Formerly titled "Visual Gospels"

We all want to truly understand and experience great art - especially religious art.

But you need more than simply learning to value brush strokes, figure placement, or perspective. As a professor and author, Dr. Jem Sullivan is uniquely qualified to present both the artistic elements of great art and the spiritual dimension inherent in Christian religious art.

How Art Speaks to Us

Religious art is rooted in the theological foundation of the Church the Incarnation. A painting, sculpture, or fresco can speak the language of the Incarnation - the Word of God. Professor Sullivan will teach you how to see that language spoken in art - how to hear it and receive it into your heart.She introduces concrete tools for rediscovering the profound messages of religious art that are so often overlooked.

Professor Sullivan discusses:

• The anthropological basis for Christian art - the human person was created for beauty
• Our need to rediscover Christian art in our contemporary visual culture
• Blessed John Paul II's Letter to Artists in which he describes the "call to the vocation of beauty"

Using Lectio Divina to Appreciate Art

Professor Sullivan adapts the timeless method of Christian meditation on Scripture to studying the "visual gospel" of religious art. The four steps of Lectio Divina - reading, meditation, prayer, contemplation - are ideally suited to rediscovering the spiritual depth of religious art.

1. Begin by "reading" the artwork as you would read the pages of a sacred text

2. Move into the "why" of the piece and meditate on the source for the scene depicted - the Bible passage, event in a saint's life, or spiritual reality presented

3. Turn toward God in prayer, with the reflections gathered from the first two steps

4. Rest in the mysteries of faith contemplated in the artwork and allow God to speak to your heart and mind.

By adapting the method of Lectio Divina to the study of art, we can learn to see with the "eyes of faith" and hear with the "ears of the heart." Our appreciation of beauty should always direct us back to God.

Develop a True Appreciation for Great Art

You are invited to join Professor Sullivan on a journey through the 2,000-year history of the Church during which you will learn not only how to appreciate art, but how genuine masterpieces of art can serve as a spiritual aid. With Professor Sullivan, you can finally realize your goal of developing a true appreciation for the religious masterpieces of Western Civilization.

 

Professor Jem Sullivan holds a Doctorate from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. For over a decade, she has taught graduate level courses as adjunct professor in the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C. She has taught a course on Christian Art and catechesis and evangelization and writes for a variety of publications on art, including the Catholic liturgical resource Magnificat. She is the author of two books from Our Sunday Visitor, A Study Guide to the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, and The Beauty of Faith: Christian Art and the Gospel. She has served as a volunteer docent at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. leading visitors through the museum's masterpiece collections.