Whether or not reading old books can make us good, devouring this delicious new one surely can’t hurt, for in it we find a mode of reading that summons us to charity and honesty, and thus to humility, making us less assured of our own righteousness and less frantic at the apparent folly of our living neighbors.
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The Landscape of the Human Face : Two Films by Carl Th. Dreyer (Film Recommendation)
Though he only made about a dozen pictures over a long span of time (1919-1960s), Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer’s influence permeates the development of film as an art medium.
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On Eastern Wisdom for Western Christians and the Meaning of the Resurrection in the Face of Death
Three articles full of wisdom for a life well-lived.
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The Waiting Place
If you are waiting for a few things—say, a tray of seedlings and a batch of sourdough starter and muscle to build and grief to heal—I think that it makes the beginnings of a rich life.
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Featured Artist: Christen Mattix
My work is about an intimate connection to place, community and the Divine. I create vibrant paintings and fiber artworks probing the boundaries between realism and abstraction, the self and the environment. Each work reveals inner and outer landscapes simultaneously as if presenting reality strained through poetry. Using a variety of layers and materials, I give form to the multidimensional worlds we inhabit. As a social practice artist, I seek to challenge culturally-ingrained patterns of inhabiting public space. My creative work begins on a street corner, along a river or on a park bench. I set up my easel or begin knitting a half-mile rope. People stop to talk and…
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Freedom and Transfiguration: As Earth Without Water (Book Recommendation)
Ultimately, Carl’s novel is a journey of hope. Despite characters’ woundedness, art-making still frees and transfigures: draws out the parched soul, leads it to water. In the end, Carl suggests, it is the water from which the soul drinks that matters; for some, art-making is simply the path that leads there.
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“What’s In a Flower?”
⎺Original Poetry from Tom Noe
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On History, Culture, and the Conflict in Ukraine
The world faces significant and immediate questions of what should be done, when, and by whom to address the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Beneath these questions are weighty realities of the history, culture, and religion of the region. This Notæ features several articles from the past month that take a deeper look at what's behind the current conflict.
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March 25th: A Feast of Feasts
Many Christians celebrate the Annunciation of the Lord on this day, and for years that was my only association with it. As it turns out, some combination of historical circumstances, fate, and tradition has placed a great deal of weight on this date, and the reason the Annunciation has been celebrated then is no mere coincidence but a participation in an older tradition preceding even the birth of Christ.
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Working on Beauty: Listening to Robert Johnson and Arnold Schoenberg
I would hate to relegate beautiful things to the realm of merely pleasurable things. Therefore I think it is important to regularly pursue experiences of the beautiful that do not initially appear to be pleasurable at all.
