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Proposal for a Section on the Bible and Visual Art
To Begin with the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature
Name and Type of Program Unit
Bible and Visual Art Section (to succeed the Bible and Visual Art Consultation,
2002-04)
Forty-Word Synopsis of Rationale and Aims (for public viewing)
The purpose of the Section is to provide a forum at the national SBL to
explore historical, hermeneutical, theological, iconographic, and/or theoretical
aspects related to the interpretation of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures
in visual art through the centuries.
Rationale and Statement of Aims
A number of seminaries, divinity schools, and universities have started
programs on art and religion (under various nomenclature), e.g., the Center
for Jewish Art at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, the Institute for Theology
and the Arts at Andover Newton Theological Seminary, the Center for the
Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary, and the Program in Religion
and the Arts at Yale Divinity School. Other schools have incorporated
study of the visual arts into their curriculum. At the Graduate Theological
Union, for example, the History of Art and Religion Area has recently
emerged as a distinct area of Doctoral Study. Secular universities, such
as Syracuse University and the University of Virginia, offer courses in
the area of Religion and the Arts.
The American Academy of Religion has long sponsored a program unit, Art,
Literature, and Religion, to explore the intersection between religion
and the literary and visual arts. No comparable unit, however, has ever
been sponsored by the Society of Biblical Literature program, despite
the fact that historically most religious art, at least in the Christian
tradition, is intimately associated with the Bible, or with legends and
traditions inspired by the Bible. A Section on the Bible and Visual Art
would allow scholars to focus on the Jewish and Christian Bibles and their
visual representations by Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and secular artists
from a number of interesting vantage points—hermeneutical reflections
on the similarities/differences between textual interpretation and visual
exegesis, analyses of works of art or artists as particular examples from
the history of interpretation, feminist interpretations of the portrayal
of women in Christian or Jewish art, to name a few.
Such was the rationale for the Consultation on the Bible and Visual Arts
in its proposal approved in May 2001. The experience of the Consultation
has confirmed the interest of SBL members in this area of research. Even
though the requirement that Consultations present the plans for their
first two years with their initial proposal precluded an open call for
papers for 2002 and 2003, the co-chairs of the Consultation received proposals
and queries from interested—and eager—scholars. The 2004 call
for papers has resulted in a promising session of four papers by presenters
new to the Consultation on the topic of Integrating Visual Art in Teaching
the Bible. Although several program units include papers dealing with
the visual representation of various biblical materials from time to time,
and a few program units occasionally have such visual representation as
a one-year theme, there is no place in the current annual meeting where
such research is the continual focus and always welcome.
Abbreviated Curriculum Vitae of Steering Committee Members
We are proposing that five of the six original members of the steering
committee of the Consultation on the Bible and Visual Art carryover (for
three-year, non-renewable) terms as members of the Steering Committee
of the Section in order to smooth the transition. Because the programs
for the first two years of the Consultation were required to be submitted
with the initial proposal, which was completed by only a subset of this
steering committee, the unit has not yet reaped the rewards of the diversity
and richness of this full committee. We have just chosen a sixth member,
Dr. Terry Dempsey, S.J., to replace an art historian who was not able
to participate fully.
All members of the proposed Steering Committee are SBL members, with the
exception of the newly chosen art historian, Father Dempsey, who is traveling
this summer and will be joining the SBL when he returns home. Neither
co-chair is currently chair of another SBL program unit steering committee.
No Steering Committee member will be a member of more than two steering
committees at the time the proposed Section would begin.
Co-Chair:
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon
Professor, Religious Studies Program
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0135
malbon@vt.edu
Ph.D. (Humanities), Florida State University, 1980
Malbon is the author of four books: Narrative Space and Mythic Meaning
in Mark (Harper&Row, 1986; Sheffield, 1991), The Iconography of the
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (Princeton, 1990), In the Company of Jesus:
Characters in Mark's Gospel (Westminster John Knox, 2000), and Hearing
Mark: A Listener's Guide (Trinity Press International, 2002). She has
co-edited three books: with Adele Berlin, Characterization in Biblical
Literature (Semeia 63, 1993), with Edgar V. McKnight, The New Literary
Criticism and the New Testament (Sheffield/Trinity, 1994), and with Linda
Bennett-Elder and David Barr, Biblical and Humane: A Festschrift for John
F. Priest (Scholars Press, 1996). Publications also include nineteen articles
in JBL, Semeia, CBQ, JAAR, Linguistica Biblica, Novum Testamentum, Journal
of Religion, New Testament Studies, Biblical Theology Bulletin, Perspectives
in Religious Studies, Biblical Interpretation, as well as seven chapters
in books and a number of entries in The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion
(1995) and Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women
in the Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha, and New Testament (2000). National fellowships/grants
include an ACLS Research Fellowship for Recent Recipients of the Ph.D.
