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Research & Innovation

The Centre for Arts and the Sacred at King’s (ASK) is a centre for research, teaching and public education in relation to the role of religion in the arts, and the role of the arts in religion.

Our focus on the arts is broad, and not limited to the visual arts alone. We look at questions of architecture and urban space as well as literature, music, film, dance and theatre. Our focus on the sacred is intended to ensure as rich an interdisciplinary set of engagements as possible, not prematurely foreclosing discussions when they do not obviously relate to one or more of the established religious traditions.

Located at the heart of the capital, ASK has proved itself a valuable resource for a range of major arts institutions in the UK, many of them our London neighbours. We continue to expand the range of our collaborations, bringing together scholars who have interests and expertise in the intersection of religion and the creative arts with those working in the creative and cultural sector.

Francesco Botticini, Palmieri Altarpiece, 1477. © The National Gallery, London
Image © Malcolm Park editorial / Alamy Stock Photo.

People

Emma Dillon

Professor Emma Dillon

Thurston Dart Professor of Music (Medieval Music and Cultures)

Alexander Douglas

Alexander Douglas

Lecturer in Music Education

Michelle Fletcher

Dr Michelle Fletcher

Deputy Director of the VCS project, Research Fellow

Nicole Graham

Dr Nicole Graham

Lecturer in Ethics and Values

Joost Joustra

Dr Joost Joustra

Research fellow

Vittorio Montemaggi

Dr Vittorio Montemaggi

Visiting Senior Research Fellow

Projects

VCS - ASK
Visual Commentary on Scripture (VCS)

The Visual Commentary on Scripture (VCS) is a freely accessible online publication that provides theological commentary on the Bible in dialogue with works of art. It helps its users to (re)discover the Bible in new ways through the illuminating interaction of artworks, scriptural texts, and commissioned commentaries. The VCS combines three academic disciplines: theology, art history, and biblical scholarship. While the project’s main commitment is to theology, it is responsibly informed by the latter two disciplines.

Francesco Botticini, Palmieri Altarpiece, 1477. © The National Gallery, London Image © Malcolm Park editorial / Alamy Stock Photo.
Theology and the Visual Arts

Theology and the Visual Arts: Firming Foundations; Firing Imaginations is a five-year project, led by Professor Ben Quash, Chair of Christianity and the Arts, working with Dr Chloë Reddaway, and generously sponsored by the McDonald Agape Foundation. Based in the Centre for Arts and the Sacred at King’s and building on the success of a previous project – Theology, Modernity, and the Visual Arts (TMVA) – its purpose is to strengthen the foundations of Theology and the Visual Arts as a discipline within academic Theology, and help to shape its future.

TMVA
Theology, Modernity and the Visual Arts (TMVA)

Theology, Modernity and the Visual Arts was a four-year research project led by Professor Ben Quash at King’s College London, in collaboration with Duke University, and generously sponsored by the McDonald Agape Foundation. Its purpose was to enquire into a theological reading of modernity in the company of visual artists, asking how the visual arts can help us to understand the theological (or even anti-theological) currents of modernity more deeply. Theology, Modernity, and the Visual Arts was part of a larger enterprise (Theology, Modernity, and the Arts) established by Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts, to research in three main areas: music, the visual arts, and literature.

students
MA in Theology, Bible, and the Arts

King’s College London offers a collaborative MA in Theology, Bible, and the Arts taught in association with the National Gallery in London. This exceptional programme enables students to work across disciplinary and specialist boundaries, exploring art-historical and theological dimensions of Christian art in tandem. The wealth of religious pictures at the National Gallery makes it an ideal forum for exploring various issues surrounding the visual arts and spirituality. Much of the teaching therefore takes place in the Gallery, in front of original works of art, and is taught by curatorial staff. This exceptional programme enables students to work across disciplinary and specialist boundaries, exploring art-historical and theological dimensions of Christian art in tandem. The wealth of religious pictures at the National Gallery makes it an ideal forum for exploring various issues surrounding the visual arts and spirituality. Much of the teaching therefore takes place in the Gallery, in front of original works of art, and is taught by curatorial staff.

Two iPhone photos featuring the Alight logo and app
Alight: Art and the Sacred App

A major initiative of the Centre for Arts and the Sacred at King’s, with the generous support of the Jerusalem Trust, has been the creation of a pioneering app called Alight. Alight introduces its users to works of art in a way that explores the art's religious dimensions and devotional power. Its map directs you to locations where key works can be found – some in major collections, and some hidden gems in places of worship or outdoor locations. The Collections tab offers 'curated pilgrimages' that connect works in different places across the city and offer unique perspectives on temporary exhibitions as well as insight into permanent ones. When you find an artwork you can listen to short commentaries by theologians, artists, art historians and others. They will share some of the spiritual responses they have to these works. You can capture your response with Alight’s unique ‘burning bush’ slider.

Publications

Ben Quash

Books

  • Theology, Modernity, and the Visual Arts. Co-edited with Chloë Reddaway (Turnhout: Brepols, 2024)
  • God’s Song and Music’s Meanings: Theology, Liturgy, and Musicology in Dialogue (Abingdon: Routledge), James Hawkey, Ben Quash and Vernon White (eds), 2019.
  • Visualising a Sacred City: London, Art and Religion (London: I.B. Tauris), Ben Quash, Aaron Rosen and Chloë Reddaway (eds), 2016.
  • Found Theology: History, Imagination and the Holy Spirit (London: T&T Clark), Ben Quash, 2013.
  • Abiding: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2013 (London: Bloomsbury), Ben Quash, 2012.

