Aaron Rosen is a writer, curator, and non-profit leader, respected internationally for his work in the public humanities, interfaith dialogue, and the arts. He is Executive Director of The Clemente Course in the Humanities, and founded and directs the not-for-profit Parsonage Gallery in Maine, exploring issues of ecology and spirituality through contemporary art. He is the author or editor of a dozen books, including "What Would Jesus See?", and "Art and Religion in the 21st Century" and has pro...
Jun 16, 2025•1 hr 28 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Kathryn is Bertelsen Professor of Art History and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union and Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. She has published extensively on the theory of pilgrimage, especially as it relates to art experience. Her recent project, "Imaging Pilgrimage: Art as Embodied Experience" was the recipient of the American Academy of Religion and the Arts Book Award and the Borsch-Rast Book Prize. She is the founding director of the Berkeley Art and Interreligious ...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Julio is president of the Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Forum, that he cofounded in 2007. His interests focus on the relationship between architecture, culture, and spirituality through the lens of phenomenology and neuroscience. Julio has widely lectured, led symposia, taught, published, or appeared in the media covering these areas. Current projects include three neuro-phenomenological studies of sacred vs. secular architecture. He has received several national and international recog...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 36 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Charles is vicar of St. Laurence, Catford, London and a trustee of "Art & Christianity Enquiry." He is on the editorial board of "Art & Christianity," and until recently a visiting scholar at Sarum College. Charles regularly contributes articles to books and magazines on art and spirituality, as well as lecturing in the UK and abroad. He is on the board of the UK branch of AICA (the International Association of Art Critics), and is chair of the Fabric Advisory Committee of Southwark Cath...
May 02, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Ani is an Assistant Professor in Armenian Christian Art and Theology, holding a post in Grace and Paul Shahinian Lectureship, at the St. Nersess Armenian Theological Seminary and St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York. She earned her doctorate in History and Theology at the University of Oxford. She holds a M.A. degree in Near Eastern and Languages and Cultures from UCLA, and diplomas in Philosophy and Theology from the University of Oxford. Ani’s doctoral research addressed th...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Cecilia is professor of Theology and Theological Aesthetics at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. She is the recipient of the 2024 Virgilio Elizondo Award from the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States, the 2023 Ann O’Hara Graff Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America, and was named 2020 Alumna of the Year from the Graduate Theological Union. She was also titled a Visionary by the Foundation for Spirituality and the Arts. Among her celebrated works ...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 31 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Thomas is the Alice Mary Baldwin Distinguished Professor of English at Duke University and Professor of Historical Theology in the Duke Divinity School. He is the author of four monographs: "Wordsworth Profession: Form, Class, and the Logic of Romantic Cultural Production," "Romantic Moods: Paranoia, Trauma, and Melancholy, 1790-1840," "Minding the Modern: Human Agency, Intellectual Traditions, and Responsible Knowledge," and "Incomprehensible Certainty: Metaphysics and Hermeneutics of the Image...
Mar 15, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Elissa is an associate professor of art and art history at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and a Norris and Billie Little Endowed Scholar. She received her M.A. and PhD in art history from Washington University in St. Louis, where her research focused on contemporary art, the body, and empathy. Her scholarly publications include essays on contemporary Black female photographers, patronage of Hawaiian landscape paintings, and photographs of the Japanese American internment. Elissa’...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Peter has been a Professor at Duke Divinity School since 2020. Before Duke, he taught at Notre Dame and was the founding director of DePaul’s Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology. He has published a monograph, Word as Bread: Language and Theology in Nicholas of Cusa. On November 15, 2024, his edited volume of the essays of Louis Dupré, Thinking the Unknowable, appeared with the University of Notre Dame Press. In this conversation, Peter and I explored the relationship between...
