In this poem from his new collection THE LOCUST YEARS, @pauljpastor.bsky.social reflects on the dissonance between our earthbound reality—marked by misrule, violence, and famine—and the new-earthly reality that awaits us. artandtheology.org/2025/10/06/t...

This (mostly) poetry-themed roundup—there's also my new Spotify playlist—features poems by Kobayashi Issa, Lucille Clifton, Hester Pulter, Rafael Campo, Paul J. Pastor, Michael Stalcup, Richard Crashaw, Franz Wright & more, most of them accompanied by commentary. artandtheology.org/2025/10/02/r...

This fifteenth-century tapestry from Tournai, then a leading center of production, depicts Christ Carrying the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. artandtheology.org/2025/09/28/f...

A 17th-century chronicle tells the story of the form of Christ crucified appearing in a tree to a Mapuche man in Limache. artandtheology.org/2025/09/15/c...

This poem is about God's creating & commissioning us to image God. God's benediction here calls us to investigate the root of our desires, to flourish, to remain tender & attentive, perseverant, & to walk hand in hand w/ the Divine in "the country they call life." artandtheology.org/2025/09/08/g...

New playlist, feat. an Indonesian music collective, etc.; Apostles' Creed video; book illustrates Bible stories w/ art by Indigenous Australians; Oscar-nominated short starring DeafBlind actor Robert Tarango; reflection on closing scene of PLACES IN THE HEART. artandtheology.org/2025/09/01/r...

A detached ivory panel at the Met shows our primordial parents blacksmithing together! I was stopped in my tracks by this unique variation on the iconography of Adam and Eve at Labor and was curious to find if there are any other images like it. #laborday #marriage artandtheology.org/2025/08/29/a...

Our Exhibition of the Week is called 'The Woman with Nard' and looks at Mary Magdalene in Matthew 26:6–13, Mark 14:3–9, and John 12:1–8. It features a thirteenth-century French manuscript, a painting by El Greco, and an illumination by Jean Fouquet: thevcs.org/woman-with-n...

Morning prayer by Maren Tirabassi; “Sólo le pido a Dios” (I Only Ask of God) sung in Spanish, Hebrew & Arabic; new docuseries showcases rock-hewn churches of Lalibela & Tigray; Mary Margaret Alvarado on Sacred Harp singing; new album ‪@thegesualdosix.bsky.social‬. artandtheology.org/2025/08/19/r...

The Manar al-Athar archive hosts tons of photos of archaeological sites, buildings & art from the Middle East & surrounding regions. I sample some mosaics, paintings & sculptures from an early Christian tomb, Cappadocian cave churches, Byzantine monasteries & more. artandtheology.org/2025/08/13/i...

Prospective film series dramatizes episodes from John's Gospel & documents creative process. Also in roundup: monthly playlist; launching & managing a church art gallery; image licensing from Laura James; Cheryl Exum on the rape of Hagar; "He Who Sees Hagar" poem. artandtheology.org/2025/08/03/r...

Alison Leonard imagines Miriam singing her brother Moses a lullaby as she says goodbye & entrusts him to the care of another. Across the centuries she hears the wails of Hebrew women who have, as did many that year in ancient Egypt, lost their children to genocide. artandtheology.org/2025/07/30/m...

Online lit course w/ Karen Swallow Prior; Versed~ community founded by poetry educator Adam Walker; podcasts on how to read a poem, & Flannery O'Connor; showtune-hymn mash-up by Nnenna Freelon; 10 of "the most interesting depictions of Christian faith" in film. artandtheology.org/2025/07/26/r...

Today's the feast of St Mary Magdalene, recorded in all canonical gospels and elsewhere as a follower of Christ, and by tradition as the 'Apostle to the Apostles'. In Swiss glass of c1350 in the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, she holds a pot of ointment, her conventional symbol.