Chapters and Articles

  • ‘The Light of the World and the Dynamics of Conversion’, in Holman Hunt and ‘The Light of the World’ in Oxford. Ed. Markus Bockmuehl (Abingdon: Routledge, 2025), 163–81.
  • ‘Introduction’, in Visual Communion: The Art, Architecture, and Craft of the Eucharist. Eds Laura Moffatt and Christopher Irvine (Turnhout: Brepols, 2025), 1–10.
  • ‘Incomprehensible Certainty: A Response’, in Modern Theology 40:2 (2024), 437­–48.
  • ‘“In England’s green and pleasant land”, The New Jerusalem in London’, in Florence and the Idea of Jerusalem. Eds Timothy Verdon and Giovanni Serafini (Turnhout: Brepols, 2024).
  • ‘Visual Arts and Christian Theology’, in St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology. Ed. Brendan N. Wolfe et al. Co-authored with Chloë Reddaway (2024).
  • 'Afterword: A Colloquy with Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, James Elkins, Ben Quash, and S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate’, in Religion and Contemporary Art: A Curious Accord. Eds Ronald R. Bernier and Rachel Hostetter Smith (London: Routledge, 2023).
  • ‘The Bible and Visual Exegesis’, in New Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation. Eds Ian Boxall and Bradley Gregory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022).
  • ‘The Visual Commentary on Scripture: Principles and Possibilities’, in Transforming Christian Thought in the Visual Arts: Theology, Aesthetics and Practice (Routledge Studies in Theology, Imagination, and the Arts), Beaumont, S. & Thiele, M. (eds.), 2021.
  • ‘Brought Into the Fold’, in Image as Theology (Arts and the Sacred Vol. 5) (Turnhout: Brepols) Mark McInroy, Casey Strine and Alexis Torrance (eds)., 2021.
  • ‘The Gospels for the Life of the World’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Gospels, 2nd ed. (forthcoming) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), Stephen C. Barton (ed.), 2021.
  • ‘The Resurrection of the Image in the English Protestant Imagination: From William Blake to Bill Viola: Parts I and II’, in Art and Theology in Ecumenical Perspective (La Mandragora) Verdon, T. (ed.), 2019.
  • ‘Religion, Ritual and Myth’, in A Cultural History of Tragedy in the Modern Age (London: Bloomsbury), Jennifer Wallace (ed.), pp.93–108. 2019.
  • ‘Introduction’, in Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue (Arts and the Sacred Vol. 2) (Turnhout: Brepols), Aaron Rosen (ed.); co-authored with Aaron Rosen, 2018.
  • ‘The Tragic Imagination and the Ascesis of the Eye’ in Modern Theology 34:2, pp.258–66., 2018.
  • ‘Can Contemporary Art Be Devotional Art?’, in Contemporary Art and the Church: A Conversation Between Two Worlds (Westmont IL: IVP Academic), W. David O. Taylor and Taylor Worley (eds), pp.57–78., 2017.
  • “If We Be Dead With Christ”: Christian Visualizations of Death’ in Studies in Christian Ethics 29:3, pp.323–330, 2016.
  • ‘Art and Religion in the Public Square’, in Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan: St Peter’s Church and the Louise Nevelson Chapel (Farnham: Ashgate), Aaron Rosen (ed.), pp.219–22, 2015.
  • ‘Through a Glass, Darkly’, in Anna Freeman Bentley: Mobility and Grandeur (London: Anomie), Matthew Price (ed.), pp.29–42, 2015.
  • ‘Berlioz’s Triptych’ in The Berlioz Society Bulletin 192, pp.3–7, 2013.
  • ‘Wonder-Voyaging: the Pneumatological Character of David Ford’s Theology’, in The Vocation of Theology Today (Eugene OR: Wipf and Stock), Tom Greggs, Rachel Muers and Simeon Zahl (eds), pp.146–62, 2013.
  • ‘Community, Imagination and the Bible’, in The Bible: Culture, Community, Society (London: T&T Clark International), Neil Messer and Angus Paddison (eds), pp.99–121, 2013.
  • ‘The Desublimations of Christian Art’, in The Art of the Sublime (London: Tate), 2013. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/ben-quash-the-de-sublimations-of-christian-art-r1140522
  • ‘The Density of Divine Address: Liturgy, Drama, and Human Transformation’, in Theology, Aesthetics and Culture: Responses to the Work of David Brown (Oxford: Oxford University Press), Rob MacSwain and Taylor Worley (eds), pp.241–51., 2012.
  • ‘Four Biblical Characters: In Search of a Tragedy’, in Christian Theology and Tragedy: Theologians, Tragic Literature, and Tragic Theory (Aldershot: Ashgate), Kevin Taylor and Giles Waller (eds), pp.15–33, 2011.
  • ‘Christianity as Hyper-Tragic’, in Facing Tragedies (Wien-Berlin-Münster: LIT Verlag), Christopher Hamilton, Otto Neumaier, Gottfried Schweiger and Clemens Sedmak (eds), pp.77–88, 2009.
  • ‘Hans Urs von Balthasar’s “Theatre of the World”: The Aesthetic of a Dramatics’, in Theological Aesthetics After Von Balthasar (Aldershot: Ashgate), Oleg V. Bychkov and James Fodor (eds), pp.19–31, 2008.
  • ‘Real Enactment: The Role of Drama in the Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar’, in Faithful Performances: The Enactment of Christian Identity in Theology and the Arts (Aldershot: Ashgate), Trevor Hart and Steven Guthrie (eds), pp.13–32, 2007.

Vittorio Montemaggi

Books

  • Dante, Mercy and the Beauty of the Human Person, DeLorenzo, L. J. (ed.) & Montemaggi, V. (ed.). Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017.
  • Reading Dante's Commedia as Theology: Divinity Realized in Human Encounter, Montemaggi, V. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
  • Dante's Commedia: Theology as Poetry, Montemaggi, V. (ed.) & Treherne, M. (ed.), Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010

