Art and Literation as Intervention

Work in the study of Arts, Literature, and Religion has tended most often to read and reflect on cultural expression through ideas, themes, and texts deemed religious, theological, spiritual, secular, philosophical, and ethical (to name a few). What would it mean to reverse this course, effectively understanding expressive texts, artifacts, repertoire, and phenomena to intervene actively in (rather than to respond to) discourses understood to be religious, theological, secular, philosophical, or ethical? What difference does this reversal of readings make? What aspects, functions, and significances of artistic expression, broadly construed, illuminate the condition or experience of being human, of living and working in community? Is art uniquely capable of doing this? How and why does this matter—both generally and within the particularities that generate identity and other social and political aspects of human experience? These papers take up this series of questions, turning their attention to a diverse array of interventions—ranging from neuroaesthetics, liturgical sign language, and theopoetical practice to expressions of indigeneity and combatting the dehumanization of incarceration—situated in a variety of religious contexts.

“Art of Racial Reconciliation: The Pneumatological Potential of Aesthetic Encounter in Reimagining Race, Reshaping the Brain, and Realizing the Kingdom”

This paper considers the role played by aesthetic experiences, including the act of creating, in challenging the dominant racial imaginary that shapes how we see the world, and how might these encounters be understood pneumatologically? Drawing upon research in neuroaesthetics, this paper considers the possibility of art’s intervention into how prejudicial ways of thinking shape the brain. How can meaningful aesthetic experiences move us beyond such racial imaginaries?

“Theopoetics and Praxis: Imagination and Poetic Expression as God-Talk”

This presentation considers what is lost within theological reflection and articulation when authors only analyze the poetry of an another within essay form instead of attempting their own poetic responses or reflections. What would it mean for theologians, especially those exploring the field of theopoetics, always to include poetic responses alongside essay text?

“The Sacred Presences in Taoltsin to nemilis, a Series Created by Mixteyot Vázquez”

This paper deploys Mixteyot Vázquez’s series of paintings, Taoltsin to nemilis, as a mode of understanding how Mesoamerican Religious traditions and Catholicism are intertwined in a contemporary indigenous community. The paintings encapsulate divine presences from the two religious’ worldviews and, imbued by these divine presences, were welcomed in the main religious feast of Tzinacapan as an offering to maintain the balance of the universe and guarantee human and non-human life.  

“Black American Sign Language as Liturgy”

Black American Sign Language (BASL) is an embodied language expressing emotion, culture, and spirituality. It is often seen as a poetic expression, invoking a dancer's narration. Black Church Liturgy, often expressed in song, word, and dance, has failed to recognize BASL as an element on par with these more historical elements. This paper invites the Black Deaf Community, Black interpreters, faith leaders, and interested Hearing community members to embrace Black ASL as a worship praxis.

“How Art Resists: Creative Expressions of Incarcerated Artists at Maximum-Security Prison for Women”

This paper reflects on an art class at a women's maximum-security prison, where art stands as a defiant counterpoint to the system's dehumanization. Merleau-Ponty argues that our bodies are central to how we experience the world, but prisons, a site of bodily confinement, disrupt this. In this context art becomes a "second layer of flesh," offering insights into reclaiming subjectivity and developing interpersonal connection in a way that challenges the prison system’s imposition of dehumanizing singular narratives.