INVENTING Art and Learning to See with Katie Kresser (ep. 47)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with an art historian, Dr. Katie Kresser, about how art can train our imaginations to look at our neighbors and the world with dignity and love. She is a writer I follow closely, and her book, Bezalel's Body is the most thought-provoking book I’ve read in the last year! I was thrilled to have the chance to ask her some questions about it. Among the topics we discuss:

• "When God died, art was born." How the Christian story - of the death and resurrection of God the Son - made art possible 
• How art can train the imagination to look at the world in the right way, recognizing dignity and not reducing others to ourselves.
• The consequences when we neglect to disciple our imaginations, and some of the unintended results of the Reformation turn from the visual towards the verbal.
• The burden of living in the contemporary "society of the spectacle," where we feel that we must make ourselves.
• What makes something art, what makes for "good art," and how to build bridges between artists and the church.

• “Our destiny is the product of the real work we do amid the secret life of the universe with God’s providential help. We are too foolish to see it. But love sees it.” (201)

Get the book: https://wipfandstock.com/9781532645648/bezalels-body/

Included music on this episode is "Murmur" from the Ruralists album "Trying." Find lyrics and more here: https://www.fullyruralized.com/