Chapters & articles

  • ‘Paradiso_ 28: Smiling Truth’, in Le tre corone. 8, p. 99-118, 2021.
  • ‘Image as Theology: Praying for Each Other's Good’, (Accepted/In press) in Image as Theology: The Power of Visual Art in Shaping Christian Thought, Devotion, and Imagination. McInroy, M., Strine, C. & Torrance, A. (eds.). Brepols, 2020.
  • ‘Love, Ideology and Inter-religious Relations in the Commedia’, in Dante Studies. 137, p. 197-209, 2020.
  • ‘Primo Levi e Dante’ in Innesti. Primo Levi e i libri altrui. Cinelli, G. & Gordon, R. (eds.). Peter Lang, 2020.
  • ‘Christ as Turning Point in Dante's Commedia’, Montemaggi, V. & Sullivan Marcantonio, L., in Illuminating Jesus in the Middle Ages. Beal, J. (ed.). Brill, 2019.
  • ‘'Speak again’: Life, Love and Language in King Lear’, in Modern Believing 58, 2, p. 123-130, 2017.
  • ‘Dante's Theology’, in Concilium. 2017/5, 2017.
  • ‘Encountering Mercy: Dante, Mary and Us’, in Dante, Mercy and the Beauty of the Human Person. DeLorenzo, L. J. & Montemaggi, V. (eds.). Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017.
  • ‘Il testo, la persona, Dio: riflessioni teologiche sullo scaleo del cielo di Saturno’, in Studi di Erudizione e di Filologia Italiiana. 6, p. 63-74, 2017.
  • ‘How to Say “Thank You”: Reflecting on the Work of Primo Levi’, in Desire, Faith, and the Darkness of God: Essays in Honor of Denys Turner. Bugyis, E. & Newheiser, D. (eds.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2015.
  • ‘The Bliss and Abyss and Freedom: Hope, Personhood and Particularity in Inferno 3, Purgatorio 3, Paradiso 3’, in Cambridge Vertical Readings in Dante’s Comedy, Vol. 1. Corbett, G. & Webb, H. (eds.). Open Book Publishers, 2015.
  • ‘Theology, Literature and Prayer: A Pedagogical Suggestion’ in Theology and Literature After Postmodernity. Hampson, P., Lehman Imfeld, Z. & Milbank, A. (eds.). London: T&T Clark, 2015.
  • “E ’n la sua volontade è nostra pace”: Peace, Justice and the Trinity in Dante’s Commedia’, in War and Peace in Dante. Barnes, J. C. & O'Connell, D. (eds.). Dublin: Four Courts Press, for the UCD Foundation for Italian Studies, 2015.
  • ‘Forgiveness, Prayer and the Meaning of Poetry’, in Literature Compass. 11, 2, p. 139-147, 2014.
  • ‘On Religion and Literature: Truth, Beauty, and the Good’, Montemaggi, V. & Schwartz, R., in Religion & Literature. 46, 2-3, p. 111-127, 2014.
  • ‘Charity, Contemplation and Creation ex nihilo in Dante's Commedia’, in Modern Theology. 29, 2, p. 62-82, 2013.
  • ‘Dante and Gregory the Great’, in Reviewing Dante's Theology. Honess, C. & Treherne, M. (eds.). Oxford: Peter Lang, 2013.
  • ‘The Theology of Dante's Commedia as Seen in the Light of the Cantos of the Heaven of the Fixed Stars’, in “Se mai contiga…”: Exile, Politics and Theology in Dante. Honess, C. & Treherne, M. (eds.). Ravenna: Longo, 2013.
  • ‘Theology and Literature: Reflections on Dante and Shakespeare’, Kirkpatrick, R. & Montemaggi, V., in Christianity and the Disciplines: The Transformation of the University. Crisp, O. D., Davies, M., D'Costa, G. & Hampson, P. (eds.). London: T&T Clark, 2012.
  • ‘Primo Levi and the Tragedy of Dante’s Ulysses’, in Christian Theology and Tragedy: Theologians, Tragic Literature and Tragic Theory. Taylor, K. & Waller, G. (eds.). London: Ashgate, 2011.
  • ‘In Unknowability as Love: The Theology of Dante’s Commedia’ in Dante's ‘Commedia’: Theology as Poetry. Montemaggi, V. & Treherne, M. (eds.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010.
  • ‘Introduction: Dante, Poetry, Theology’, Montemaggi, V. & Treherne, M., in Dante’s ‘Commedia’: Theology as Poetry. Montemaggi, V. & Treherne, M. (eds.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010.
  • ‘Esempio di carità tra teologia, contemplazione e giustizia: il Pier Damiani del Paradiso di Dante’, in La “Grammatica di Cristo” di Pier Damiani: Un maestro per il nostro tempo. Gargano, G. I. & Saraceno, L. (eds.). S. Pietro in Cariano (Verona): Il Segno dei Gabrielli, 2009.
  • ‘Love, Forgiveness and Meaning: On the Relationship Between Theological and Literary Reflection’, in Religion & Literature. 41, 2, p. 79-86, 2009.
  • 'La rosa in che il verbo divino carne si fece’: human bodies and truth in the poetic narrative of the Commedia’ in Dante and the Human Body. Barnes, J. & Petrie, J. (eds.). Dublin: Four Courts Press, for the UCD Foundation for Italian Studies, 2007.
  • ‘“Di sé medesmo rise”: Gregorio Magno nella Commedia di Dante’, in L’eredità spirituale di Gregorio Magno tra Occidente e Oriente: Atti del Simposio Internazionale “Gregorio Magno 604-2004”, Roma, 10-12 marzo 2004. Gargano, G. I. (ed.). S. Pietro a Cariano (Verona): Il Segno dei Gabrielli, 2005.
  • ‘“Perché non ho scritto la Divina Commedia? Perché non c’ho pensato”: Dante’s Comedy and the Comic Art of Roberto Benigni’ in Beyond ‘Life is Beautiful’: Comedy and Tragedy in the Cinema of Roberto Benigni. Russo Bullaro, G. (ed.). Leicester: Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2005.

Jennifer Sliwka

Books

  • With Lelia Packer, Monochrome: Painting in Black and White. Exh. Cat. National Gallery, London: 1 November 2017 – 18 February 2018; Black and White (German edition title) Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf: 21 March – 15 July 2018, Hirmer Verlag, 2017.
  • Visions of Paradise: Botticini’s Palmieri Altarpiece, Exh. Cat. National Gallery Publications and Yale University Press: London and New Haven, 2015.

Essays and articles

  • ‘Illusive and Elusive: The (Im)possibility of Seeing in Michael Simpson’s Flat Surface Paintings’ in Michael Simpson: Paintings and Drawings 1989-2019, Blain Southern Gallery, London, 2019, pp. 248-261., 2019.
  • ‘The 50-year rescue of Vasari’s flood-damaged masterpiece’ in Apollo: The International Art Magazine (December, 2016), http://www.apollo-magazine.com/50-year-rescue-vasari-flood-damaged-masterpiece/ , 2016.
  • ‘Exhibiting Christian Art’, in Material Religion, part of the series of Macmillan Interdisciplinary handbooks, edited by J. Vereecke and D. Apostolos-Cappadona, New York, 2016.
  • With Donal Cooper, ‘Virtual Florence: A Church Goes Digital’, Apollo: The International Art Magazine (November, 2015), pp. 78-83, 2015.
  • ‘Saints Recycled’ in Michael Landy: Saints Alive, exhibition catalogue, the National Gallery, London, 2013, pp. 65-77., 2013.
  • ‘Armet se duritia: Domenico Beccafumi and the Politics of Punishment’ in Art as Politics in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena, ed. T. Smith and J. Steinhoff, Aldershot, 2012, pp. 163-194., 2012.
  • ‘Introduction’, Giorgio Vasari’s ‘Life of Beccafumi’, London, 2007.
  • With Gabriele Fattorini, ‘Domenico Beccafumi and the Sienese Tradition’, Renaissance Siena: Art for a City, exhibition catalogue, The National Gallery, London, 24 October 2007 - 13 January 2008, pp. 296-299., 2007.

Catalogue entries

  • Catalogue Entries: Michelangelo Buonarotti, ‘The Entombment’ ‘The Manchester Madonna’, ‘The Vatican Pietà’ in Michelangelo & Sebastiano: A Meeting of Minds, exhibition catalogue, The National Gallery, London, 15 March- 25 June, 2017.
  • Catalogue entry: ‘Domenico Beccafumi, The Story of Papirius’ in Amanda Lillie (ed.), Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting, Exh. Cat. (online), the National Gallery, London 30 April – 21 September 2014. 
  • Catalogue entry: ‘Giovanfrancesco Rustici, La conversione di Paolo’ in I grandi bronzi del Battistero : Giovanfrancesco Rustici e Leonardo, ed. T. Mozzati, B. Paolozzi Strozzi and P. Sénéchal. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, 10 Sept. 2010 - 10 Jan. 2011, Florence, cat. no. 9, pp. 274-277.
  • Catalogue entry: ‘Domenico Beccafumi, Penelope (Seminario Patriarcale, Venice)’ in Botticelli to Titian: Two Centuries of Italian Masterpieces, ed. D. Sallay, V. Tátrai, A. Vécsey. Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 28 Oct., 2009-14 Feb., 2010, cat. 119, pp. 386-387.

