News archive 2010

New MA in Christianity & The Arts

23 Jun 2010, PR 139/10

A new MA in Christianity & The Arts was launched last night by Professor Rick Trainor, Principal of King’s and Dr Nicholas Penny, Director of the National Gallery. The product of collaboration between one of the country’s most distinguished departments of Theology & Religious Studies and a world-class art gallery, the MA is the first of its kind.



Uniquely, the programme will enable students to work across disciplinary and specialism boundaries, and in particular to explore simultaneously the art-historical, church-historical and theological dimensions of Christian art – approaches which are generally pursued in isolation from one another.

This programme will give students a stimulating and privileged understanding of one of London’s - and the world’s - greatest treasuries of art, and help them to think theologically about other strands of the arts too. There will be two modules available that examine literature, as well as opportunities to take modules from elsewhere in the School of Arts & Humanities in order to explore musical, dramatic and cinematic traditions (all of them media in which Christian ideas have found expression).

The National Gallery collection will be at the heart of what students encounter in the MA, and much of the teaching will be provided on the Gallery floor. There will be significant teaching input from curatorial staff at the Gallery. The online collection and the National Gallery’s distinguished body of catalogue material will also be available to students.

Phenomenal resource of London’s artistic heritage

The MA will be co-ordinated by Ben Quash, King’s College London’s first Professor of Christianity and the Arts. In creating this new degree, and Professor Quash’s Chair, King’s has identified a rapidly developing sphere of theological interest. Energetic research work is growing in the subject, as is its attractiveness to students from many backgrounds.

Professor Quash comments: 'There are rich Catholic and Orthodox traditions of visual imagery that are alive and well today, and it is a much remarked-on phenomenon that the traditional Protestant churches have in recent years abandoned their traditional distrust of images and begun to embrace the possibilities of visual culture. Many departments of Theology & Religious Studies seek to study these ancient traditions and new developments. What few of them have, however, is the phenomenal resource of London’s artistic heritage on their doorstep.'

The National Gallery is one of the greatest art collections in the world, spanning five centuries of Western European painting, including many masterpieces. A large proportion of its paintings treat specifically Christian themes and subject matter. This MA is designed to encourage theological reflection on these great works of visual culture.

Details of the MA and of how to apply can be found here:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/graduate/index/name/christianity_and_the_arts/alpha/c/header_search/

[Image: Dr Nicholas Penny, Director, National Gallery at the official signing ceremony with Professor Rick Trainor. Credit: Naresh Verlander]



Notes to editors

King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher Education 2009) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has nearly 23,000 students (of whom more than 8,600 are graduate students) from nearly 140 countries, and some 5,500 employees. King's is in the second phase of a £1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.

King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.



Further information
Alison Denyer
Senior Communications Manager
Public Relations Department
Email: alison.denyer@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 3073



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