| In this art project/dissertation, Vessels of Evocation , I give artistic expression to the contemporary evolution of Christian awareness, toward a post Orthodox Christianity. I present eight pieces of my art---two acrylic paintings and six pieces of sculpture---that express my experience of patriarchal Christianity and my journey out of it. Some of the psychospiritual effects of patriarchal inflation are visible in the art, including evidence of deep spiritual fragmentation and isolation. From the midst of this woundedness, the art contains intimations of wholeness and hope that anticipate a new religious order.; In the dissertation, I describe recovering creative foundations of ministry and suggest a theology of ministry for creativity and healing. By considering the work of Paul Tillich, Carl Jung and Martin Buber, among others, I establish a context for healing spiritual impotence, the legacy of patriarchal Christianity. Healing this wound requires a new depth tradition inclusive of masculine and feminine energy mediated through symbol and metaphor. In the dissertation, I consider the relationship between artistic process and theological development and include a reflective discussion of my art, a critique of the art and a photographic record of it.; In the present evolution of Christianity, we are being forced to build new relationships with our psychic depths and with our experience of the transcendent. This work is turbulent, intense and creative. In it, we are finding new images and language for our most basic religious assertions. This project, by integrating my religious experience as an artist and as a Christian, describes the work of recovering one's own experience of God and of art. |