(1984) and a NEH Summer Seminar (Rome, to study early Christian sepulchral
art, 1987). Malbon's SBL administrative experience includes service as
the chair of the NT section of the SBL/SE (1981-87), vice president (1987-88)
and president (1988-89) of the SBL/SE, steering committee member (1985-89)
and chair (1990-95) of the Biblical Criticism and Literary Criticism Section,
steering committee member of the Literary Aspects of the Gospels and Acts
Group (1991-96), member of the SBL Ad Hoc Committee on the Regions (1987-90),
member of the SBL Program Committee (1995-2000), and co-chair of the Bible
and Visual Arts Consultation (2002-2004). General administrative experience
includes serving as director of the Religious Studies Program (1994-2001).
Office phone: 540-231-6112 Fax: 540-231-7013
Co-Chair:
Heidi J. Hornik
Professor of Art History
Baylor University
Department of Art
One Bear Place #97263
Waco, Texas 76798-7263
Heidi_Hornik@Baylor.edu
Ph.D. (Art History), The Pennsylvania State University, 1990.
Hornik is currently Professor of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art History
at Baylor University, where she has served since 1990. She is co-author,
with New Testament scholar Mikeal C. Parsons, of Illuminating Luke: The
Infancy Narrative in Italian Renaissance Painting (Trinity Press International,
2003) and Illuminating Luke: The Public Ministry of Christ in Italian
Renaissance and Baroque Painting (T&T Clark Press International, forthcoming,
2004). Hornik and Parsons have also co-edited a collection of essays,
Interpreting Christian Art (Mercer University Press, 2004) that includes
the work of art historians, biblical scholars, and church historians.
In addition to these works, she has written several articles exploring
the intersection of art history and biblical studies, including "Job
as Intercessor or Prophet? The Venetian Images by Bellini and Carpaccio,"
Review and Expositor, Theme Issue: "Have you Considered My Servant
Job?" V. 99, N. 4 (Fall 2002): 541-68; "The Strozzi Chapel by
Michele Tosini: A Visual Interpretation of Redemptive Epiphany,"
Artibus et Historiae, V. 46 (2002): 97-118; "Michele Tosini: The
Artist, The Oeuvre and The Testament," in Continuity, Innovation
and Connoisseurship: Old Master Paintings at the Palmer Museum of Art,
ed. Mary Jane Harris (University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 2003), 22-37
and "Raphael's Tapestry Project: A Visual Exegesis," Perspectives
in Religious Studies 31 (2004): 465-86. Hornik will also contribute to
the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Eschatology, ed. Jerry L. Walls. Hornik
with Mikeal C. Parsons, has written "Caravaggio's London Supper at
Emmaus: A Counter-Reformation Reading of Luke 24," Christian Scholars
Review 28 (1999): 561-585, "Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Presentation in
the Temple," Perspectives in Religious Studies, V. 28, N.1 (2001):
31-46. They will contribute a chapter on art to the forthcoming The Blackwell
Companion to the Bible and Culture, ed. John Sawyer. Art-historical essays
have appeared or are scheduled to appear in Mitteilungen and Paragone.
Hornik served as Art Editor for the first three volumes of the Smyth-Helwys
Commentary Series (General Editors, Alan Culpepper and Samuel Balentine).
Her responsibilities included assisting authors in choosing art for their
commentaries and writing about its historical and interpretive significance.
Currently she serves as Art Editor for the periodical Christian Reflection.
A Series in Faith and Ethics, Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University.
She selects and writes analysis of the artwork for each of the thematic
quarterly issues. This integration of visual art and biblical narratives
related to various contemporary ethical issues can be previewed at www.ChristianEthics.ws.
