This book explores the vital role of the imagination in today’s complex climates—cultural, environmental, political, racial, religious, spiritual, intellectual, etc. It asks: What contribution do the arts make in a world facing the impacts of globalism, climate change, pandemics, and losses of culture? What wisdom and insight, and orientation for birthing hope and action in the world, do the arts offer to religious faith and to theological reflection?
These essays, poems, and short reflections—written by art practitioners and academics from a diversity of cultures and religious traditions—demonstrate the complex cross-cultural nature of this conversation, examining critical questions in dialogue with various art forms and practices, and offering a way of understanding how the human imagination is formed, sustained, employed, and expanded. Marked by beauty and wonder, as well as incisive critique, it is a unique collection that brings unexpected voices into a global conversation about imagining human futures.
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The Editors
Rev Dr Rod Pattenden is an artist, art historian, and educational facilitator interested in the connection between spirituality and the arts. He has written and lectured widely on these aspects of the arts and creativity in Australia and overseas.
He was for many years the chairperson of the Blake Prize for Religious Art and a founding Director of InterPlay Australia.
He has particular strengths in the areas of the visual arts, performance skills, movement and exploring the processes of creativity. Rod has a BA Visual Arts (Arts Practice), M Phil (Art History), M Theol (Hons), PhD and a Dip Ed. For more information about Rod go to Rod Pattenden.
Rev Associate Professor Jason Goroncy teaches in the area of Systematic Theology at Whitley College. He has served as pastor in Baptist and Uniting churches, and held academic positions in Thailand, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.
He holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of Melbourne, a Bachelor of Theology and an Advanced Diploma of Ministry from the Melbourne College of Divinity, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of St Andrews (Scotland).
For more information about Jason Goroncy go to Jason Goroncy.
Rod says:
It is a rich collection of articles on culture and religion interspersed with reflections by artist and poets. A global collection that includes many Australian contributors plus leading international voices. Richly illustrated in colour – it will be of wide interest to those who take a progressive approach to faith and are interested in the role of imagination and theology in the public space.
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