Regent College Podcast
Faith, life, and theology come together in this bi-weekly look into the people and ideas that shape Regent College.
Regent College Podcast
Thick Meaning, Open Hands: Art, Theology, and the Love of Neighbour with Dr. Jonathan Anderson
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Dr. Jonathan Anderson returns to the Regent Podcast to talk about how artworks reason theologically, from explicitly religious imagery, such as the ascension and Pentecost images, to Jonathan's specialization in contemporary art. We have an extended discussion of German artist Andrea Büttner's work on poverty, weakness and shame. Jonathan focuses on her "poetics of letting fall" in Beggar, inspired by Carmelite and Franciscan spirituality and the writings of St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897). Jonathan also explains why good art criticism engages the artwork itself instead of assigning the artist a theological position. He then shares his upcoming winter classes, Christian Imagination and Advanced Readings in the Arts and Theology, and offers advice to students in the arts and theology.
Jonathan's Bio
Dr. Jonathan A. Anderson is the Eugene and Jan Peterson Associate Professor of Theology and the Arts and the head of the Christianity and the Arts concentration at Regent College. His scholarship explores the interrelations of art history, theology, and religious studies, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary art. He is the author of The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art, Modern Art and the Life of a Culture: The Religious Impulses of Modernism and many articles and book chapters on related topics. Jonathan completed a PhD at King’s College London and then taught for three years at Duke Divinity School as the Postdoctoral Associate of Theology and the Visual Arts. Before this, he was trained as an artist and art critic, earning an MFA from California State University Long Beach and teaching for eleven years as an Associate Professor of Art at Biola University.
Related Links and Resources
- W. David O. Taylor, Naming the Spirit: Pneumatology through the Arts
- Jonathan Anderson, "Antihumanism, Christian Humanism, and Contemporary Art: A Meditation on the Artworks of Andrea Büttner," Modern Theology (2026): https://doi.org/10.1111/moth.70139
- Andrea Büttner's Beggar images
- The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art (Regent Vine, Sept 2025)
- Visual Arts as Theology (Regent Podcast, February 2024)
Regent College Podcast
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