Luminous: Conversations On Sacred Arts

Renowned music director Alexander Lingas, founder of Capella Romana, discusses the formation of the ensemble, the melodic style in Byzantine chant, similarities between different musical traditions, the concepts of terere and kratimata in music, the diverse repertoire of Capella Romana, and the significance of the line 'O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave'.

The podcast explores the concept of beauty beyond the arts, discussing its connection to ethics and behavior. They also touch on the transformative experience of finding beauty in unexpected places, the relational aspect of their book, the ethics of beauty in theological studies, the role of culture in shaping attitudes, and the importance of pursuing beauty and incorporating pilgrimage into one's life.

Fr Maximos is Professor of Patristics and Orthodox Spirituality. A summa cum laude graduate of Holy Cross (1987), he completed his PhD in Patristics and Historical Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. (1993), after which he taught at Hellenic College and Holy Cross (1993-1998). In the fall of 1998, he was invited to join the faculty of Harvard Divinity School, where he was Professor of Patristics and Orthodox Theology from 1998-2004. Responding to a life-long calling to the monastic life, he resigned his position at Harvard and was tonsured a great-schema monk at the Holy Monastery of Simonopetra, where he lived from 2004-2011. He was subsequently invited by Archbishop Demetrios to return to Holy Cross, where he has been an outstanding teacher, rigorous academic mentor, and prolific scholar. His publications include five books, more than fifty articles (many of them of monograph-length), and a dozen translated volumes. His current research project is a first-ever critical edition and English translation of the Life of the Virgin by the tenth-century Byzantine writer John Geometres.Fr. Maximos teaches courses on the theology of the Church Fathers, including St Basil the Great, St Gregory the Theologian, St Dionysius the Areopagite, St Symeon the New Theologian, and especially St Maximos the Confessor, on whom he is an internationally recognized specialist. His research interests focus on the Patristic and Byzantine interpretation of Scripture, the Philokalia and Orthodox spirituality, the study of Byzantine manuscripts, and the theological study of Byzantine art, icons, and iconography. Fr Maximos’ interest in the arts began with a program of study at the School of Visual Arts in New York City (1979-1980), and he currently works as a consultant for American filmmaker Terrence Malick, including work on Malick’s most recent film, A Hidden Life, which is based on the real-life story of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II, who was sentenced to death and executed. He was later declared a martyr and beatified by the Roman Catholic Church.Fr Maximos has twice held fellowships at Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University’s Center for Byzantine Studies in Washington, D.C. (1992-1993, 2000-2002); he was the Inaugural James Rubin Visiting Professor of Patristic and Byzantine Studies at Hebrew University, Jerusalem (1991-1992); and a Visiting Professor of Patristics and Byzantine Literature and Consultant to the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (UCLA, Irvine, 2001). In 2003, he was invited to teach Orthodox Theology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris; and in 2016, he served as a Visiting Professor of Byzantine Literature at Harvard University’s Department of the Classics (2016). He is a member of numerous international theological societies, and serves on multiple editorial boards, including Analogia: A Journal of Theological Dialogue; and Harvard University’s prestigious Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library series.

 Nun Katherine Weston, an Orthodox Christian monastic, is a pastoral counselor and trauma specialist in private practice. For some 15 years, she has been addressing topics central to the basic human experience, integrating an Orthodox Christian worldview with perspectives from current psychotherapies. In addition to racial identities, topics have included loneliness, shame, anger, anxiety, attachment dynamics, and racial reconciliation. 

 Matt Hinton, documentary filmmaker, rock guitarist, and burrito legend — for all these contributions, each so excellent, the world is a better place with him in it. Join us in our conversation about art, sacredness, and his films. 

Victoria Emily Jones graduated from UNC–Chapel Hill in 2010 with a BA in journalism and English literature and a minor in music, and she has done some postgraduate coursework in worship and the arts at Regent College in Vancouver. Now she works as an editorial freelancer and pursues independent research on Christianity and the arts, with a special interest in visual art that engages with biblical narratives, especially from the twentieth century onward and/or from non-Western cultures. Victoria serves on the board of the Eliot Society, an Annapolis-based nonprofit that promotes spiritual formation through the arts, and as curator for The Daily Prayer Project, which publishes cross-cultural liturgies, music, and art for the Christian year. She is a member of Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) and a contributor to the Visual Commentary on Scripture. From 2015 to 2022 she served as assistant editor of ArtWay, a Netherlands-based web publication that encourages Christian engagement with historical and contemporary art; she continues to write “visual meditations” for the site (see list below).Based on the work she had done through her blog The Jesus Question (the precursor to Art & Theology), Victoria was selected in 2016 to participate with a small group of scholars and artists in the two-week Calvin College seminar “Bodies of Christ: Visualizing Jesus Then and Now,” led by Ed Blum, coauthor of The Color of Christ. Racialized representations of Christ remains one of her ongoing topics of inquiry.Victoria also leads the Art and Theology blog (https://artandtheology.org/) and is active on social media (Instagram) at: @art_and_theology

 On this special episode of Luminous, our previous guests suggested for us their chosen musical selections that evoke the sacredness of the season. The result is a beautiful and diverse, and often surprising playlist of Christmas music. Our gift to you. 

Andrew Gould’s designs for churches and other buildings, as well as for furnishings within churches, are exquisitely beautiful. But they are more than that. His vision of sacred art and architecture sets the bar very high—heavenly-high—which is exactly where he thinks it should be.

Renowned artist Bruce Herman discusses his artistic journey, retirement, sudden hearing loss, and the sacrificial nature of creativity. He explores the intersection of art, human experience, and Scripture, resilience in the face of adversity, and the communal aspect of artistic creation. The podcast also delves into sacred suffering, divine grace, and the inspiration behind the Lothlorian chair.

Renowned composer and conductor Benedict Sheehan discusses the concept of sacred art and the need for creativity. The speakers explore gratitude and collaboration in the musical world. They discuss different approaches to composition, influences and inspirations. The challenges of stuttering and ADHD in communication and their impact on life choices are discussed. The emergence of diagnostic tools and the concept of sacred art are explored. They express excitement for an upcoming performance dedicated to Metropolitan T-Con and share attending a performance at the Temple of Dender with gratitude and sponsor acknowledgements.