the post of last “Scared of art” I already reflected on art and theology, inspired by William A. Dyrness’ “Visual faith – art, theology and worship in dialogue”. This week I want to take a deeper look into David Morgans “Sacred gaze. Religious visual culture in theory and practice.” A lot of what Morgan…
By: Mark Steele on September 8, 2013
Dyrness in his book Visual Faith examines the past history of Christian art and the need to rejuvenate the practice for many reasons. Among his reasons are to worship, share the gospel and to communicate God’s truths with a media driven generation (Dyrness, 2001). While reflecting about these concepts, I was drawn to look back…
By: Clint Baldwin on September 7, 2013
Paul and Elder’s The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools is a concise work that packs a considerable amount of material between its covers. The insights are solid and accompanied by an engaging and helpful set of diagrams that further elucidate the authors’ perspectives. Overall, the authors’ goal in this text is rather straightforward…
By: Cedrick Valrie on September 7, 2013
In the natural and to the naked eye, there is not much special about water, food, and a community of people that are wandering in the desert. From an ancient perspective, such resources are a sign of strength, provision, and wealth. From a modern perspective, water and food are commonly viewed as necessities, while building…
By: John Woodward on September 6, 2013
Richard Paul and Linda Elder’s The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking, 6th ed. is a tremendously helpful and brief tool for reasoning and research. While filled with much helpful advice, what these authors do so well is provide a laundry list of potential pit-falls that researchers often unknowingly fall into. These include recognizing that one’s…
By: Telile Fikru Badecha on September 6, 2013
Reading Richard Paul and Linda Elder, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking concepts and Tools, 6th ed. has been an eye opening for me. I am not a critical thinker and I really need to learn how to cultivate critical thinking. Reading this book took me back to my middle school and high school experience…
By: Sam Stephens on September 6, 2013
In all my years of ministry, even though I have enjoyed art, I have never given it serious thought and consideration as one that adds value to ministry. My protestant puritanical upbringing has not allowed me to reflect upon its value and worth in worship and discipleship. Reading Visual Faith – Art, Theology and Worship…
By: Carol McLaughlin on September 6, 2013
I remember sitting at my desk in fourth grade dutifully coping my geography text. Perhaps my teacher was a kinestic learner that transferred her learning approach into her classroom teaching or perhaps we were just doing busy work to keep a room full of active ten year olds quiet. Whatever the pedagogy behind her assignment…
By: Richard Volzke on September 6, 2013
Everyone’s thoughts can be biased based on their experiences, cultural exposure, and education. Because of this, our world outlook can be skewed unless we train and exercise ourselves to think in a critical manner. I always thought that critical thinking was a natural, ingrained trait, as it seems that some people “just get it”. They…
By: Julie Dodge on September 6, 2013
A student of mine posted a meme on Facebook last week. A three sentence statement that compared two vastly different political and economic events to American immigration. She asked, “Is this for real?” I responded by stating that as the post was worded it was misleading and perhaps inaccurate. I did not say that it…
By: Fred Fay on September 6, 2013
Art and the Christian Faith have had close historical ties. It has been shunned and embraced. But defining what Christian art is and how it is to be used in church has been controversial. Emerging younger congregations have both embraced and avoided it also. In our city there are many churches started in schools. Their…
By: Stefania Tarasut on September 6, 2013
Overall this tiny booklet was refreshing. If I had a highlighter handy I would have highlighted most of the book. The way we think can either move us forward or hold us back. Our way of thinking determines how we solve our problems, how we relate to people and how we live our lives. We…
By: Sharenda Roam on September 6, 2013
“Idol vs. Icon” William Dyrness, in his book “Visual Faith” explores the concept of spiritual and religious art. He discusses the historical transitions of art within Christianity due to theology and iconoclasm, especially after the Protestant Reformation; as well as the contemporary resurgence of religious art in its variety of forms. I decided to take…
By: Phil Smart on September 5, 2013
I am often in the Atlanta airport. Never it seems, is my departing plane in the same area as where I land, so I find myself traveling from concourse to concourse. There are two options of navigation in this, the world’s largest airport. One is to take advantage of the tram that whisks between the…
