| This course surveys
selected classics and contemporary instances of major artistic forms from
primal, Asian, and Western cultures to demonstrate the intimacy between
religion and the arts and develop appreciation for various forms of art
in one's personal spiritual life and in congregational leadership.
For example, the topic of dance includes comparing and contrasting the
spiritual implications of classical ballet, American Indian tribal dance,
modern dance, Bharatnatyam, kabuki, and liturgical dance. This topic and
others when possible will be explored with live guest artists who will
perform excerpts or examples and respond to questions from the class. When
this is not possible, film and other media will be employed.
Possible session topics:
1. Introduction: How and why the arts and religion express and affect
each other
2. music
3. dance
4. painting
5. sculpture
6. architecture
7. literature, especially poetry
8. theater, opera, film, and video
9. Conclusions
Learning Objectives:
1. Explore the spiritual dimension of the visual, literary, and performing
arts
2. Explain in outline the historical development of the relationship
between religion and the arts from cave paintings to contemporary expressions
3. Demonstrate the place of the arts in one's personal spiritual life
4. Develop a theorical statement about the intimacy between religion
and the arts
5. Evaluate the possiblities of employing the arts in one's own ministry
Text:
Because of the nature of the course, field trips and other direct exposures
are preferred to text books. The time and money students would spend on
texts should be allocated to the field trips and other experiences. Printed
materials will be distributed at no expense to the student throughout the
course of study.
Expectations of the Students
Each student is prepared for, and participates
fully in, each session. Papers using others’ materials are properly
credited using a method of citation appropriate for scholarly publication.
Absences need to be explained with extraordinary circumstances and a paper
written about the missed session by interviewing classmates.
Since students vary widely in acquaintance
with world religions — and with cultural resources generally — students
are expected to identify their own anchors for organizing the material.
Classroom Protocol
You are in charge of your own education. Please favor those learning
methods that enable you best to achieve the outcomes intended for this
course and let the instructor and other students know they can be helpful
to you.
The classroom is ordinarily interactive, so sound amplification
will not be used. For this reason, and because Vern has difficulty hearing,
please speak clearly and loud enough for the person across the room to
participate fully in the classroom experience.
Assessment:
The students are evaluated on the quality of their preparation and participation
each class session and field trip, totaling 80%, plus 20% on the final
examination.
|
| CORE ASSIGNMENTS
A. Attend class sessions and field trips. If for
any reason the instructor is late, the class can begin as described in
B1.
B. Classroom Participation Includes Individual
and Team Work.
B1.-- Opening Reflection:
Each student each session should be prepared to identify one point of interest
from the previous class session, explain why this point was selected, and
report on what the student has done, or will do, with the material — such
as * thinking, * writing, * discussing, * dreaming,
* researching on the web or in a library, * interviewing, *
drawing, * dancing, * making a site visit, * inventing,
* composing a song, * deciding, * putting it into action,
* devising a curriculum, *____, * etc. For many opening reflections, identifying
a point in the previous class session and a point from a field trip would
be an excellent response.
B2.-- Closing Reflection:
Similarly each student each session should be prepared to identify and
discuss a point of interest from the current session at its close.
B3.-- Team activities
are usually initiated by the instructor.
C. Two journal entries each week, one on the class
session, one on an activity outside of class.
D. Final Examination in two parts: (1) What is
the relationship between religion and the arts? (2) How can arts be used
to further your ministry? These questions can be reworded to suit your
own theological perspective. |
EMERGING ACTIVITIES and ASSIGNMENTS
WEEK 1
class:
Bernini's St Theresa in Ecstasy (text
provided)
exceprt, Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven
by U Dove
field trip:
KC Ballet
assignment:
Complete Opening Survey form and . . .
On a separate sheet of paper with your name,
please write a paragraph on these two topics:
1. Art and religion are related in these
ways:
2. I can enrich my ministry through
the arts in these ways:
WEEK 2
class:
America Indian and European dance
field trip:
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
distributed:
columns on Flamenco and the Alhambra
WEEK 3
class:
guest, the Rev Thom Belote on using film with
sermons
read links from
http://revthom.blogspot.com/2007/08/covenant-series.html
assignment:
Send a separate email to Vern with additional arts
that might be considered in this course not named in the origianl course
description (such as martial arts and photography).
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