Since 1998, she has served on the Steering Committee for the Catalogue
Raisonné Scholars Association, an affiliated organization of the
College Art Association. She has chaired sessions of the Renaissance Society
of America, the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, and the Catalogue
Raisonné Scholars Association. She also served as the Director
of the Pruit Memorial Symposium on "Interpreting Christian Art,"
held at Baylor University, October 26-28, 2000. General administrative
experience includes serving as Director of the Martin Museum at Baylor
University (1990-2004).
Office phone: 254-710-4548 Fax: 254-710-1566
Terrence E. Dempsey, SJ
May O'Rourke Jay Endowed Professor of Art History
Director of Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA)
Department of Fine and Performing Arts
Saint Louis University
221 N Grand Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63108
dempseysj@aol.com
Ph.D. (Art History and Religion), Graduate Theological Union/University
of California at Berkeley, 1991
Dempsey is the Founding Director and Curator of MOCRA, the world’s
first interfaith museum of contemporary art, and has developed and organized
25 exhibitions for MOCRA since 1992 and organized symposia, lectures,
and other activities associated with these exhibitions. MOCRA has generated
numerous articles and reviews in local, national and international media
outlets and was named one of the top ten religious museums in the country
in 2002 by USA Today. Among the non-MOCRA exhibitions curated by Dempsey
is Christo and Peter Selz: The “Running Fence” Revisited at
the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, in 1988. Dempsey has authored
numerous articles and essays, including include “Shaping the Sacred
in Contemporary Art,” an essay in Objects of the Spirit: Ritual
and the Art of Tobi Kahn (2004); “The Art Books of Sandra Bowden,”
in a book on New England artist Sandra Bowden (forthcoming in 2005); “Analogy,
Meaning, and Religious Experiences in Contemporary Abstract Art,”
in Like a Prayer: A Jewish and Christian Presence in Contemporary Art
(2001); and “Bible and Art” in Encyclopedia of Catholicism
(1995). He also edited the exhibition catalogue Bernard Maisner: Entrance
to the Scriptorium (1998). He has contributed book reviews in the field
of art history to Theological Studies and America. Dempsey is a frequent
lecturer and participant in scholarly fora. Recent activities include
the Henry Luce Foundation-sponsored “Five Faiths Colloquy”
at the Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(a multi-year annual gathering of 25 leading theologians, art historians,
and museum professionals). Other Henry Luce Foundation-sponsored activities
include “The Role of Art History in Seminary Education” at
the American Bible Society, New York City; and “When Art and Religion
Talk: A Conversation about Art and Religion in Public Life,” co-presented
by “Arts and Religion in the Twin Cities,” Minneapolis. Dempsey
also participated in “The Making of a Museum of Contemporary Interfaith
Art,” National Foundation of Jewish Culture Conference in the Visual
Art. Dempsey has delivered keynote addresses for several conferences,
including the Irish Theological Association meeting in Dublin in 2000,
the international Art and Church Enquiry Conference held at Oxford University
in 1999, and the International Conference on the Visual Arts and Religious
Communities held at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, in 1995.
He is a Fellow of the Society for Art, Religion and Contemporary Culture.
Robin Jensen
Luce Chancellor's Chair in the History of Christian Art and Worship
Vanderbilt University Divinity School
411 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37240
robin.m.jensen@vanderbilt.edu
Ph.D. (History of Christianity, with specialization in the Early Church
and in Christian Art and Architecture), Columbia University, 1991
Jensen is the author of Understanding Early Christian Art (Routledge,
2000), The Substance of Things Seen (Eerdmans, in press for 2004), and
Face to Face: The Portrait of God in Early Christianity (Fortress, in
press for 2004). A fourth book, The Art and Architecture of Early Christian
Baptism is under contract with Brill Publishing and expected in 2005.