Reviews

  • Review of exhibition and catalogue: ‘Vesperbild: alle origini della Pietà di Michelangelo’ (Castello Sforzesco, Milan) Renaissance Studies 33:4 (July 2019), pp. 515-523., 2019.
  • Review of exhibition: ‘Carlo Portelli: Pittore eccentrico fra Rosso Fiorentino e Vasari’ (Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence) The Burlington Magazine 158:1358 (May 2016), pp. 17-18., 2016.
  • Review of book: John Marciari and Suzanne Boorsch, ‘Francesco Vanni: Art in Late Renaissance Siena’ in Print Quarterly (4), pp. 426-428., 2014.
  • Review of book: ‘Sassetta: The Borgo di San Sepolcro Altarpiece’, ed. M. Israëls, in The Burlington Magazine, March, 2010, pp. 183-184., 2010.
  • Review of book: ‘Saints and the Sacred’ eds. J. Goering, F. Guardiani and G. Silano, in Quaderni D’Italianistica, Vol.XXIII, 2, 2002, p. 126., 2002.

Michelle Fletcher

Books and articles

  • ‘Seeing Differently with Mary Magdalene’, in The Jesus Film Handbook, ed. R. Walsh. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, Feb 2021.
  • Reading Revelation as Pastiche: Imitating the Past. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017.
  • ‘Revelation’, in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 1. ed. J. Schröter, C. Keith, and H. Bond. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019. pp. 309–324.
  • ‘Apocalypse Noir: The Book of Revelation and Genre’, in T&T Clark Companion to The Bible and Film, ed. R. Walsh. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018, pp. 21–35.
  • ‘Leopard | Visual Arts' in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2018.
  • ‘Holman Hunt’s The Light of the World’, in Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan, ed. Aaron Rosen. New York: Ashgate 2016.
  • ‘“Behold, I’ll Be Back”: Terminator, the Book of Revelation, and the Power of Sequels’, in Now Showing: Film Theory in Biblical Studies, ed. C. Vander Stichele and L. Copier, Semeia Studies. Atlanta: SBL Brill, 2016, pp. 105–125.
  • ‘Once Upon an Apocalypse: Exodus, Disaster, and a Long, Long Time ago?’, in A New Hollywood Moses: On the Spectacle and Reception of Exodus, ed. D. Tollerton. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016, pp. 91–112.
  • ‘How Revelation Defined and Defied a Genre’, in Currents in British Research on the Apocalypse, ed. G. Allen, I. Paul, and S. Woodman. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015, pp. 115–134.
  • ‘Flesh for Frankenwhore: Reading Babylon’s Body in Revelation 17’, in The Body in Biblical, Christian and Jewish Texts, ed. J. E. Taylor. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2014, pp. 144–64.
  • ‘What Comes into a Woman and What Comes Out of a Woman: Feminist Textual Intervention and Mark 7:14–23’, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 30.1 (2014): 25–41.

 

Chloë Reddaway

Monographs

  • Strangeness and Recognition: Mystery and Familiarity in Renaissance Images of Christ. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. Shortlisted for the Art + Christianity/ Mercers’ book award, 2019.
  • Transformations in Person and Paint: Visual Theology, Historical Images, and the Modern Viewer. Turnhout: Brepols, 2015. Shortlisted for the Art + Christianity/ Mercers’ book award, 2017.

Edited volumes

  • Ben Quash, Chloë Reddaway, Aaron Rosen, eds. Visualising a Sacred City: London, Art and Religion. London: IB Tauris, 2017.
  • Ben Quash, Chloë Reddaway eds. Theology, Modernity and the Visual Arts.
  • Jeremy Begbie, Daniel Train and David Taylor eds, Chloë Reddaway executive ed., The Art of New Creation. Westmont: IVP, forthcoming (2021).

Book chapters

  • ‘Holy Faces: Reflections and Projections’ in Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue, ed. Aaron Rosen. Turnhout: Brepols, 2018.
  • ‘St Peter’s Church, Martley and St Edburga’s Church, Leigh’ in Glory, Azure and Gold: Twelve stained-glass windows by Thomas Denny. London: Reed Contemporary Books, 2015. 2nd edition: London: Reed Contemporary Books in association with Lund Humphries, 2016.
  • ‘Reading Hermeneutic Space: Pictorial and Spiritual Transformation in the Brancacci Chapel’ in James Romaine and Linda Stratford eds, Revisioning, Critical Methods of Seeing Christianity in the History of Art. Oregon: Cascade, 2014.
  • ‘Covenants and Connections: the Sassetti Chapel, Santa Trinita’ in Stephen Prickett ed., The Edinburgh Companion to Bible and the Arts. Edinburgh: EUP, 2014.

Book & exhibition reviews

  • ‘Image and Presence by Natalie Carnes’, Art + Christianity, 97, 2019.
  • ‘The Creation of Eve by Jack Greenstein’, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 69, 2018.
  • ‘Madonnas and Miracles’ (Fitzwilliam Museum) in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 90, 2017.
  • ‘Picturing the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in the Arts over Two Millennia, by Natasha and Anthony O’Hear’ in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 84, 2015.
  • ‘Letter from Pannonhalma’ in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 80, 2014.
  • ‘Cross and Creation in Christian Liturgy and Art, by Christopher Irvine’, in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 78, 2014.
  • ‘Michael Landy: Saints Alive’ (National Gallery) in Art and Christianity Enquiry,75, 2013.
  • ‘Matter of Faith’ (British Museum conference) in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 68, 2011.
  • ‘Devotion by Design’ (National Gallery) in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 67, 2011.
  • ‘Byzantium’ (Royal Academy) in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 57, 2009.
  • ‘Icons, by Robin Cormack’, Art and Christianity Enquiry, 55, 2008.

Activities

Bogside
Sacred Traditions and the Arts seminar

The seminar on 'Sacred Traditions and the Arts' is a joint venture between the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at King’s and The Courtauld Institute of Art. It seeks to place researchers in dialogue who are working on any aspect of the sacred and visual culture. It is open to all scholars and students who have an interest in exploring the intersections of religion and art regardless of period, geography or tradition.

ASK altar
Past lectures, seminars & conferences

Explore a full range of ASK past lectures, seminars and conferences dating back to 2008.

News

New appointments for The Centre for Arts & the Sacred

The Centre for Arts & the Sacred at King’s has announced two new appointments.

Arts & Culture
ASK appointments

New collaborative project will unlock Christian art and foster interfaith discussions in the heart of Berlin

The Visual Commentary on Scripture Project at King’s has launched a new partnership with the Bode-Museum and the Gemäldegalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu...

Arts & Culture
51

Theology and The Visual Arts project announced

The Centre for Arts and the Sacred at King’s is delighted to announce that the McDonald Agape Foundation is generously sponsoring a new, five-year, project:...

Arts & Culture
Theology and the Visual Arts

Events

12May

Art and the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Woman

Sacred Traditions & the Arts Seminar

Please note: this event has passed.

14Nov

Windows on the Temple: Thomas Denny’s Ecclesiastical Glass

This talk explores the power of stained-glass in Christian buildings through the work of artist Thomas Denny.

