Creation and Creativity: Art, Theology, and Ecology

Dr Tina Beattie (Professor emerita, University of Roehampton), Creation and Creativity: Art, Theology, and Ecology (14 April 2024)

Pope Francis condemns what he calls the “excessive anthropocentrism” of modernity. He invites humankind to heal our relationships with one another and the rest of creation through poetry, art, popular devotions, and prayerful contemplation as well as through action for social and environmental justice. In this lecture, Dr Tina Beattie asks what anthropological transformation might come about if, instead of imagining the divine image (imago dei) in terms of rationality, we adopted Basil of Caesarea’s image of God as the Supreme Artist delighting in the beauty and diversity of creation. She reflects on medieval and modern art, poetry, and music to explore what it would mean to see the human creature as an artist of creation and co-creator with God.

Links to poems and music referred to in this lecture can be accessed here. Please note that there may be a short advert preceding some of these videos, that can be skipped after a few seconds.

God’s Grandeur
   • Poem:~ "God's Grandeur" by Gerard Man...  

Nick Cave’s song, Running Horses
   • Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Bright ...  

Mary Oliver reading her poem, The Summer Day.
   • Mary Oliver reads "The Summer Day" (a...  

Dr Tina Beattie (Professor Emerita of Catholic Studies, University of Roehampton, UK) writes fiction and works independently as an academic researcher and writer. She has published widely in the fields of sacramental theology, psychoanalysis, Marian art and devotion, and gender and female embodiment. She is currently researching questions of language, desire, and gender in dialogue with Pope Francis’s eco-theology. Dr Beattie is a frequent contributor to the media. She is the lead facilitator for Catholic Women Speak, an international online forum for dialogue and awareness raising around issues relating to women and girls in the Church and society.

[The Swanson Lecture in Christian Spirituality: Organized by Dr Carolyn Muessig, Chair of Christian Thought, University of Calgary and the Calgary Public Library. ]