It’s rare that one encounters a soul so vastly creative, and so clearly attuned to the things-that-are. Helena Tulve’s diverse compositional oeuvre finds its common thread in that attunement. She expresses herself with warmth and with precision. Our conversation begins on the subject of the Jesus Prayer and takes right off from there.
Kim Haines-Eitzen adds to a rich body of work with her most recent book, an exploration of the desert soundscapes that may have shaped the lives and writings of the ancient desert ascetics. We talk about this, and more, in a conversation I recorded from my forest hideaway in Estonia.
In his art and in his thought, George Kordis articulates his ideas with breathtaking clarity. And he is one of the world’s great living iconographers. Enjoy this conversation, recorded in front of a live audience at St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
Mona Arshi brings all of herself to her poetry: her background as a human rights lawyer, a family lineage deeply embedded in the poetic, and a keen observation of the world—with a commitment to recognize and subvert patterns within that observation. All this makes her a very special interlocutor on her artistic medium.
Aidan Hart works in multiple media—painting, sculpture, carving, mosaics—to create liturgical art of stunning beauty. As an author and speaker, he also reflects deeply on the nature of the sacred arts, stemming from a profoundly theological vision of creation. Our Luminous conversation, recorded in his studio in Shropshire, visits all these places.
This special episode of Luminous is a tribute to Fr Ivan Moody—composer, scholar, musicologist, conductor, who impacted so many people and constituencies with his musicality, erudition, warmth, and infectious joy. With guests Alexander Lingas, Peter Phillips, Ivana Medic, Svetlana Poliakova, and Maria Takala-Roszczenko.
Vesper Stamper writes books for some of the most discerning and important audiences: young adults. And others, but it’s this audience that informs much of our conversation. Her illustrations are as clear and articulate as her writing, and together we are swept up into a narrative of history that means everything.
This conversation with award-winning poet Nicholas Samaras is a reminder of what life can be like when we listen, pay attention, and hear the musical lyricism of the world. This is at the heart of poetry, and his in particular.
On this special episode of Luminous, our host talks with two students in the MA Program at the Institute of Sacred Arts. This is an opportunity to meet two exceptional people, and to hear about the work and ethos of our Institute!
Apart from our enjoying the arts, even being spiritually uplifted by them, the sacred arts are carrying a message, even a “teaching” that we can attune ourselves to receive. Today’s guest is herself attuned to this, among other dimensions of the arts, which she teaches, writes about, and practices herself.
One of the leading lights of sacred choral music in the world today, Alexander Lingas has so much to offer in a conversation about music from many times and places, East and West, and its unique power in conveying the sacred.
"What does Tim Patitsas mean by his refrain of “beauty first?” That’s one question that made me want to talk with him. We go there. And many other places. As one does, with a thinking, reflective person who has listened to people of wisdom from within and outside the traditional fold."
Fr Maximos is Professor of Patristics and Orthodox Spirituality. A summa cum laude graduate of Holy Cross (1987), he completed his PhD in Patristics and Historical Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. (1993), after which he taught at Hellenic College and Holy Cross (1993-1998). In the fall of 1998, he was invited to join the faculty of Harvard Divinity School, where he was Professor of Patristics and Orthodox Theology from 1998-2004. Responding to a life-long callin...
Nun Katherine Weston, an Orthodox Christian monastic, is a pastoral counselor and trauma specialist in private practice. For some 15 years, she has been addressing topics central to the basic human experience, integrating an Orthodox Christian worldview with perspectives from current psychotherapies. In addition to racial identities, topics have included loneliness, shame, anger, anxiety, attachment dynamics, and racial reconciliation.
Matt Hinton, documentary filmmaker, rock guitarist, and burrito legend — for all these contributions, each so excellent, the world is a better place with him in it. Join us in our conversation about art, sacredness, and his films.
Victoria Emily Jones graduated from UNC–Chapel Hill in 2010 with a BA in journalism and English literature and a minor in music, and she has done some postgraduate coursework in worship and the arts at Regent College in Vancouver. Now she works as an editorial freelancer and pursues independent research on Christianity and the arts, with a special interest in visual art that engages with biblical narratives, especially from the twentieth century onward and/or from non-Western cultures. Victoria ...
On this special episode of Luminous, our previous guests suggested for us their chosen musical selections that evoke the sacredness of the season. The result is a beautiful and diverse, and often surprising playlist of Christmas music. Our gift to you.
Andrew Gould’s designs for churches and other buildings, as well as for furnishings within churches, are exquisitely beautiful. But they are more than that. His vision of sacred art and architecture sets the bar very high—heavenly-high—which is exactly where he thinks it should be.
A world-renowned artist and great pedagogue, Bruce Herman speaks eloquently about what art is and what it means to him, notably at this time in his life: newly retired, and with a surprising loss of hearing.
A legend in the word of Christian Contemporary Music, John Michael Talbot’s songs have been the soundtrack for the spiritual life of more than a generation of the faithful. Moving increasingly into a quieter, cloistered life, he reflects with clarity, insight, and delight, on his work and on the sacred arts.
Artist-theologian Julian Davis Reid has performed and spoken worldwide, and has released albums both solo and with his band, the Ju Ju Exchange. Having worked with Chance the Rapper, Jennifer Hudson, Peter CottonTale, and Derrick Hodge, he brings his music and life to the service of the Church, and of people seeking rest among the noise.
Pamela Smart is fascinated by how art works on us, on the totality of our selves. That means she is interested in aesthetics, anthropology, and art history. All of these come together in her studies of the Rothko Chapel, a space that has had a visceral effect on countless visitors seeking stillness.
Dr Hernandez, Mescalero and Warm Springs Apache, is involved in establishing and preserving community archives, as well consulting with museums and community nonprofits. Her experience, in her life, faith, and work, yields profound and rare insights.
Bissera Pentcheva is one of the rare art historians who reaches across disciplines: visual art, architecture, sound. This allows her to speak all the more meaningfully about art as it is actually experienced, by human beings in totality of the sensory world. We talk about her award-winning work with the vocal ensemble Cappella Romana, as well as her recent projects that study sculpture within the play of flickering candlelight.
Laurie Anderson is a living legend in the world of the arts. Her career, spanning from the late 1970’s right up to the present day, has resulted in a vast oeuvre of meaningful and impactful art across a wide array of media. Fascinating, brilliant, and ever attuned to the spiritual (she has been increasingly involving her Buddhism in her work) she represents the essence of what we hope for with the Luminous series: substantive but free conversation around the arts and the sacred.
Adrienne Williams Boyarin writes on religious material in medieval poetry, but she’s also been at the forefront of the important conversation on bringing religion back into the study of the humanities. Her expertise in literature and her commitment to exploring Jewish Christian relationships within it, her interest in the written lives of the saints and in the relationship between religion and academia—make for Luminous conversation.
Mark Shapiro is a major figure in the New York classical music scene, as music director of Cantori New York as well as several other award-winning ensembles—all of which extend his impact to the national and global scale. Apart from the precision of his work, he is known for his thoughtful and trailblazing programs, his repertoire drawing on sometimes hidden gems of great beauty. Add to this his fluency in a wide diversity of topics and interests.
Jamey and Lee Bozeman formed the new wave band Luxury decades before they became Fr. James and Fr. David, Orthodox Christian priests. The band’s journey is told in a must-see documentary, but this conversation teases out some of its implied themes of art and the sacred: how they navigate life in the studio and the concert venue—and at the altar.