Please note: this event has passed.

20Feb

Qohelet: A New Reading and a New Seeing

Sacred Traditions & the Arts Seminar

Please note: this event has passed.

23May

Call to Holy Ground

Film Screening and Panel Discussion

Please note: this event has passed.

Media & Public Engagement

Broadcast

Online lectures and interviews by the staff of ASK

 

 

People

Emma Dillon

Professor Emma Dillon

Thurston Dart Professor of Music (Medieval Music and Cultures)

Alexander Douglas

Alexander Douglas

Lecturer in Music Education

Michelle Fletcher

Dr Michelle Fletcher

Deputy Director of the VCS project, Research Fellow

Nicole Graham

Dr Nicole Graham

Lecturer in Ethics and Values

Joost Joustra

Dr Joost Joustra

Research fellow

Vittorio Montemaggi

Dr Vittorio Montemaggi

Visiting Senior Research Fellow

Projects

VCS - ASK
Visual Commentary on Scripture (VCS)

The Visual Commentary on Scripture (VCS) is a freely accessible online publication that provides theological commentary on the Bible in dialogue with works of art. It helps its users to (re)discover the Bible in new ways through the illuminating interaction of artworks, scriptural texts, and commissioned commentaries. The VCS combines three academic disciplines: theology, art history, and biblical scholarship. While the project’s main commitment is to theology, it is responsibly informed by the latter two disciplines.

Francesco Botticini, Palmieri Altarpiece, 1477. © The National Gallery, London Image © Malcolm Park editorial / Alamy Stock Photo.
Theology and the Visual Arts

Theology and the Visual Arts: Firming Foundations; Firing Imaginations is a five-year project, led by Professor Ben Quash, Chair of Christianity and the Arts, working with Dr Chloë Reddaway, and generously sponsored by the McDonald Agape Foundation. Based in the Centre for Arts and the Sacred at King’s and building on the success of a previous project – Theology, Modernity, and the Visual Arts (TMVA) – its purpose is to strengthen the foundations of Theology and the Visual Arts as a discipline within academic Theology, and help to shape its future.

TMVA
Theology, Modernity and the Visual Arts (TMVA)

Theology, Modernity and the Visual Arts was a four-year research project led by Professor Ben Quash at King’s College London, in collaboration with Duke University, and generously sponsored by the McDonald Agape Foundation. Its purpose was to enquire into a theological reading of modernity in the company of visual artists, asking how the visual arts can help us to understand the theological (or even anti-theological) currents of modernity more deeply. Theology, Modernity, and the Visual Arts was part of a larger enterprise (Theology, Modernity, and the Arts) established by Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts, to research in three main areas: music, the visual arts, and literature.

students
MA in Theology, Bible, and the Arts

King’s College London offers a collaborative MA in Theology, Bible, and the Arts taught in association with the National Gallery in London. This exceptional programme enables students to work across disciplinary and specialist boundaries, exploring art-historical and theological dimensions of Christian art in tandem. The wealth of religious pictures at the National Gallery makes it an ideal forum for exploring various issues surrounding the visual arts and spirituality. Much of the teaching therefore takes place in the Gallery, in front of original works of art, and is taught by curatorial staff. This exceptional programme enables students to work across disciplinary and specialist boundaries, exploring art-historical and theological dimensions of Christian art in tandem. The wealth of religious pictures at the National Gallery makes it an ideal forum for exploring various issues surrounding the visual arts and spirituality. Much of the teaching therefore takes place in the Gallery, in front of original works of art, and is taught by curatorial staff.

Two iPhone photos featuring the Alight logo and app
Alight: Art and the Sacred App

A major initiative of the Centre for Arts and the Sacred at King’s, with the generous support of the Jerusalem Trust, has been the creation of a pioneering app called Alight. Alight introduces its users to works of art in a way that explores the art's religious dimensions and devotional power. Its map directs you to locations where key works can be found – some in major collections, and some hidden gems in places of worship or outdoor locations. The Collections tab offers 'curated pilgrimages' that connect works in different places across the city and offer unique perspectives on temporary exhibitions as well as insight into permanent ones. When you find an artwork you can listen to short commentaries by theologians, artists, art historians and others. They will share some of the spiritual responses they have to these works. You can capture your response with Alight’s unique ‘burning bush’ slider.

Publications

Ben Quash

Books

  • Theology, Modernity, and the Visual Arts. Co-edited with Chloë Reddaway (Turnhout: Brepols, 2024)
  • God’s Song and Music’s Meanings: Theology, Liturgy, and Musicology in Dialogue (Abingdon: Routledge), James Hawkey, Ben Quash and Vernon White (eds), 2019.
  • Visualising a Sacred City: London, Art and Religion (London: I.B. Tauris), Ben Quash, Aaron Rosen and Chloë Reddaway (eds), 2016.
  • Found Theology: History, Imagination and the Holy Spirit (London: T&T Clark), Ben Quash, 2013.
  • Abiding: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2013 (London: Bloomsbury), Ben Quash, 2012.

