DESCRIPTION:

This class will concentrate on what 17th century Dutch art can teach us about the intersections between art, faith and culture. We will pay special attention to two themes: dominant religious understandings of the proper role of images, and the power of representational naturalism. Exploiting the effects of naturalism, 17th century Dutch artists and viewers were able to see a range of moral and religious concerns in powerful new visual language. At the same time, the language of naturalism also wrought new connections between the moral and cultural, and the religious and the economic.

The arts are always in dialectical relationship to their cultural context--both reflecting and critiquing the world around. Our expressions of our faith are likewise dialectically related to our cultural context. As discerning ministers of the gospel, we should seek to be as aware as possible of these relationships, so they aid, rather than hinder, the work of Christ. In this class, we are "outsiders" to the culture of the 17th century Dutch, and can therefore recognize more readily the ways in which faith and culture are intertwined--for good or ill. It is hoped that this analysis of faith, art and culture for the 17th century Dutch will further equip you to develop a visually astute and culturally discerning theory of ministry for your work in the world.

The class will meet daily for four-hour sessions for two weeks, in a lecture and discussion format.

Dyrness, William. Reformed Theology and Visual Culture. Cambridge, 2004.

Franits, W. Looking at Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art: Realism Reconsidered. Cambridge, 1997.

Westerman, Mariët. Rembrandt. Phaidon, 2000.

__________. A Worldly Art: The Dutch Republic 1585-1718. Abrams, 1996.

Course reader.

Alpers, Svetlana. Art of Describing. Chicago, 1983.

__________. Rembrandt's Enterprise. Chicago, 1988.

Freedburg, David and Jan de Vries. Art in History/History in Art: Studies in 17th Century Dutch Culture. Oxford, 1996.

Slive, Seymour. Dutch Seventeenth Century Painting. Yale, 1999.

Walford, John E. Jacob van Ruisdael and the Perception of Landscape. Yale, 1992.

Wheelock, Arthur. Vermeer. Abrams, 1997.

1. Faithful attendance and thoughtful contributions to class discussion (15% of grade).

2. Writing assignments in preparation for each class meeting (25%).

3. Four projects (each worth 15%): (a) 3-4 page visual analysis of a work available at the Norton Simon or LACMA; (b) 4-5 page essay comparing and contrasting your first work to a second from the same genre; (c) 6-7 page analysis of these two images using the theories, analysis & arguments about Dutch imagery encountered in class; (d) 3-4 page reflective essay on how the ways of looking and thinking practiced in class might apply to future work in the church.

Will fulfill requirements in the MA in Theology (Theology and the Arts format), the Worship, Theology and Arts concentration in the MDiv, and the MA in Worship, Theology and the Arts. Meets the MACL in Integrative Studies requirement for an interdisciplinary course (IDPL).