In this roundup: Ketut Lasia, the last of the traditional Ubud painters; "Christian Art in Indonesia" essay; OMSC@PTS artist in residence program; "Global Images of Christ" exhibition catalog; “Oqo Na Noqu Masu” hymn, sung in the sanctuary and on the rugby field. artandtheology.org/2025/07/22/r...

Poet Anne Sexton describes the wakening of a new God-sent day, darkness giving way to light. artandtheology.org/2025/07/16/t...

Don't miss Wednesday's Zoom convo w/ Dan Zanes on social music in chaotic times. Also: digital image downloads of sacred art; "Creating a Story-Formed Home"; origins & meaning of Green Man figure from medieval churches; "Love & Mercy" biopic; Sly Stone sings gospel artandtheology.org/2025/07/12/r...

Karis Worship is seeking visual artists, musicians, writers, etc. to create resources for Lent. Proposal deadline: July 11. $5,000 compensation for those selected. www.karisworship.com/call-for-art...

A poem from 18th-century Germany, about resting in God and letting him work his glory in you artandtheology.org/2025/07/02/t...

So compelled by new "Anachronists" project to bring ancient Christian writings to new audiences thru music; debut EP based on Augustine's Confessions. Also recommended: albums by Jon Guerra, The Soil & The Seed, @westonsmusic.bsky.social & Good Shepherd Collective. artandtheology.org/2025/06/28/n...

In this poem, Elizabeth speaks to the son in her womb, he who would become John the Baptist. While she embraces the unforeseen blessing of a child, there's a part of her that trembles for his future, as preparing the way of the Lord is bound to secure John enemies. artandtheology.org/2025/06/20/d...

LOVE AND MERCY has long been my favorite rocker biopic — I didn’t know a single thing before that and it made me love him — but that scene where he writes “God Only Know is maybe the most heartbreaking scene in cinema youtu.be/HmLbEEVwlMo

The real benefit of this children's book, "Psalms of Wonder," is not so much its language, because there's nothing terribly original or fresh in it, alas, but rather its illustrations by the Vietnamese artist Khoa Le. They're really, really beautiful. Here are a few examples.

New playlist; interview w/ ballet dancer & choreographer Silas Farley, + "Songs from the Spirit"; Tricia Hersey promotes liberative power of rest; folk album based on Newton's hymn "Amazing Grace"; new "Amazing Grace" rendition by the Good Shepherd Collective. artandtheology.org/2025/06/10/r...

For this Sunday: three songs that invoke the Holy Spirit (from the US, Zimbabwe, and Latin America; a Middle English translation of, and modern organ improvisation on, "Veni Creator Spiritus"; and a poem that brings #Pentecost into the garden. artandtheology.org/2025/06/03/p...

These art installations by Nancy Chinn, Dayton Castleman, Alison Dilworth, and Maciej Urbanek evoke the Pentecostal moment when the Holy Spirit descended on God's people with power and love. artandtheology.org/2025/05/30/a...

Desmond Tutu's children's book on creation; Japanese tea ceremony in 30+ countries; playful bench installation promotes collaboration; photog. Kieran Dodds charts role of Christianity in protection of rural landscapes in northern Ethiopia; two songs of blessing. artandtheology.org/2025/05/23/r...

IMAGE seeks writing & art on theme of kitchens—as place of labor, connection, creation, sustenance. "Interested in home kitchens but also restaurant kitchens, soup kitchens, food trucks & unorthodox spaces where cooking happens & people come together…" imagejournal.submittable.com/submit/31879...

Sedulius Scottus was a 9th-century Irish monk who was forcibly displaced from his homeland by Vikings. This poem of his, beautifully translated from the Latin by Helen Waddell, is intended for Easter Sunday, but I hope you'll allow me to share it a few weeks late! artandtheology.org/2025/05/19/e...

Architect Rick Archer on working w/ Ellsworth Kelly on his last project @blantonmuseum.bsky.social; "The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art"; Ascension art, problems & possibilities; "Prayer" jazz piece @corywong.bsky.social; "OMG! Reli Popart" exhibition artandtheology.org/2025/05/15/r...