Chapters and Articles

  • ‘The Light of the World and the Dynamics of Conversion’, in Holman Hunt and ‘The Light of the World’ in Oxford. Ed. Markus Bockmuehl (Abingdon: Routledge, 2025), 163–81.
  • ‘Introduction’, in Visual Communion: The Art, Architecture, and Craft of the Eucharist. Eds Laura Moffatt and Christopher Irvine (Turnhout: Brepols, 2025), 1–10.
  • ‘Incomprehensible Certainty: A Response’, in Modern Theology 40:2 (2024), 437­–48.
  • ‘“In England’s green and pleasant land”, The New Jerusalem in London’, in Florence and the Idea of Jerusalem. Eds Timothy Verdon and Giovanni Serafini (Turnhout: Brepols, 2024).
  • ‘Visual Arts and Christian Theology’, in St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology. Ed. Brendan N. Wolfe et al. Co-authored with Chloë Reddaway (2024).
  • 'Afterword: A Colloquy with Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, James Elkins, Ben Quash, and S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate’, in Religion and Contemporary Art: A Curious Accord. Eds Ronald R. Bernier and Rachel Hostetter Smith (London: Routledge, 2023).
  • ‘The Bible and Visual Exegesis’, in New Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation. Eds Ian Boxall and Bradley Gregory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022).
  • ‘The Visual Commentary on Scripture: Principles and Possibilities’, in Transforming Christian Thought in the Visual Arts: Theology, Aesthetics and Practice (Routledge Studies in Theology, Imagination, and the Arts), Beaumont, S. & Thiele, M. (eds.), 2021.
  • ‘Brought Into the Fold’, in Image as Theology (Arts and the Sacred Vol. 5) (Turnhout: Brepols) Mark McInroy, Casey Strine and Alexis Torrance (eds)., 2021.
  • ‘The Gospels for the Life of the World’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Gospels, 2nd ed. (forthcoming) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), Stephen C. Barton (ed.), 2021.
  • ‘The Resurrection of the Image in the English Protestant Imagination: From William Blake to Bill Viola: Parts I and II’, in Art and Theology in Ecumenical Perspective (La Mandragora) Verdon, T. (ed.), 2019.
  • ‘Religion, Ritual and Myth’, in A Cultural History of Tragedy in the Modern Age (London: Bloomsbury), Jennifer Wallace (ed.), pp.93–108. 2019.
  • ‘Introduction’, in Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue (Arts and the Sacred Vol. 2) (Turnhout: Brepols), Aaron Rosen (ed.); co-authored with Aaron Rosen, 2018.
  • ‘The Tragic Imagination and the Ascesis of the Eye’ in Modern Theology 34:2, pp.258–66., 2018.
  • ‘Can Contemporary Art Be Devotional Art?’, in Contemporary Art and the Church: A Conversation Between Two Worlds (Westmont IL: IVP Academic), W. David O. Taylor and Taylor Worley (eds), pp.57–78., 2017.
  • “If We Be Dead With Christ”: Christian Visualizations of Death’ in Studies in Christian Ethics 29:3, pp.323–330, 2016.
  • ‘Art and Religion in the Public Square’, in Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan: St Peter’s Church and the Louise Nevelson Chapel (Farnham: Ashgate), Aaron Rosen (ed.), pp.219–22, 2015.
  • ‘Through a Glass, Darkly’, in Anna Freeman Bentley: Mobility and Grandeur (London: Anomie), Matthew Price (ed.), pp.29–42, 2015.
  • ‘Berlioz’s Triptych’ in The Berlioz Society Bulletin 192, pp.3–7, 2013.
  • ‘Wonder-Voyaging: the Pneumatological Character of David Ford’s Theology’, in The Vocation of Theology Today (Eugene OR: Wipf and Stock), Tom Greggs, Rachel Muers and Simeon Zahl (eds), pp.146–62, 2013.
  • ‘Community, Imagination and the Bible’, in The Bible: Culture, Community, Society (London: T&T Clark International), Neil Messer and Angus Paddison (eds), pp.99–121, 2013.
  • ‘The Desublimations of Christian Art’, in The Art of the Sublime (London: Tate), 2013. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/ben-quash-the-de-sublimations-of-christian-art-r1140522
  • ‘The Density of Divine Address: Liturgy, Drama, and Human Transformation’, in Theology, Aesthetics and Culture: Responses to the Work of David Brown (Oxford: Oxford University Press), Rob MacSwain and Taylor Worley (eds), pp.241–51., 2012.
  • ‘Four Biblical Characters: In Search of a Tragedy’, in Christian Theology and Tragedy: Theologians, Tragic Literature, and Tragic Theory (Aldershot: Ashgate), Kevin Taylor and Giles Waller (eds), pp.15–33, 2011.
  • ‘Christianity as Hyper-Tragic’, in Facing Tragedies (Wien-Berlin-Münster: LIT Verlag), Christopher Hamilton, Otto Neumaier, Gottfried Schweiger and Clemens Sedmak (eds), pp.77–88, 2009.
  • ‘Hans Urs von Balthasar’s “Theatre of the World”: The Aesthetic of a Dramatics’, in Theological Aesthetics After Von Balthasar (Aldershot: Ashgate), Oleg V. Bychkov and James Fodor (eds), pp.19–31, 2008.
  • ‘Real Enactment: The Role of Drama in the Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar’, in Faithful Performances: The Enactment of Christian Identity in Theology and the Arts (Aldershot: Ashgate), Trevor Hart and Steven Guthrie (eds), pp.13–32, 2007.

Vittorio Montemaggi

Books

  • Dante, Mercy and the Beauty of the Human Person, DeLorenzo, L. J. (ed.) & Montemaggi, V. (ed.). Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017.
  • Reading Dante's Commedia as Theology: Divinity Realized in Human Encounter, Montemaggi, V. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
  • Dante's Commedia: Theology as Poetry, Montemaggi, V. (ed.) & Treherne, M. (ed.), Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010

Chapters & articles

  • ‘Paradiso_ 28: Smiling Truth’, in Le tre corone. 8, p. 99-118, 2021.
  • ‘Image as Theology: Praying for Each Other's Good’, (Accepted/In press) in Image as Theology: The Power of Visual Art in Shaping Christian Thought, Devotion, and Imagination. McInroy, M., Strine, C. & Torrance, A. (eds.). Brepols, 2020.
  • ‘Love, Ideology and Inter-religious Relations in the Commedia’, in Dante Studies. 137, p. 197-209, 2020.
  • ‘Primo Levi e Dante’ in Innesti. Primo Levi e i libri altrui. Cinelli, G. & Gordon, R. (eds.). Peter Lang, 2020.
  • ‘Christ as Turning Point in Dante's Commedia’, Montemaggi, V. & Sullivan Marcantonio, L., in Illuminating Jesus in the Middle Ages. Beal, J. (ed.). Brill, 2019.
  • ‘'Speak again’: Life, Love and Language in King Lear’, in Modern Believing 58, 2, p. 123-130, 2017.
  • ‘Dante's Theology’, in Concilium. 2017/5, 2017.
  • ‘Encountering Mercy: Dante, Mary and Us’, in Dante, Mercy and the Beauty of the Human Person. DeLorenzo, L. J. & Montemaggi, V. (eds.). Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017.
  • ‘Il testo, la persona, Dio: riflessioni teologiche sullo scaleo del cielo di Saturno’, in Studi di Erudizione e di Filologia Italiiana. 6, p. 63-74, 2017.
  • ‘How to Say “Thank You”: Reflecting on the Work of Primo Levi’, in Desire, Faith, and the Darkness of God: Essays in Honor of Denys Turner. Bugyis, E. & Newheiser, D. (eds.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2015.
  • ‘The Bliss and Abyss and Freedom: Hope, Personhood and Particularity in Inferno 3, Purgatorio 3, Paradiso 3’, in Cambridge Vertical Readings in Dante’s Comedy, Vol. 1. Corbett, G. & Webb, H. (eds.). Open Book Publishers, 2015.
  • ‘Theology, Literature and Prayer: A Pedagogical Suggestion’ in Theology and Literature After Postmodernity. Hampson, P., Lehman Imfeld, Z. & Milbank, A. (eds.). London: T&T Clark, 2015.
  • “E ’n la sua volontade è nostra pace”: Peace, Justice and the Trinity in Dante’s Commedia’, in War and Peace in Dante. Barnes, J. C. & O'Connell, D. (eds.). Dublin: Four Courts Press, for the UCD Foundation for Italian Studies, 2015.
  • ‘Forgiveness, Prayer and the Meaning of Poetry’, in Literature Compass. 11, 2, p. 139-147, 2014.
  • ‘On Religion and Literature: Truth, Beauty, and the Good’, Montemaggi, V. & Schwartz, R., in Religion & Literature. 46, 2-3, p. 111-127, 2014.
  • ‘Charity, Contemplation and Creation ex nihilo in Dante's Commedia’, in Modern Theology. 29, 2, p. 62-82, 2013.
  • ‘Dante and Gregory the Great’, in Reviewing Dante's Theology. Honess, C. & Treherne, M. (eds.). Oxford: Peter Lang, 2013.
  • ‘The Theology of Dante's Commedia as Seen in the Light of the Cantos of the Heaven of the Fixed Stars’, in “Se mai contiga…”: Exile, Politics and Theology in Dante. Honess, C. & Treherne, M. (eds.). Ravenna: Longo, 2013.
  • ‘Theology and Literature: Reflections on Dante and Shakespeare’, Kirkpatrick, R. & Montemaggi, V., in Christianity and the Disciplines: The Transformation of the University. Crisp, O. D., Davies, M., D'Costa, G. & Hampson, P. (eds.). London: T&T Clark, 2012.
  • ‘Primo Levi and the Tragedy of Dante’s Ulysses’, in Christian Theology and Tragedy: Theologians, Tragic Literature and Tragic Theory. Taylor, K. & Waller, G. (eds.). London: Ashgate, 2011.
  • ‘In Unknowability as Love: The Theology of Dante’s Commedia’ in Dante's ‘Commedia’: Theology as Poetry. Montemaggi, V. & Treherne, M. (eds.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010.
  • ‘Introduction: Dante, Poetry, Theology’, Montemaggi, V. & Treherne, M., in Dante’s ‘Commedia’: Theology as Poetry. Montemaggi, V. & Treherne, M. (eds.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2010.
  • ‘Esempio di carità tra teologia, contemplazione e giustizia: il Pier Damiani del Paradiso di Dante’, in La “Grammatica di Cristo” di Pier Damiani: Un maestro per il nostro tempo. Gargano, G. I. & Saraceno, L. (eds.). S. Pietro in Cariano (Verona): Il Segno dei Gabrielli, 2009.
  • ‘Love, Forgiveness and Meaning: On the Relationship Between Theological and Literary Reflection’, in Religion & Literature. 41, 2, p. 79-86, 2009.
  • 'La rosa in che il verbo divino carne si fece’: human bodies and truth in the poetic narrative of the Commedia’ in Dante and the Human Body. Barnes, J. & Petrie, J. (eds.). Dublin: Four Courts Press, for the UCD Foundation for Italian Studies, 2007.
  • ‘“Di sé medesmo rise”: Gregorio Magno nella Commedia di Dante’, in L’eredità spirituale di Gregorio Magno tra Occidente e Oriente: Atti del Simposio Internazionale “Gregorio Magno 604-2004”, Roma, 10-12 marzo 2004. Gargano, G. I. (ed.). S. Pietro a Cariano (Verona): Il Segno dei Gabrielli, 2005.
  • ‘“Perché non ho scritto la Divina Commedia? Perché non c’ho pensato”: Dante’s Comedy and the Comic Art of Roberto Benigni’ in Beyond ‘Life is Beautiful’: Comedy and Tragedy in the Cinema of Roberto Benigni. Russo Bullaro, G. (ed.). Leicester: Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2005.