She also is a contributor of chapters or articles to several other multi-authored
works including (most recently) "The Fall and Rise of Adam and Eve
in Early Christian Art and Literature" in Interpreting Christian
Art, ed. Heidi Hornik and Mikeal Parsons (Mercer, 2003); "Art"
for The Early Christian World, ed. P. Esler (Routledge, 2000); "The
Binding or Sacrifice of Isaac: How Jews and Christians See Differently"
in Abraham and Family, ed. H. Shanks (BAS, 2000); and "Giving Texts
Vision and Images Voice: The Promise and Problems of Interdisciplinary
Scholarship" in Common Life in the Early Church: Essays Honoring
Graydon Snyder, ed. J. Hills (Trinity, 1998). She has two articles forthcoming:
one in the People's History of Christianity on baptism in North Africa
and the other titled "Enculturation: Changing Attitudes toward Art
and Life" for the Cambridge History of Christianity. She has contributed
to the Dictionary of Jewish and Christian Relations, the Encyclopedia
of Early Christian Art and Archaeology, the New Westminster Dictionary
of Early Christianity, and the Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. She
has also contributed articles on the interpretation of early Christian
art to the Journal of Early Christian Studies, ARTS Magazine, Christian
Century, Bible Review, Biblical Archaeology, Biblical Interpretation,
The Critical Review of Books in Religion (a review essay), SBL Seminar
Papers, and entries in the Encyclopedia of Early Christianity and Augustine
through the Ages: An Encyclopedia. Jensen was the writer and director
of a collaborative granted funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
for research on the practice of Christianity in Roman Africa and is currently
co-editing the volume of papers on the five years of work on that project,
expected to be published by Johns Hopkins Press in 2007. Additionally,
she has received grants from the Luce Foundation, the Lilly Foundation,
the Association of Theological Schools, and the American Academy of Religion.
Many of these grants provided support for travel and research in Italy,
France, Tunisia, Turkey, and Syria. She serves as the Vice President of
the International Catacomb Society and serves on the boards of the Society
for Art, Religion, and Theological Studies and the Society for Arts, Religion
and Contemporary Culture. She is a past president of the New England and
Maritimes Region of the American Academy of Religion and has served on
the steering committee of the Social Construction of Formative Christianity
and Judaism section of the SBL. Formerly she was the Faculty Director
of the Program in Theology and the Arts at Andover Newton Theological
School and Director of the Summer Institute for Theology and the Arts.
Rivka B. Kern Ulmer
John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Chair in Jewish Studies
Bucknell University
Moore Avenue
Lewisburg, PA 17837
rulmer@bucknell.edu
Dr. phil. (Judaic Studies), Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität in
Frankfurt am Main, 1985
Ulmer also completed undergraduate studies at Ben-Gurion University, Israel,
and postdoctoral study at Hebrew Union College. Her teaching and research
appointments include: Brown University, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion, Harvard University, Jüdische Hochschule Heidelberg,
University of Copenhagen, and University of Pennsylvania. Ulmer has authored
or edited ten books, e.g., A Synoptic Edition Of Pesiqta Rabbati Based
Upon All Extant Hebrew Manuscripts And The Editio Princeps (1997-2002);
Turmoil, Trauma and Triumph. The Text of Megillas Vintz (New York &
Frankfurt: P. Lang, 2001); The Evil Eye in the Bible and Rabbinic Literature
(Hoboken, NJ: Ktav, 1994). A recent article is entitled "The Divine
Eye in Ancient Egypt and in the Midrashic Interpretation of Formative
Judaism," Journal of Religion and Society 5 (2003) pp. 1-17. Sixty
articles have appeared in Journal of Jewish Studies, Contemporary Study
of the Mishnah, Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies, Zeitschrift
für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, Judaism, Encyclopaedia of Judaism,
Encyclopaedia of Midrash, Journal for the Study of Judaism, Judaica, Encyclopedia
of Midrash, Reader's Guide to Judaism, Approaches to Ancient Judaism,
Henoch, Juden in Kassel, Kairos, Encyclopédie Philosophique, Theologische
Realenzyclopädie, Linguistica Biblica, Annual of Rabbinic Judaism,
Plesse-Archiv, Diskussionsbeiträge aus dem Jüdischen Lehrhaus,
Frankfurter Judaistische Beiträge, Bulletin of the Oriental Institute
in Cairo, and others. She has received grants from the Memorial Foundation
of Jewish Culture, the National Endowment for the Humanities (Summer Seminar),
SBL, AAR, Brandeis University (Summer Institute), and other institutions.
