Theology, Worship, and the Arts

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In this course, students will discover the inter-relationship between theology and the arts, with a specific focus on the orientation of the arts toward worship. The course will consist of three parts. In the first part, students will discover major questions raised in the field of theological aesthetics. In the second part, students will look closely at the role of the body and materiality in Christian worship. In the third part, students will contemplate the inter-relationship between theology, worship, and the arts through attending to painting, poetry, music, sculpture, stained glass windows, architecture, and sermons. This intensive course will consist of asynchronous lectures delivered via video, as well as weekly blogs dealing with the material. Optional Zoom chats will be set up each week at various times (both in the morning and the evening) so that students may ask questions related to the material. The final exam will consist of analyzing 10 pieces of art used in worship, examining how these pieces of art enable the human person to locate oneself in the narrative of salvation.