Theology and the arts is one of the fastest growing fields of research and innovation for the church worldwide. Next year, DITA will mark a decade of pioneering scholarship in theology and the arts with a symposium that builds on that work and launches a fresh conversation.
Join us as we celebrate ten years, reflect on today, and look toward tomorrow with a three-day symposium on theology and the arts.
The Church, the Academy, and You.
SPEAKERS FAQ’s
SPEAKERS
Jeremy Begbie
Jeremy Begbie is the inaugural holder of the Thomas A. Langford Research Professor in Theology. He teaches systematic theology, and he specializes in the interface between theology and the arts. His particular research interests are in the interplay between music and theology. Professor Begbie spends one semester each year (currently spring) at Duke Divinity School and the other semester at Cambridge. He is also senior member at Wolfson College, Cambridge, and an affiliated lecturer in the faculty of music at the University of Cambridge.
Kristine Blaess & St. George’s Episcopal Church Arts Community
St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville is one of DITA’s parish partners and each summer hosts a student from DITA’s Certificate in Theology & the Arts for field education. Through the parish partnership, St. George’s has developed a longterm vision for their arts programming, especially their arts-based missional community group, and worked with DITA to host an annual art exhibition and lecture series.
Kate Bowler
Kate Bowler is an assistant professor of the history of Christianity in North America. Her book, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, received widespread media attention and academic praise as the first history of the movement based on divine promises of health, wealth, and happiness. In 2015, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. in her viral New York Times op-ed, she writes about the irony of being an expert in health, wealth, and happiness while being ill. Her subsequent memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and other lies I’ve loved) tells the story of her struggle to understand the personal and intellectual dimensions of the American belief that all tragedies are tests of character. She recently received a sabbatical grant for researchers from the Louisville Institute to write her third book, The Preacher’s Wife: Women and Power in American Megaministry.
Natalie Carnes
Natalie Carnes is a constructive theologian at Baylor University who reflects on traditional theological topics through somewhat less traditional themes, like images, iconoclasm, beauty, gender, and childhood. For this work, Carnes draws on literary and visual works as sources and sites of theological reflection, and her interest in doing so takes her into questions of religious knowledge and authority. She has written two books, Beauty: A Theological Engagement with Gregory of Nyssa and Image and Presence: A Christological Reflection of Iconoclasm and Iconophilia. Currently, she is working on two new projects. One is a book with Matthew Whelan exploring the questions at the intersections of poverty, aesthetics, luxury, and art. The other is a theological narrative contemplating children and childhood.
Carlos Colón
Carlos Colón is Assistant Director for Worship and Chapel at Baylor University. He is a composer, liturgist, and cultural promoter, specializing in music that is both academically serious and ecclesiastically valuable. His recent projects lie at the intersection of social justice and religious change. Colón was born in Chalchuapa, El Salvador. When he was 14, he was forced to leave El Salvador and took refuge in Guatemala City. A resident of the United States since 1986, he holds a B.M. from Belmont University and a M.M. from Baylor University. He became a U.S. citizen in 2001. His music has been performed in festivals in the United States and abroad. Colón’s international heritage and personal experience of civil war inform his compositions’ call to justice, peace, and beauty. Recently, his music has been performed in Carnegie Hall, Venezuela National Radio, the Calvin Worship Symposium, and Festival de Música Contemporánea of El Salvador.
Malcolm Guite
Poet-priest Malcolm Guite is Chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge, and teaches at the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He lectures widely in England and North America on Theology and Literature and has published poetry, theology, and literary criticism, including his most recent work, Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Photo courtesy of Lancia E. Smith
New Caritas Orchestra
The New Caritas Orchestra is made up of professional musicians of faith from premiere orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Conservatory, St. Louis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and more.
Micheal O’Siadhail
Micheal O’Siadhail is a full-time writer with sixteen published collections of poetry, and has given poetry readings and broadcast extensively in Ireland, Britain, Europe, and North America. He has been lecturer at Trinity College Dublin and a professor at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Steve A. Prince
Artist Steve A. Prince is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and he currently resides in Detroit, Michigan. Prince received his BFA from Xavier University of Louisiana and his MFA in Printmaking and Sculpture from Michigan State University. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Wayne State University. Prince received several honors for his art and scholarship, including the 2010 Teacher of the Year for the City of Hampton. Prince has shown his art internationally in various solo, group, and juried exhibitions. Prince has participated in several residencies including the 2007 Partners of the Americas Artist in Residence in Santa Catarina, Brazil. Prince has created several public works, including an 8’x8′ mixed media work titled “Lemonade: A Picture of America” at the College of William and Mary commemorating the first three African American resident students in 1967 at the college.
Lanecia A. Rouse Tinsley
Lanecia Rouse Tinsley is a multidisciplinary artist who specializes in abstract expressionism. Her portfolio also includes a range of work in photography, painting, teaching, writing, and speaking. She is the owner and creator of LAR Art Studio. In addition to her work through LAR Art Studio, Lanecia contracts with Holy Family HTX as Artist-in-Residence; works with projectCURATE as Co-Spiritual Director and Consultant for the Arts; and is Co-founder/Co-Creative Director of ImagiNoir Group, an international alliance and think-tank of black activists, artists, writers, scholars, and educators.
Christian Wiman
Poet, translator, editor, and essayist Christian Wiman served as the editor of Poetry magazine from 2003 to 2013. A former Guggenheim fellow, he has taught at Stanford University, Northwestern University, Lynchburg College, and Yale Divinity School. Wiman is the author of numerous books of prose, and poetry, including My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer.
N.T. Wright
N.T. Wright is a leading biblical scholar, former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and current Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Mary’s College in the University of St. Andrews. Wright has written over seventy books, including the multi-volume work Christian Origins and the Question of God.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When and where is DITA10 taking place?
September 5-8, 2019 at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Who is DITA10 for?
Registration will be open to everyone. DITA turns 10 years-old in 2019, and we want to mark that by launching a fresh conversation on theology and the arts that includes the church, artists, the academy, and you!
How do I register?
The best way to know when registration goes live is to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter.
Will DITA10 be free and open to the public?
There will be a number of public and free performances, while plenary talks, workshops, and other events will be for registered guests only.
What is the Emerging Scholars Colloquium?
Currently, there is no single gathering of rising scholars in theology and the arts, and we want to change that. The Emerging Scholars Colloquium is for doctoral students in the field of theology & the arts. Current students and scholars who have graduated in the past 5 years are invited to participate. There will be a call for papers and emerging scholars will have the opportunity to present their work. Our hope is to establish a community for the next generation of theologians working in this field.
I’m a pastor or lay person interested in the arts and the local church. What will there be for me?
Break out sessions will include the opportunity to hear from artists, pastors, and lay people like yourself who have integrated theology & the arts into the life of their local congregation. Workshops will emphasize practical questions and challenges, and you will have the chance to ask questions, spark ideas, and meet others passionate about the arts in the local church. And that’s just one part of DITA10! There will also be plenary speakers, performances, and those impromptu, wonderful conversations with new friends to which to look forward.
I’m an artist and a Christian. What will there be for me?
Sustained creative work requires community and inspiration! DITA10 will be your opportunity to connect your craft with the wider landscape of your faith as well as meet other artists like yourself. We will have plenary talks, performances, and workshops on the visual arts, music, literature, and more that feature artists like Christian Wiman, Malcolm Guite, and more.
More information about break out sessions and opportunities for artists to come!