Sanctifying Art. Deborah Sokolove

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      art for faith’s sake series

      series editors:

      Clayton J. Schmit

      J. Frederick Davison

      This series of publications is designed to promote the creation of resources for the church at worship. It promotes the creation of two types of material, what we are calling primary and secondary liturgical art.

      Like primary liturgical theology, classically understood as the actual prayer and practice of people at worship, primary liturgical art is that which is produced to give voice to God’s people in public prayer or private devotion and art that is created as the expression of prayerful people. Secondary art, like secondary theology, is written reflection on material that is created for the sake of the prayer, praise, and meditation of God’s people.

The series presents both worship art and theological and pedagogical reflection on the arts of worship. The series title, Art for Faith’s Sake,1* indicates that, while some art may be created for its own sake, a higher purpose exists for arts that are created for use in prayer and praise.

      other volumes in this series:

      Senses of the Soul by William A. Dyrness

      Dust and Prayers by Charles L. Bartow

      Dust and Ashes by James L. Crenshaw

      Preaching Master Class by William H. Willimon

      Praying the Hours in Ordinary Life by Clayton J. Schmit and Lauralee Farrer

      Mending a Tattered Faith: Devotions with Dickinson by Susan VanZanten

      Blessed: Monologues for Mary by Jerusha Matsen Neal

      Senses of Devotion: Interfaith Aesthetics in Buddhist and Muslim Communities by William A. Dyrness

      forthcoming volumes in this series:

      Dance in Scripture: How Biblical Dancers Can Revolutionize Worship Today by Angela M. Yarber

      ReVisioning: Critical Methods of Seeing Christianity in the History of Art edited by James Romaine and Linda Stratford

1*Art for Faith’s Sake is a phrase coined by art collector and church musician, Jerry Evenrud, to whom we are indebted.

      Sanctifying Art

      Inviting Conversation between Artists, Theologians, and the Church

      Deborah Sokolove

      SANCTIFYING ART

      Inviting Conversation between Artists, Theologians, and the Church

      Art for Faith’s Sake 9

      Copyright © 2013 Deborah Sokolove. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

      Cascade Books

      An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

      199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3

      Eugene, OR 97401

      www.wipfandstock.com

      ISBN 13: 978-1-62032-633-6

      EISBN 13: 978-1-62189-752-1

      Cataloging-in-Publication data:

      Sokolove, Deborah

      Sanctifying art : inviting conversation between artists, theologians, and the church / Deborah Sokolove.

      xii + 190 p. ; 23 cm. — Includes bibliographical references and index(es).

      Art for Faith’s Sake 9

      ISBN 13: 978-1-62032-633-6

      1. Subject. 2. I. Series. II. Title.

      call number 2013

      Manufactured in the U.S.A.

      “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower” by William Carlos Williams, from THE COLLECTED POEMS: VOLUME II, 1939–1962, copyright © 1944 by William Carlos Williams. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

      “Small Blue Poem #2” by David Harris, from Streetcorner Majesty, copyright © 2009 by David Harris. Reprinted by permission of David Harris.

      Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      Foreword

      I am certain that I met Deborah Sokolove when she became Artist-in-Residence and Curator of the Dadian Gallery at Wesley Theological Seminary in 1994, but she didn’t fully register on my radar screen until she registered for my course. The course was The Hebrew Bible and the Arts. I believe this was the third time I had taught the course.

      Now, I had been Professor of Hebrew Bible at Wesley for twenty-three years at that point, and this was not a course I imagined teaching when I first finished my graduate work. But I happened to come to Wesley in time for the beginning of an unusual romance between theological education and the arts. Due to the persistence and vision of an artist named Catherine Kapikian, a program bringing the arts into the life of a theological school had been founded and was flourishing by the early 1990s at Wesley. One aspect of that program, encouraged by a Luce Foundation grant, was to integrate the arts into the full curriculum of theological education. Wesley had quality courses in the arts, but this was an effort to use the arts as a resource in many other disciplines of theological education, and I was an enthusiastic participant in this enterprise.

      Except for some early education and participation in theater arts and a lifetime of singing regularly with groups, I had no formal training in the arts. I knew, however, as a Bible teacher that artists of every artistic medium had been interacting with biblical stories and texts in a serious way for centuries. Many people have been as influenced by artistic interactions with the Bible as they have by sermons or formal Bible study. I wanted my students as future pastors and church leaders to know something about that, and to draw on the arts as a resource in their ministries. I began to use the arts in my introductory Hebrew Bible classes, and students responded to this, so I thought a course focused entirely on the interaction of the Hebrew Bible and the arts would be a good idea. I designed the course syllabus to provide interaction with artists’ biblical encounters in all the arts: visual arts, music, drama, film, literature, poetry. (I couldn’t get dance in there although some student projects did.) I taught the course a couple of times and felt pretty good about it.

      Then, in 1994, a program of our Center for the Arts and Religion to bring practicing artists to campus, to work in our studio and interact with our entire community, brought Deborah Sokolove to campus and into my class. Deborah is a trained and accomplished artist. She has degrees in art education and in computer graphics. She is a painter and a sculptor as well as a computer graphic artist and designer. But she is also from a Jewish background but had become a leader in an unusual congregation called Seekers Church, affiliated with Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. It was wonderful to have her in the class. She made wise and insightful contributions to class discussions. The sharing of her own class project was a highlight for everyone. We often interacted on Wesley’s campus and in the Dadian Gallery where she began to curate outstanding shows.

      At