Jennifer Sliwka

Books

  • With Lelia Packer, Monochrome: Painting in Black and White. Exh. Cat. National Gallery, London: 1 November 2017 – 18 February 2018; Black and White (German edition title) Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf: 21 March – 15 July 2018, Hirmer Verlag, 2017.
  • Visions of Paradise: Botticini’s Palmieri Altarpiece, Exh. Cat. National Gallery Publications and Yale University Press: London and New Haven, 2015.

Essays and articles

  • ‘Illusive and Elusive: The (Im)possibility of Seeing in Michael Simpson’s Flat Surface Paintings’ in Michael Simpson: Paintings and Drawings 1989-2019, Blain Southern Gallery, London, 2019, pp. 248-261., 2019.
  • ‘The 50-year rescue of Vasari’s flood-damaged masterpiece’ in Apollo: The International Art Magazine (December, 2016), http://www.apollo-magazine.com/50-year-rescue-vasari-flood-damaged-masterpiece/ , 2016.
  • ‘Exhibiting Christian Art’, in Material Religion, part of the series of Macmillan Interdisciplinary handbooks, edited by J. Vereecke and D. Apostolos-Cappadona, New York, 2016.
  • With Donal Cooper, ‘Virtual Florence: A Church Goes Digital’, Apollo: The International Art Magazine (November, 2015), pp. 78-83, 2015.
  • ‘Saints Recycled’ in Michael Landy: Saints Alive, exhibition catalogue, the National Gallery, London, 2013, pp. 65-77., 2013.
  • ‘Armet se duritia: Domenico Beccafumi and the Politics of Punishment’ in Art as Politics in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena, ed. T. Smith and J. Steinhoff, Aldershot, 2012, pp. 163-194., 2012.
  • ‘Introduction’, Giorgio Vasari’s ‘Life of Beccafumi’, London, 2007.
  • With Gabriele Fattorini, ‘Domenico Beccafumi and the Sienese Tradition’, Renaissance Siena: Art for a City, exhibition catalogue, The National Gallery, London, 24 October 2007 - 13 January 2008, pp. 296-299., 2007.

Catalogue entries

  • Catalogue Entries: Michelangelo Buonarotti, ‘The Entombment’ ‘The Manchester Madonna’, ‘The Vatican Pietà’ in Michelangelo & Sebastiano: A Meeting of Minds, exhibition catalogue, The National Gallery, London, 15 March- 25 June, 2017.
  • Catalogue entry: ‘Domenico Beccafumi, The Story of Papirius’ in Amanda Lillie (ed.), Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting, Exh. Cat. (online), the National Gallery, London 30 April – 21 September 2014. 
  • Catalogue entry: ‘Giovanfrancesco Rustici, La conversione di Paolo’ in I grandi bronzi del Battistero : Giovanfrancesco Rustici e Leonardo, ed. T. Mozzati, B. Paolozzi Strozzi and P. Sénéchal. Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, 10 Sept. 2010 - 10 Jan. 2011, Florence, cat. no. 9, pp. 274-277.
  • Catalogue entry: ‘Domenico Beccafumi, Penelope (Seminario Patriarcale, Venice)’ in Botticelli to Titian: Two Centuries of Italian Masterpieces, ed. D. Sallay, V. Tátrai, A. Vécsey. Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest, 28 Oct., 2009-14 Feb., 2010, cat. 119, pp. 386-387.

Reviews

  • Review of exhibition and catalogue: ‘Vesperbild: alle origini della Pietà di Michelangelo’ (Castello Sforzesco, Milan) Renaissance Studies 33:4 (July 2019), pp. 515-523., 2019.
  • Review of exhibition: ‘Carlo Portelli: Pittore eccentrico fra Rosso Fiorentino e Vasari’ (Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence) The Burlington Magazine 158:1358 (May 2016), pp. 17-18., 2016.
  • Review of book: John Marciari and Suzanne Boorsch, ‘Francesco Vanni: Art in Late Renaissance Siena’ in Print Quarterly (4), pp. 426-428., 2014.
  • Review of book: ‘Sassetta: The Borgo di San Sepolcro Altarpiece’, ed. M. Israëls, in The Burlington Magazine, March, 2010, pp. 183-184., 2010.
  • Review of book: ‘Saints and the Sacred’ eds. J. Goering, F. Guardiani and G. Silano, in Quaderni D’Italianistica, Vol.XXIII, 2, 2002, p. 126., 2002.