She is the co-chair of the Midrash Group of the Society of Biblical Literature
and the former director of the (revived) Jüdische Lehrhaus in Frankfurt.
Ulmer works with medieval Hebrew manuscripts in her editions of rabbinic
texts; presently, she researches Egyptian cultural icons in midrash.
Gale A. Yee
Professor of Hebrew Bible
Episcopal Divinity School
99 Brattle St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Gyee@episdivschool.edu
Ph.D., University of St. Michael's College (Toronto), 1985
Yee is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible at Episcopal Divinity School,
Cambridge, MA. During 2003-2004 she was a Visiting Professor at the Chinese
University of Hong Kong. She is the author of Composition and Tradition
in the Book of Hosea: A Redaction Critical Investigation (Scholars Press,
1987), Jewish Feasts and the Gospel of John (Michael Glazier, 1989), and
Poor Banished Children of Eve: Woman as Evil in the Hebrew Bible (Fortress,
2003). She is currently working on Marginalization: Hidden Transcripts
in Ancient Israel for the Library of Ancient Israel Series. She has edited
Judges and Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies (Fortress, 1995).
She has also authored the commentary on the Book of Hosea in the New Interpreter's
Bible (Abingdon, 1996). Ten articles have appeared in ZAW, CBQ, Int, JSOT,
TBT, Semeia, JAAAT, BibInt. Yee has also contributed seven book chapters
and a number of entries in the Anchor Bible Dictionary and Women in Scripture:
A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha,
and New Testament. She presented "Depicting Eve: Cultural Representations
of Hebrew Bible Women" and "The Sexual Representation of Hebrew
Bible Women in Art" for the Edward L. Beavin Lectures, Kentucky Wesleyan
College, Owenboro, KY, Oct. 10-12, 2000. She also presented "Images
of Hebrew Bible Women in Art and Film" and "Depicting Eve: Cultural
Representations of Old Testament Women" for the J. Balmer Showers
Lecture Series, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio, Nov. 1-2, 1999.
She spent her 1998-99 sabbatical studying the representation of Hebrew
Bible women in art in various museums around the world. Yee was on the
Committee on Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession
from 1991-1995 and was its Chair for 1996-1997. She has been on the SBL
Council and on the Editorial Board of Semeia. She is currently General
Editor of Semeia Studies. She was a founding member of the Asian and Asian-American
Biblical Hermeneutics Consultation, now a Group. She was chair of the
Women in the Biblical World Section from 1988-1995 and is currently a
member of its steering committee.
Review of Programs from Previous Consultation (2002-2004)
Listing of sessions held and topics covered:
Prequel: 2001, Denver
Special Session: The Bible and Visual Art
Presiding: Heidi Hornik (Baylor University) and Elizabeth Struthers Malbon
(Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)
Presentation: Margaret Miles (Graduate Theological Union), "Achieving
the Christian Body: Visual Incentives to Imitation of Christ in the Christian
West"
General Discussion of the goals of the (newly approved) Consultation
2002, Toronto (Sunday, Nov. 24, 4:00-6:30 p.m.)
Topic: Word and Image: Methodological Issues
Presiding: Robin Jensen (Andover Newton Theological School)
Presentation: Heidi J. Hornik (Baylor University) and Mikeal C. Parsons
(Baylor University), "A Visual Exegesis of Leonardo's Uffizi Annunciation
Responses: Robert M. Fowler (Baldwin-Wallace College) and Elizabeth Struthers
Malbon (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)
Presiding: Elizabeth Struthers Malbon (Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University)
Presentation: Robin M. Jensen (Andover Newton Theological School), "The
Invisible God in Ancient Christian Art and Theology"
General Discussion
2003, Atlanta (Sunday, Nov. 23, 9:00-11:30 a.m.)
