Spirituality of the Church & the Arts

In the Reformed world, transformationalism is the most prevalent view of Church-culture relations. This view espouses that because Jesus rules over all things, even culture is a part of Jesus’ kingdom. A general tagline for transformationalism is, “Christ transforms culture”. Practically, this view means that when a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, their…

A Sample of My Research

I’ve been working on assembling a “definitive” biography of Franciscus Junius in order to aid my Phd work.  This is a small example of what I’m hoping to accomplish!  All this chart shows you is the frequency of Junius’ departures from and entries into various cities.  Obviously, he probably left and entered more cities, but…

Why Would an Artist Become a Pastor?

I asked myself this question perpetually throughout College (and Seminary): why would an artist become a pastor?  My answer, in short, is because of Jesus. My father is a pastor in the PCA (a conservative Presbyterian denomination), but as a child I never envisioned myself as a pastor.  In fact, I wouldn’t have considered myself…

An Interview with an Artist: Jacob Rowan

In my first series of interviews, I’m discussing the work and history of some of my good friends and fellow artists.  My hope is that this will be informative for many, and also show that Christians have a variety of ways of making/thinking about engaging in fine art.  The first interviewee is Jacob Rowan, an…

Why Look at Complicated Art?

The last article that I wrote covered the artists and movements that have influenced my thought as an artist.  Now, I’m going to attempt to explain why I think my chosen medium/style is acceptable for a Christian and a pastor.  In short, my artwork is non-representational.  Its meaning is complicated or ambiguous. This post then…

Influences

As a Christian, and a pastor, I’ve received many looks of concern when I explain that my artwork is “non-representational”, or to put it incorrectly but more recognizably, “abstract”.  One seminary student laughed, and flippantly disregarded me, when I mentioned the work of an abstract expressionist.  One pastor has said that a Christian artist cannot…

The Move

Things have been a blur for me recently.  In December I completed a three-and-half year Seminary program and received a Masters of Divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi.  To add to it, my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl about a week before final exams!  We proceeded to move out…

Algorithm Art

Probably the most fascinating concept I’ve seen in the contemporary art scene, ARTSY is facilitating the auctioning of algorithms as art.  While algorithms have certainly been sold, previously, for utilitarian purposes, this is the first auction, in my knowledge, for algorithms to be possessed simply for their aesthetic or conceptual quality.  What does this mean…