Michelle Fletcher

Books and articles

  • ‘Seeing Differently with Mary Magdalene’, in The Jesus Film Handbook, ed. R. Walsh. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, Feb 2021.
  • Reading Revelation as Pastiche: Imitating the Past. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017.
  • ‘Revelation’, in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 1. ed. J. Schröter, C. Keith, and H. Bond. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019. pp. 309–324.
  • ‘Apocalypse Noir: The Book of Revelation and Genre’, in T&T Clark Companion to The Bible and Film, ed. R. Walsh. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018, pp. 21–35.
  • ‘Leopard | Visual Arts' in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2018.
  • ‘Holman Hunt’s The Light of the World’, in Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan, ed. Aaron Rosen. New York: Ashgate 2016.
  • ‘“Behold, I’ll Be Back”: Terminator, the Book of Revelation, and the Power of Sequels’, in Now Showing: Film Theory in Biblical Studies, ed. C. Vander Stichele and L. Copier, Semeia Studies. Atlanta: SBL Brill, 2016, pp. 105–125.
  • ‘Once Upon an Apocalypse: Exodus, Disaster, and a Long, Long Time ago?’, in A New Hollywood Moses: On the Spectacle and Reception of Exodus, ed. D. Tollerton. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016, pp. 91–112.
  • ‘How Revelation Defined and Defied a Genre’, in Currents in British Research on the Apocalypse, ed. G. Allen, I. Paul, and S. Woodman. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015, pp. 115–134.
  • ‘Flesh for Frankenwhore: Reading Babylon’s Body in Revelation 17’, in The Body in Biblical, Christian and Jewish Texts, ed. J. E. Taylor. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2014, pp. 144–64.
  • ‘What Comes into a Woman and What Comes Out of a Woman: Feminist Textual Intervention and Mark 7:14–23’, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 30.1 (2014): 25–41.

 

Chloë Reddaway

Monographs

  • Strangeness and Recognition: Mystery and Familiarity in Renaissance Images of Christ. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. Shortlisted for the Art + Christianity/ Mercers’ book award, 2019.
  • Transformations in Person and Paint: Visual Theology, Historical Images, and the Modern Viewer. Turnhout: Brepols, 2015. Shortlisted for the Art + Christianity/ Mercers’ book award, 2017.

Edited volumes

  • Ben Quash, Chloë Reddaway, Aaron Rosen, eds. Visualising a Sacred City: London, Art and Religion. London: IB Tauris, 2017.
  • Ben Quash, Chloë Reddaway eds. Theology, Modernity and the Visual Arts.
  • Jeremy Begbie, Daniel Train and David Taylor eds, Chloë Reddaway executive ed., The Art of New Creation. Westmont: IVP, forthcoming (2021).

Book chapters

  • ‘Holy Faces: Reflections and Projections’ in Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue, ed. Aaron Rosen. Turnhout: Brepols, 2018.
  • ‘St Peter’s Church, Martley and St Edburga’s Church, Leigh’ in Glory, Azure and Gold: Twelve stained-glass windows by Thomas Denny. London: Reed Contemporary Books, 2015. 2nd edition: London: Reed Contemporary Books in association with Lund Humphries, 2016.
  • ‘Reading Hermeneutic Space: Pictorial and Spiritual Transformation in the Brancacci Chapel’ in James Romaine and Linda Stratford eds, Revisioning, Critical Methods of Seeing Christianity in the History of Art. Oregon: Cascade, 2014.
  • ‘Covenants and Connections: the Sassetti Chapel, Santa Trinita’ in Stephen Prickett ed., The Edinburgh Companion to Bible and the Arts. Edinburgh: EUP, 2014.

Book & exhibition reviews

  • ‘Image and Presence by Natalie Carnes’, Art + Christianity, 97, 2019.
  • ‘The Creation of Eve by Jack Greenstein’, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 69, 2018.
  • ‘Madonnas and Miracles’ (Fitzwilliam Museum) in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 90, 2017.
  • ‘Picturing the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in the Arts over Two Millennia, by Natasha and Anthony O’Hear’ in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 84, 2015.
  • ‘Letter from Pannonhalma’ in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 80, 2014.
  • ‘Cross and Creation in Christian Liturgy and Art, by Christopher Irvine’, in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 78, 2014.
  • ‘Michael Landy: Saints Alive’ (National Gallery) in Art and Christianity Enquiry,75, 2013.
  • ‘Matter of Faith’ (British Museum conference) in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 68, 2011.
  • ‘Devotion by Design’ (National Gallery) in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 67, 2011.
  • ‘Byzantium’ (Royal Academy) in Art and Christianity Enquiry, 57, 2009.
  • ‘Icons, by Robin Cormack’, Art and Christianity Enquiry, 55, 2008.

Activities

Bogside
Sacred Traditions and the Arts seminar

The seminar on 'Sacred Traditions and the Arts' is a joint venture between the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at King’s and The Courtauld Institute of Art. It seeks to place researchers in dialogue who are working on any aspect of the sacred and visual culture. It is open to all scholars and students who have an interest in exploring the intersections of religion and art regardless of period, geography or tradition.

ASK altar
Past lectures, seminars & conferences

Explore a full range of ASK past lectures, seminars and conferences dating back to 2008.

News

New appointments for The Centre for Arts & the Sacred

The Centre for Arts & the Sacred at King’s has announced two new appointments.

Arts & Culture
ASK appointments

New collaborative project will unlock Christian art and foster interfaith discussions in the heart of Berlin

The Visual Commentary on Scripture Project at King’s has launched a new partnership with the Bode-Museum and the Gemäldegalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu...

Arts & Culture
51

Theology and The Visual Arts project announced

The Centre for Arts and the Sacred at King’s is delighted to announce that the McDonald Agape Foundation is generously sponsoring a new, five-year, project:...

Arts & Culture
Theology and the Visual Arts

Events

12May

Art and the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Woman

Sacred Traditions & the Arts Seminar

Please note: this event has passed.

14Nov

Windows on the Temple: Thomas Denny’s Ecclesiastical Glass

This talk explores the power of stained-glass in Christian buildings through the work of artist Thomas Denny.

Please note: this event has passed.

20Feb

Qohelet: A New Reading and a New Seeing

Sacred Traditions & the Arts Seminar

Please note: this event has passed.

23May

Call to Holy Ground

Film Screening and Panel Discussion

Please note: this event has passed.

Media & Public Engagement

Broadcast

Online lectures and interviews by the staff of ASK

 

 

Group leads

Contact us

If you would like to receive our Arts and the Sacred at King's e-bulletin, please email Dr Chloë Reddaway:

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