Houston, Texas

For updated schedule information and registration visit Image Journal.

In his essay “Trumpets, Ashes, and Tears,” Nicholas Wolterstorff describes the “one-plus-six rhythm” that calls believers together to worship on one day each week, then disperses us to do our work in the world for the other six. He describes the complicated tension in our religious heritage that opposes sacred and profane, worship and work. Is worship meant to strengthen us as we return to work, or are our daily pursuits merely a prologue to our devotion? How should the quotidian experiences of joy, suffering, and repentance be given flesh in the language, music, architecture, and visual art that create both the environment for worship and the liturgy that takes place there? The 2005 Image Conference will explore these questions, with particular reference to the ways that art provides the sacramental link between the sacred part of our week and the workaday world of diapers and spreadsheets, shoes and books. A distinguished group of artists and scholars will examine issues including the changing relationship between worship and contemporary culture, both high and low, the ways in which fine art and liturgical art influence one another, and the renewal movements in both traditional and emerging churches.

Kathleen Norris, author of Dakota and The Cloister Walk
Nicholas Wolterstorff, philosopher and author of Art in Action
Bill Dyrness, author of Visual Faith
Thomas Lynch, author of The Undertaking
Robert Cording, poet
Seven Dance Company
Alfonse Borysewicz and Wayne Forte, visual artists

This bibliography is designed to assists artists, theologians, and pastors in their exploration of the connection between art and worship.