Art
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The Saintesses of Manga and Anime
If you happen to stroll through the manga section at a nearby Barnes and Noble or scroll through the anime options on CrunchyRoll, you will likely come across more than one tempting option that features a beautiful saint as the leading heroine living in a fantasy world and falling in love with a dashing duke. I have been an avid anime fan for about four years now, and I have frequented the manga section of my local bookstores more than once, I must admit. I’ve even downloaded the sensational app called Webtoon for a wider range of content (hint: if you like “Hell’s Paradise,” “Tower of God,” or “Solo Levelling,”…
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Out of the Box Theory for Seminarians: an Autoethnography of Facilitating Workshops
Components of a discovered-in-practice, Out of the Box Theory, can come together in the spiritual formation of seminarians being theologically trained. The process of change can be witnessed in facilitating life writing workshops. Shellseekers Art + Soul life writing workshops has some of the answers to fill a gap in the practical aspects of embodied spiritual formation. In creating and facilitating contemplation and creativity workshops in churches, the classroom, and other venues, as a visual artist and practical theologian, I have observed participants for over a dozen years. In this paper I offer a window into the workshops, with insights gleaned. The methodology used here is autoethnography. “Auto” is for…
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Insights on Catholic Art through a child’s perspective
Art has held a distinct role in the history and practices of Catholic tradition for centuries. It aids practitioners in feeling a sense of wonder and awe or even a connection to the divine in the world’s best known cathedrals, through the masterful carvings of the marble statues, the delicate designs of the stained glass, or the meticulously detailed paintings covering the walls and ceilings. Catholic art can also be found in local settings, like schools, monasteries, and churches and chapels. Given the popularity and impact of the many works that have been created across history, it is no surprise that religious art has even found its way into the…
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Rites of Passage in Pop and Faith: Lady Gaga and the Formation of Identities
‘Our life consists not only in being but also in becoming’: so runs a memorable line from the Marriage Liturgy currently authorised for use in the Scottish Episcopal Church.[1] Such rites of passage provide opportunities for taking stock of who and how we are in the world, and for reflecting on the ways – great and small, obvious and inconspicuous, collective and individual – we emerge and evolve. Behind this lies an understanding of identity as something dynamic: a transformative journey in which we negotiate what is found (being) and what is fashioned (becoming). Rites of passage is a term coined by the anthropologist Arnold van Gennep in a short…
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My Friend, Siddhartha
I wish I had read Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha when I was a teenager, but I’m so glad I picked it up at 25. While browsing through the clearance section of a Barnes and Noble,–a great place to find collections of ancient myths, story books depicting the lives of sacred figures, and modern spiritual inspirations–I picked up a coloring book that advertises itself as an aid for meditation. I must have been leaning into my artistic side that day because another little book caught my eye among the disheveled stacks: an Illustrated Edition of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha. It felt as if the gold lettering on the book’s spine was illuminating my…
