Reimagining Creation and Incarnation through Art (DS9304C)

Postgraduate, 24.0 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: DS9304C

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Spirituality

Proposing College: Catholic Theological College

Show when this unit is running

Learning outcomes

1.

Critically examine a range of theoretical approaches to visual literacy.
2.

Relate artists and their work to the religious and the social agenda of their times.
3.

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

Develop a critical understanding of the theology of Creation and Incarnation in an evolutionary cosmology.
5.

Synthesize various perspectives in a rigorous, sustained and self-directed manner regarding the way art engagement can impact on a person's understanding of transcendence and religious meaning.

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 (%)

Variant 1

Essay - First essay

3500-word essay

 3500 50.0
Essay - Second essay

3500-word essay

 3500 50.0

Variant 2

Skeleton Argument - Essay Plan 1000 20.0
Essay - Major Essay 6000 80.0
Approvals

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

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