Reimagining Creation and Incarnation through Art (DS3304C)

Undergraduate, 18.0 points

Content

In this unit, students will learn to use methods of art appreciation to explore the contemporary significance of central themes of Christian faith. They will investigate and reflect on the role of art in expressing and deepening the viewer’s relationship to the Christian tradition and to questions of personal religious experience and openness to transcendence in everyday life. Students will use historical and critical enquiry to investigate the ways artists negotiated the requirements of their civic and religious contexts to produce and promote religious interpretations through their work. In particular, through the contextual and visual analysis of relevant artworks, students will attempt to re-articulate the biblical themes of creation and incarnation within the imaginary of an evolutionary and dynamic cosmology for contemporary audiences.

Unit code: DS3304C

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 18.0

Unit level: Undergraduate Level 3

Unit discipline: Spirituality

Proposing College: Catholic Theological College

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Learning outcomes

1.

Articulate a range of theoretical approaches to visual literacy.
2.

Explain how artists have related the religious and the social agenda of their times.
3.

Analyse the way artists have made use of landscape, still life and the body to express their vision of Creation and Incarnation.
4.

Demonstrate theologically the interplay between art and the theology of Creation and Incarnation.
5.

Evaluate the relationship between Christological theology and the artistic portrayal of the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ.

Unit sequence

Doing DS2303C/3303C/9303C (Theology and Religious Education through Art) before this unit is highly recommended but not required as a prerequisite.

Pedagogy

An andragogical constructive framework using discussion, readings, research and practical classroom demonstrations.

Indicative Bibliography

  • Allen, Christopher. Art in Australia, From Colonization to Postmodernism. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
  • Anderson, Jaynie. The Cambridge Companion to Australian Art. Port Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
  • BBC Series. Civilisations. BBC: Nutopia, 2018.
  • Delio, Ilia. The Emergent Christ. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011.
  • Edwards, Denis. Deep Incarnation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2019.
  • Gray, Anne, curator. Australia. Text by Thomas Keneally (and 7 others). London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2013.
  • Lev, Elizabeth. How Catholic Art Saved the Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2018.
  • O’Leary, Daniel. An Astonishing Secret. Dublin: Columba Press, 2017.
  • O’Murchu, Diarmuid. Incarnation: A New Evolutionary Threshold. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2017.
  • Williams, Rowan. Christ the Heart of Creation. London: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2018.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Essay

Essay

 2000 40.0
Essay

Essay

 3000 60.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 27 Jun, 2024

Unit record last updated: 2024-06-27 10:49:14 +1000