Feb 16, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Rina Arya is a Professor of Critical and Cultural Theory at the University of Hull, UK. She started her academic career working on the role of the sacred in death of God culture, especially in the paintings of Francis Bacon and writings of Georges Bataille, resulting in her acclaimed book "Francis Bacon: Painting in a Godless World " . Her work on Bacon led to research in abjection where she wrote a number of articles and books on the subject, notably "Abjection and Representation." Rina is comp...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 39 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Jennifer is the Associate Professor and Program Director of Theology and the Arts at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Her recent publications include "The Good Shepherd: Image, Meaning, and Power " and "The Ashburnham Pentateuch and its Contexts." Jennifer earned her PhD in Religion (Historical Studies) from Vanderbilt University, where she focused on early medieval art and theological controversies. Before that, she graduated with an MAR in Visual Studies from the Institute of Sa...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 51 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Mark is Professor of Theology and Founding Co-Director of the Claritas Initiative on Beauty, Goodness, and Truth at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a constructive and historical theologian with interests in theological aesthetics, theology and the arts, mystical theology, and theories of perception, along with other arenas of inquiry. He is the author of "Balthasar on the Spiritual Senses: Perceiving Splendour," and co-edited "Image as Theology: The Power of Art in Sha...
Dec 21, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In this season we focus on the varieties of Christian visual representation and their influence on religious belief. Join me as I speak with experts on theological aesthetics and related fields about how our material world conditions our perceptions of the transcendent. From ancient Christian art to contemporary expressions of faith, this season will chart new directions and unpack thought-provoking ideas at the intersection of images and theology.
Oct 15, 2024•3 min
David taught for fourteen years at Oxford and for seventeen at Durham before becoming Professor of Theology, Aesthetics & Culture at the University of St. Andrews in 2007. In recent years he has focused on interactions between theology and the arts and indeed culture more generally. This resulted in a series of five books for Oxford University Press: "Tradition and Imagination," "Discipleship and Imagination," "God and Enchantment of Place," "God and Grace of Body" and "God and Mystery in Wo...
May 16, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Christina is the author of four books and over 100 articles and essays on medieval Armenian art and architecture, including most recently, "The Art of Armenia." Her 2015 monograph, "Vigilant Powers: Three Churches of Early Medieval Armenia" won the Karen Gould Prize for Art History from the Medieval Academy of America as well as the Sona Aronian Prize for best Armenian Studies monograph from the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research. She has worked on issues of cultural heritage...
May 03, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Saurav is a writer and filmmaker primarily known for his work on the crime-noir graphic novel Mumbai Confidential and his collaboration with Deepak Chopra for the comic book series Deepak Chopra Presents India Authentic. He is also the author of the essay “Echoes Of Eternity” for the Graven Images anthology that examined Hindu reincarnation motifs in American Superhero comics, especially in the work of Grant Morisson’s “Animal Man” and Alan Moore’s “Supreme.” In this episode, Saurav and I discu...
Apr 16, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Petra is professor of systematic theology and head of the Center for Theology, Ecology, and Culture at Stockholm School of Theology. She does research in the borderland of theology, art, performance, and environmental activism. She is co-founder of a surrealist and theology collective called The International Congress for Infrathin Studies. She is the author of "Mysticism as Revolt", "Foucault, Art, and Radical Theology: The Mystery of Things" and "Avantgarde Art and Radical Material Theology: A...
Apr 02, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Robert is a cultural theologian residing in Los Angeles. He currently serves as an Affiliate Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, and as a Tutor at the Honors College, Azusa Pacific University. He directs the Center for Pastoral Residents, Christ Church Sierra Madre, and works as the Director of Vocational Discipleship at the Center for Faith + Work Los Angeles. Robert’s 2020 book “Fashion Theology" was nominated for the Grawmeyer Award in Religion. In add...
Mar 15, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Ali Hussain is a musician and poet. He has a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan, Department of Middle East Studies. His research focuses on the image of Jesus in the writings of Muslim polymath Muhyiddin Ibn Al-Arabi and later Muslim scholars. His other research interests include Islam and Sufism in America, art and creativity in Islam and the creative engagement that Sufi mystics have with Arabic through the mediation of the Quran. In 2018, he founded "The Adhwaq Center fo...
