Category Archives: News

Transept Exhibition 2020 — Call for Submissions

CALLING ARTISTS … of all media!

ITIA Transept Exhibition 2020 — Call for Submissions

Transept, a group of artist practitioners and theologians within ITIA (The Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts) at the University of St Andrews, will be holding its annual art exhibition and performances as part of the university’s On the Rocks festival: Friday 3rd April through Sunday 12th April 2020.

We will be exploring themes related to Time, including cyclical time. This theme can encompass a wide range of interpretations and related concepts.

We welcome artists and theologians to join us in forming this exhibition by submitting pieces of their own in any medium or to contribute to conversations helping to form these pieces.

If submitting art—visual, literary, theatrical, musical, or otherwise— enter a brief proposal into the Google Form, here,by Friday 31st January.

Further inquiries can be sent to Letizia Morley at letizia.morley@gmail.com.

The proposal should include the following:

 Art medium

 Proposed concept

 Space required (i.e. how it will be displayed or performed)

 Number of pieces of art / performances

The proposal does not have to be a detailed description of what you will create but should indicate a commitment to the exhibition, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

You may propose as many pieces as you like but please be mindful of what you are committing to.

ITIA Sacred Music MLitt Launches

We are very pleased to share that our new MLitt in Sacred Music has launched and we are accepting applications for Fall 2020 entry.

The MLitt in Sacred Music offers a unique interdisciplinary formation in Sacred Music for musicians, scholars, and leaders in artistic ministry.

It is taught jointly by the School of Divinity’s Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA) and the University of St Andrews Music Centre.

For more information, see the following links:

Application Details

Promotional Video

ITIA TheoArtistry Student Researchers Reflect on the Arts and Theological Insights

With a new academic year beginning in ITIA, TheoArtistry researchers Mariah, Marjorie, and Michael consider how poetry, visual art, and photography have helped them to shape new theological insights.

Can a photographer take a snapshot of wonder? And how does creative collaboration deepen the artist-theologian’s awareness of self and others?

Check out the link, here, to read on!

ITIA Post-Graduates at Conference on Theology and the Arts (Cambridge University)

Our ITIA postgraduates are often traveling within the UK and far beyond, sharing their research at conferences, workshops and other events. We are delighted to spotlight five of ITIA’s students who recently took part in the ‘Theology, Creativity and the Arts’ Postgraduate Study Day, hosted by the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology at the University of Cambridge.

Participants and paper titles are as follows:

Annemarie G. Konzelman, ‘Long Play Liturgies: Capacious Forms and Religious Experience in The 1975’s Sophomore Album’

Sarah Moerman, ‘Reclaiming ‘Spirituality’: John Adams’ Agnostic Approach in Gospel According to the Other Mary‘

Ashley Mowers,  ”A People and Their Stories’: A Style Analysis and Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers & Saints’

Jen Schmidt, ‘The Discipline of Interdisciplinarity’

Mariah Ziemer, ‘Colour, Perception and the Hue of Heaven’

Transept logo

Transept at St Andrews Theology and Trauma Conference

Transept was a co-sponsor of, and contributed artwork to, the 2019 Theology and Trauma conference at the University of St Andrews. Other sponsors included the LOGOS Institute for Analytic and Exegetical Theology here at St. Mary’s.

This conference took place between 12-13 of July 2019 at Holy Trinity in St Andrews and was free for all registrants.

Further details regarding the conference can be found here.

Find Transept on Facebook.

 

Rilke and Eliot Symposium

In March 2019, Professor Judith Wolfe (ITIA) and Professor Thomas Pfau (Duke) convened a four-day colloquium on R.M. Rilke’s Duino Elegies and T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Comprised of a small gathering of theologians, philosophers and literary scholars, the colloquium included ITIA’s Director, Dr. Gavin Hopps, Christoph Schwöbel (St. Andrews, Divinity), Rowan Williams (Cambridge), Malcolm Guite (Cambridge),Kevin Hart (Virginia), and David Wellbery (Chicago).

For further details, see the following reflection on the event, here.

The Extravagance of Music

A major work on music and religious experience brings new insights to the field of theology and the arts.

Professor David Brown and Dr Gavin Hopps examine the overlooked theological dimensions of music in a new publication entitled The Extravagance of Music.

The volume is available in hardback and e-book formats, with a free online preview on the publisher’s website.

Excerpt from the publisher’s description:

“This book explores the ways in which music can engender religious experience, by virtue of its ability to evoke the ineffable and affect how the world is open to us. Arguing against approaches that limit the religious significance of music to an illustrative function, The Extravagance of Music sets out a more expansive and optimistic vision, which suggests that there is an ‘excess’ or ‘extravagance’ in both music and the divine that can open up revelatory and transformative possibilities.”

Publication details

David Brown and Gavin Hopps, The Extravagance of Music, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Foreword by Frank Burch Brown (pp.v-xvii).

Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-91817-4
e-Book ISBN: 91818-1

Call for survey participants

As part of ITIA’s innovative research, we are pleased to share the following call for participants for a survey on progressive rock and spirituality.

Hello! My name is Kimberley Anderson and I’m a PhD student in Theology and the Arts at the University of St Andrews. My thesis explores how certain forms of progressive rock might be connected to spiritual or religious experience. To make my project as accurate as possible, I am gathering first-hand accounts of how listeners experience this music, and I would be delighted to hear from you if you have anything to say about this combination of ideas.

This month I am running a survey that is open to people of all backgrounds, beliefs and persuasions, as long as they are over 18 years of age and interested in progressive rock. My definition of progressive rock is very flexible, so please do not be put off if you only have experience with a few bands which fit loosely into this category.

It starts with some quick, general questions about how you perceive and experience prog rock, and moves on to ask participants to describe, where possible, specific kinds of experience related to progressive rock and spirituality. It can be completed online via the link below and, all in all, should only take 15-20 minutes of your time. Your answers will be treated confidentially, but there is also the option to leave your email address in case you are willing to keep in touch and perhaps answer any more questions (this would be extremely helpful!).

PhD Researcher: Kimberley Jane Anderson, University of St Andrews, kja2@st-andrews.ac.uk
Supervisor: Dr Gavin Hopps, University of St Andrews, grh10@st-andrews.ac.uk