Happy Mother's Day! Here are nine motherhood-themed sculptures and prints by the acclaimed Black American Mexican artist Elizabeth Catlett that are currently on display as part of a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Art. artandtheology.org/2025/05/10/m...

You’ll appreciate the “Sinners” movie even more when you understand the historical and cultural context of the setting—1932, Mississippi Delta. That’s why I co-edited the #SinnersMovieSyllabus Check it out at aaihs.org/the-sinners-movie-syllabus/ @proximitymedia

In this roundup: a hymn text by Kate Bluett; an audio drama by Creative Orthodox; a compilation of Anastasis icons; songs by Ribale Wehbé, One Tribe, and Monroe Crossing; and my May Spotify playlist. artandtheology.org/2025/05/07/r...

Excellent interview with one of the most important people working across the disciplines of art and theology.

If you are in LA, come see me this Thursday!

Jonah disgorged from the fish, David prying a lamb from a bear, Samson carrying the gates of Gaza—these are some of the Old Testament "types" (foreshadowings) of Christ's resurrection pictured in the Eton Roundels, a manuscript from 13th-century England. artandtheology.org/2025/05/05/t...

Easter greeting in multiple languages; “Let Beauty Awake” sermon by N. T. Wright; recipe for traditional Greek tsoureki; "Because He Lives" with spoken word by Sharon Irving, & in Indonesian by Prison Akustik; new digital collages @bethfelkerjones.bsky.social. artandtheology.org/2025/04/30/r...

Before he ascended, Jesus sent his followers out w/ a mission: to teach others what he had said & done, & to baptize them into the new way of living he had paved. He Qi pictures this mission in action, & Alana Levandoski sets Jesus's commissioning words to music. artandtheology.org/2025/04/27/e...

The dead rise from their graves in a fragment of a 15th Century Apocalypse scene at Downham Market, Norfolk. #StainedGlassSunday

Today's post draws on imagery of Christ as the victorious Lamb of God, taken mainly from Revelation. In a fresco on Mt Athos the Christ-lamb holds the banner of resurrection, & a song by Luke Morton reflects the song of the faithful in heaven: "Worthy is the Lamb!" artandtheology.org/2025/04/26/e...

'Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South' at the Mississippi Museum of Art shines a light on dozens of incredible Black Southern quilters and takes a celebratory approach to showcasing their myriad styles and techniques. www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/04/of-s...

"Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death" is the first cantata Bach wrote; he was 22, and the occasion was Easter. I've paired it with a sixth-century liturgical object from Antioch that (twice) features Christ exalted and that's covered in emblems of the renewal of life. artandtheology.org/2025/04/25/e...

A community art project at Sojourn Midtown, led by risograph artist Tim Robertson, and a retuned hymn by Bellwether Arts, both engaging the springtime theme of Easter. artandtheology.org/2025/04/24/e...

When Mary Magdalene went to Jesus's tomb and found it empty, she wept, not knowing what happened; responsive to her tears, the risen Jesus drew near. This episode from Jn 20 is the basis of a contemporary icon from Ukraine & an old shape-note spiritual from the US. artandtheology.org/2025/04/23/e...

A quiet painting by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich, and a liturgical choral work by Rachmaninoff. artandtheology.org/2025/04/22/e...

On this second day of Eastertide, here's an abstract expressionist painting I stumbled upon at the North Carolina Museum of Art, and a work for cello and strings. artandtheology.org/2025/04/21/e...

From the garden of Eden to the garden of Gethsemane to the garden of the resurrection… An Easter poem by @angelaodonnellpoet.bsky.social. artandtheology.org/2025/04/20/g...

As you rise up this Easter morning, may you rejoice in that historic rising of your Savior, whose resurrection from death some two thousand years ago makes possible our own. Step into the blessedness of this new day. “He is risen indeed!” artandtheology.org/2025/04/20/e...