The Church: People and/or Building?
“Here is the church. Here is the steeple. Look inside and see all the people…” Church is one of those words that, I think, generates a lot of tension with its usage. On one hand, the Church is a…
A journal of theology, imagination, and the arts.
The Forum Presents: Endlessly Dreaming
We are excited to announce a free public lecture on Wednesday 3 November in Parliament Hall at the University of St Andrews. Dr. Grant Macaskill will be presenting a talk entitled “Endlessly Dreaming: Theological Engagements with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Comics.”…
Harry Potter and the Eucharist of Empathy
In the second half of J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech, ‘The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination‘, Rowling defines imagination as ‘the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.’…
Transpositions Awarded by Christian New Media
We are proud to announce that at the 2010 Christian New Media Awards, Transpositions received the runner-up award for Best Newcomer Blog. Congratulations to the other blogs who were finalists and to Sunday Latte Lamentations for winning this category! We…
Why I don’t just read “Christian” books
In my last post, I asked whether it is profitable for us as readers and authors to use the label “Christian” to describe certain literature. That is to say, even if I accept that Christian literature, whatever that means, is…
Performing the Sacred: A Review
Todd E. Johnson and Dale Savidge, Performing the Sacred: Theology and Theatre in Dialogue (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), £12.99, ISBN 080102952X. Looking for links and analogies between a particular artistic medium and theology can be greatly rewarding. It can…
Making and Meaning
What is the relationship between an artist’s creative practice and the meaning of a work of art? There is a long tradition in Western society that considers artistic creativity to be inspired. Artistic inspiration offers to the meaning of a work…
Featured Artist: Tom Graffagnino
For these featured artist posts I normally try to produce a few words that introduce and throw some light on the artist’s work. Today, we are going to do things a little differently. Tom has graciously directed me to his…
The Fashionable Suspicion of Fashion
Giles Lipovetsky has observed that, “The question of fashion is not a fashionable one among intellectuals.” The dearth of anything close to a theological examination of the sartorial confirms that theologians may be the chief of all sinners. This, of…