Topic: The Jewish Temple in Jewish and Christian Art and Architecture
Presiding: Gale A. Yee (Episcopal Divinity School)
Presentation: Joan R. Branham (Providence College), "Sacred Strategies:
Evocations of the Jerusalem Temple in Late-Antique Churches and Synagogues"
Presentation: Jaime Lara (Yale Divinity School), "The Afterlife of
the Temple in Latin America: Ezekiel's Vision of a New World in a New
World"
General Discussion
Business Meeting, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon (Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University) and Heidi Hornik (Baylor University), presiding
2004, San Antonio
Topic: Integrating Visual Art in Teaching the Bible
Presiding: J. Cheryl Exum (University of Sheffield)
Presentation: Karla Suomala (Luther College), "From Oils and Acrylics
to Legos and Woodcuts: Art and the Bible in the Undergraduate Classroom"
Presentation: Alice M. Sinnott (University of Auckland), "Reading
Ruth in the Light of some Paintings"
Presentation: Emily K. Arndt (Converse College), "Using the Visual
Arts to Develop Critical Analysis Skills in Introductory Level Biblical
Students"
Presentation: Carol J. Manahan (Graduate Theological Union), "Biblical
Re-Vision: New Art and the (Genetic) Modification of Tradition"
Business Meeting: Elizabeth Struthers Malbon (Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University), presiding
Estimated average attendance:
Special Session, 2001— 200
2002— 100
2003— 25
Self-evaluation of program unit:
In 2002 we had had to make a late substitution when the art historian
who had agreed to present a paper (and to serve on the steering committee)
was unable to attend the meeting and resigned from the committee. We are
grateful to Robin Jensen for her willingness to present a lecture on short
notice; both her paper and the joint paper of Hornik and Parsons were
well received and stimulated good discussion among the participants. We
are somewhat mystified by the drop in attendance from 2002 to 2003. While
it is true that the room to which we were assigned in 2003 was somewhat
tricky to locate, we do not think that was a decisive factor. The 2003
plan of having two thematically linked papers worked well for unrushed
presentation and full discussion between the presenters and among the
participants. Although there are always a few challenges when using as
much audio-visual equipment as we do, we have been well served by the
audio-visual and computer equipment providers. We appreciate that essential
support.
Indication of cross-disciplinary interests, inclusion of diverse perspectives
and collaboration with other units:
This consultation seeks to create a forum for an exchange between two
disciplines that need a place to talk to one another. Biblical scholars
and theologians working in the visual arts have often done so without
recourse to the work of art historians, and they sometimes have presented
a-historical readings of the iconography of works or misconstrued the
historical contexts in which images were produced. Art historians, on
the other hand, have often been reluctant to explore the religious or
theological issues involved in the iconography of a work of sacred art
or have deliberately avoided exploring the hermeneutical implications
for the contemporary faith community. There are, of course, notable exceptions.
One thinks of the work of Jaraslov Pelikan or Margaret Miles, on the one
hand, and Creighton Gilbert, on the other, but they remain exceptions.
This consultation takes seriously the contributions of both biblical studies
and art history to the academy. The people attracted to this work vary—including
biblical scholars, church historians, art historians, art theorists, and
clergy. The programs offered in the sessions just begin to touch on the
diversity and variety among those who seek to discuss the Bible and visual
art.
List of any publications arising our of the work of the unit:
While no publications are expected from Consultations, the following publications
reflect work presented at sessions during the first two years of the Consultation,
an indication of the high academic quality of the presentations.
Margaret Miles's presentation to a 2001 special session on the Bible and
Visual Art (which served as a prequel to this Consultation), "Achieving
the Christian Body: Visual Incentives to Imitation of Christ in the Christian
West," was previously presented at the Pruit Symposium at Baylor
University in October 2000 and is now published in Interpreting Christian
Art, edited by Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons (Macon, GA: Mercer
University Press, 2004), 1-23.
The joint 2002 presentation of Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons,
"A Visual Exegesis of Leonardo's Uffizi Annunciation" is included
in their book, Illuminating Luke: The Infancy Narrative of Christ in Italian
Renaissance Painting, (Harrisburg, London, New York: Trinity Press International,
2003).
Robin M. Jensen's 2002 presentation, "The Invisible God in Ancient
Christian Art and Theology," in included in her book Face to Face:
The Portrait of God in Early Christianity (Fortress, in press for 2004).
Jaime Lara's 2003 presentation, "The Afterlife of the Temple in Latin
America: Ezekiel's Vision of a New World in a New World," is included
in his book City, Temple, Stage: Eschatological Architecture and Liturgical
Theatrics in New Spain (University of Notre Dame Press, in press for 2004).