Mar 01, 2024•1 hr 50 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Rachel is Gilkison Distinguished Professor of Art History at Taylor University. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome on two occasions, a participant in NEH Summer Seminars on Medieval Art in Paris and York, has been a seminar leader for artists and scholars in the US and abroad, and has taught in South Africa, China, Italy, and British Columbia. Rachel is a founding director and current President of the Board of The Association of Scholars of Christianity in the Histor...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 47 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Gary was director of the Walters Art Museum from 1994 to 2013; from 1985 to 1994 he was the museum’s chief curator. Before moving to Baltimore, Gary was senior associate at Harvard’s Center for Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks. A native of Minnesota, he received his BA from Carleton College and his PhD from Princeton University. He serves on the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts of the Salzburg Global Seminar. He has been an advisor to the Getty Leadership Institute, Princeton Universi...
Feb 01, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Philip is Professor of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, where he specializes in urban design and theory, with a particular interest in Catholic and classical humanist intellectual and artistic traditions in the context of modern American life and the contemporary culture of architecture and urban design. Philip’s research has been supported by grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, The Graham Foundation, The Historical Society of Boston University, and the Notre Dame Tocqu...
Jan 15, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Stefanie is Professor of Constructive Theology in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. Her teaching and research focus on religion, media and gender, the role of body in religious traditions, issues of gender and sexuality in theology, and the theological engagement with visual arts, film and other visual media. Stefanie has served on ecumenical juries at film festivals in Fribourg, Locarno and Venice. She is the co-chief editor of the Journal for Religion, F...
Jan 01, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Brent has presented their research at museums, cultural centers, and universities across Asia, Europe, and North America. Recent books include Religion and Film: Cinema and the Re-Creation of the World, A History of Religion in 5 ½ Objects, and the co-edited Routledge Handbook of Material Religion. They are the Executive Director of the Association for Public Religion and Intellectual Life, otherwise known as APRIL, editor of the 70-year-old journal CrossCurrents, and Board Member of the Interfa...
Dec 16, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Gregory is Head, and Professor of the Religious Studies Department at The University of North Carolina Greensboro. As the Director of UNCG’s Network for the Cultural Study of Videogaming and a founding member of the International Academy for the Study of Gaming and Religion, Gregory is at the forefront of advancing scholarly understanding in this emerging field. In this episode, Gregory and I discussed how video games challenge and reinforce societal perceptions of religion. We talked about ways...
Dec 02, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In this season, we'll be diving into thoughtful discussions that bring our theological framework to bear on the images and objects within specialized areas of visual culture. We've invited a diverse array of guides, each an expert in their particular area of aesthetics. From movies and fashion to iconography and graphic design, we'll be exploring a wealth of subject matter, but our goal remains the same: to illuminate how visual expressions enrich and influence our spiritual lives.
Nov 15, 2023•3 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In the closing episode of Season 1 of Visually Sacred, host Arthur Aghajanian reflects on the journey and looks forward to Season 2. To make sure you stay on top of everything we're doing during our break, be sure to subscribe to Arthur's newsletter at imageandfaith.com . It's the best way to receive updates, exclusive insights, and helpful content directly from Arthur. It's also where you will find access to his essays on images and theology. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, and stay t...
Aug 06, 2023•4 min
William is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, where from 1990 to 2000 he served as Dean of the School of Theology. His teaching and research interests focus on the relation of the Christian Faith to culture, especially to the visual arts and on missions and global theology. In addition to many articles and reviews he has published several books including "Rouault: A Vision of Suffering and Salvation; How Does America Hear the Gospel?"; "Learning About Theology from...
Jul 01, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Taylor is visiting associate professor of art history at Wheaton College and project director for “Thinking about Thinking: Conceptual Art and the Contemplative Tradition.” This research project seeks to make new connections between the conceptualist art-making strategy and the benefits of spiritual contemplation. Taylor is the author of "Memento Mori in Contemporary Art: Theologies of Lament and Hope." Additionally, he has edited "Theology, Aesthetics and Culture: Conversations with the Work of...
Jun 16, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Robin is Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Her research and publication focuses on the relationship between early Christian art and literature and examines the ways that visual images and architectural spaces should be regarded as modes of theological expression. Her published essays and books contend that, in addition to interpreting sacred texts, visual images enhance liturgical settings, reflect the nature and content of devotional piety, and explicate ritual practices. S...
Jun 01, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 11