Projected Two-Year Program Topics and Participants
2005 (Philadelphia, PA)
Topic: The Bible and American Art (2 sessions, possible gallery tour/s)
This topic is chosen with the permanent collection of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art in mind: www.philamuseum.org/collections/american_art/index.shtml
: "The importance of the Philadelphia region as a center for artistic
production and the strength of history and tradition in the city assured
the Museum's strong commitment to American arts. Major examples of decorative
arts, painting, and sculpture have been acquired steadily since its founding
in 1876. Today the collection, which continues to grow rapidly, is recognized
as one of the finest public holdings of American Art in existence."
We plan to call the attention of AAR/SBL meeting attendees to this collection.
Invited presenter: Dr. Terry Dempsey, SJ, Professor of Art History and
Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, Saint Louis University
(Professor Dempsey has agreed to participate.)
Open call for other papers/presentations
We have made an initial contact with the curator of American art at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art about a possible gallery tour, and Terry Dempsey
has some promising ideas about arranging a special exhibit at the small
teaching gallery of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.
2006 (Washington, DC)
Topic: Parables in Word and Art (2 sessions)
Invited presenter: Dr. Sharon H. Ringe, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington,
DC, who will be completing a project on The Art of Parables in collaboration
with sculptor Charles McCollough (Professor Ringe has agreed to participate.)
Open call for other presentations/papers
We will make contacts for possible joint sponsorship with the Biblical
Criticism and Literary Criticism Section or the Synoptic Gospels Section,
as well as looking into possible linked gallery tours in Washington, DC.
Indications for Future Cross-Disciplinary Interests and Diverse
Perspectives
The make-up of the Steering Committee (two biblical specialists—
one from Hebrew Bible, one from New Testament, two art historians, and
one rabbinical scholar and one church historian) insures a diversity of
perspectives. Furthermore, that Steering Committee represents a cross-section
of historical expertise (Ancient Israel, Yee; Rabbinic Judaism, Ulmer;
Early Christianity, Jensen and Malbon; Italian Renaissance and Baroque,
Hornik; USA and contemporary, Dempsey) and methodological interests (archival
art history, Dempsey, Hornik; iconography, textual studies, epigraphy,
archaeology, Jensen; literary analysis, iconography, Malbon; semiotics,
Ulmer; feminist theory, Yee). In addition, as the two completed sessions
of the Consultation and the proposed schedule for the Section indicates,
we hope to enlist participants from across the SBL and AAR as well as
outside those traditional boundaries.
Indications for Future Use of Technology
The nature of the Section will necessitate the use of visuals, either
with traditional slide projectors or with computer-generated PowerPoint
presentations. Co-chair Heidi Hornik, in particular, has considerable
experience with both these media, and no doubt an important element of
the Section will be sharing with and learning from SBL colleagues about
the most efficient, effective, and responsible ways of incorporating visual
images into our research and teaching. E-mail correspondence has been
essential to the work of planning the original proposal for the Consultation
and this renewal request and would continue to be essential to the work
of the Steering Committee. A web site for the Consultation was prepared
and is maintained by co-chair Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, and, if a Section
is approved, this web site would be reconfigured for the Section.
URL: filebox.vt.edu/users/malbon/BibleandVisualArt/
Indications for Future Collaboration with Other Units
The chairs of the Bible in Ancient and Modern Media Section, the Early
Christian/Jewish Relations Section, and the Women in the Biblical World
Section have already expressed interest in future collaboration. We intend
also to invite cooperation with those units that already from time to
time turn to the visual image (e.g., Semiotics and Exegesis, Bible in
Ancient and Modern Media, and Bible and Cultural Studies), as well as
from those who have natural, but as-of-yet perhaps unexplored, affinities
with the visual tradition, (e.g., Archaeological Excavations and Discoveries:
Illuminating the Biblical World Section, History of Interpretation Section,
inter alia).
List of Participating Members
Although such a list is not required for Sections but only for Groups
and Seminars, please note that 22 persons have added their names, contact
information, and areas of expertise and interest to our web page:
filebox.vt.edu/users/malbon/BibleandVisualArt/KKPeopleandInterests.html