The flame rising from the top of the head represents the transcendent light of true wisdom. Sometimes called the Lotus Blossom Flame, this dynamic ushnisha was continued in Thai art for centuries. The traditional teaching is that the rise to Buddha-Consciousness involves raising awareness from its lowest levels to its highest levels.
Storytelling – It’s Not Just for Grown-Ups
Everyone loves a story. A child, recently-bathed with teeth brushed and damp hair drying into awkward tufts on a bedtime pillow … a professional, dressed in business casual at a boring conference presentation in a midtown hotel … an aging parent, lying in a nursing home bed no longer able to walk easily or remember the date. Age, disposition, and the surrounding context are irrelevant. Human brains perk up as soon as a narrative begins. Stories fascinate and engage, transcending time and place in way few other mediums can. Maybe this is why myths and legends hold such a special place in all faith traditions and why story-sharing has become an important component of multifaith exploration.
Finding Meaning in the Mess
Environmental degradation, air pollution, animal extinction … how can we be good caretakers of our planet without becoming overwhelmed by the magnitude of these issues? How can scholars and religious communities respond to the call issued by 2014 president of the American Academy of Religion and GTU alum, Dr. Laurie Zoloth, to help fight climate change?
A Chinese Cong
The object in the photo is a Cong, which was used in Chinese burial rituals dating back to the Neolithic period. The piece is usually, as in this case, a piece of jade hollowed out in a tube or circular pattern on the inside and a rectangular shape on the exterior. “The circle comes close to the edges of the squared enclosure. Seen from above, the view of a Cong is that of a circle-in-a-square, or a mandala.”
Appreciating Paradox and Allegory
Anyone who enjoys poetic language should enjoy paradox. If you are like me, you’ll revel in the amusement paradoxes provide, and you’ll become intrigued with trying to resolve them. At the very least, they provoke us into probing ideas with a heightened degree of focus and criticism.
“I Began Singing the Moment”
Representing Ancestors
The sacred art objects shown in these publications come from the collection of over 200 works donated to the Graduate Theological Union by the Lanier Graham family and the Institute for Aesthetic Development in 2014-2015. The collection represents most of the world religious traditions including tribal or indigenous art. The GTU intends to photograph and curate this collection as an online resource accessible by the public. In coming editions of The Interfaith Observer, at least one object will be introduced each month.
Masks and Sacred Powers
In August, 2014, the Graduate Theological Union was given 189 works of sacred art from all over the world by Lanier Graham and family and the Institute for Aesthetic Development. GTU will use these works for classroom teaching, research, and in exhibitions open to the public in order to maximize access to and utilization of these treasures collected by one family over three generations.
“Heartbeat” Brings Israeli-Palestinian Music to Tennessee
What is truly amazing about Heartbeat is not their music. It is the way they make their music. A group of ten 14-22 year olds, all of them but one an Israeli citizen, often proclaim that their music is simply a medium for a deeper message. Clearly inspired by a desire to love across boundaries of race, religion and ethnicity, the members proudly observe that what they are doing is anathema in many of their home communities. They are embracing the other in a way that is both constructive and creative.
Seeking Peace through Art for Children
Fauzia Minallah is an award-winning Pakistani artist who uses her formidable gifts to help the world’s children know peace. When asked about her hopes and dreams, Fauzia offers a very long list: that girls will be valued as much as boys, that impoverished children have opportunities to read and to create art, that Pakistan will cherish its religious heritage and diversity, that visually-impaired kids will have safe places to play, and that all Pakistani children have access to clean air and water. It’s tempting to wonder how one woman, even one as creative and energetic as Fauzia, might accomplish all that in a single lifetime. She is the first to admit that her work is never finished, but a quick dip into the inspired waters of the Funkor Child Art Center shows how, in little more than a decade, thousands of children have been lifted up and served.
Creativity Melts Syrian-Lebanese Barriers
Beirut - Muhammad, who arrived from the Syrian city of Homs, lost his leg in the Syrian war. At the border, he was met by Lebanese who treated and cared for him until he could walk on his prosthetic leg. He then went to the market looking for a job, where he was hit with racism. He could not find any work and store owners kicked him out, cursing him and throwing accusations that he would rob them for sure. This discrimination and oppression made him hate all the Lebanese without exception, forgetting those who cared for him and who extended a helping hand.
Bronzes – Women as Agents of the Sacred
Every culture has found ways to express its sense of the sacred or transcendent in myth/story and representationally in graphic form. This series of sculptures emerged from my interest in the role of women as centers through which the sacred is expressed or through which the sacred interacts with human communities.
Art’s Role in the Interfaith Movement
As a college student studying art history and Jewish literature, I am particularly interested in how language and art create the stories that we tell about culture, community, and faith. Words and images cannot exist in a vacuum; almost anything we create is influenced by where we are, who we are surrounded by, and what ideas we hold.
The Middle East & the West – Building Bridges through the Arts
“Art is the conversation … Art offers an opening for the heart ... Art is, at least, the knowledge of where we are standing … In this Wonderland … we are partners straddling the universe.’”
Faith-Related Crafts as a Precursor to the Arts
Artistic expression is a form of prayer. It can be offered in the form of dancing, playing an instrument, singing, whirling, or chanting. In our case, since we work with kids, it often appears as crafts. Caregivers around the world use crafts to teach children about their faith traditions and create perfect resources for interfaith education. (At the end of this article you’ll find links to some of these sites.) Beyond that, these projects give kids the opportunity to discover the sacred, to offer a prayer without having to put it into words, and to co-create with the divine.
God Is Good, No Matter What You Call Her!
I was – we were (as several folks in the office crowded ‘round) – completely blown away.
By its power and dignity, its implicit compassion and yet unblinking eye. What a wonderful project.
– Ken Burns, Emmy Award winning documentary film-maker
When Poetry Brings Us Together
I’ve always been intrigued by the language of poets, how, through poetic expression, we can reach people from other faiths where prose falls short. So nearly two years ago I launched an interfaith project
A Sufi Parable in Fes
A band of birds of different species sets out on a perilous journey through the unknown, in search of their king. That is the story of The Conference of the Birds, the 12th century masterpiece of Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar. Like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, it offers an amalgam of myths
“To Be Still Enough” & “Where Music Comes From”
To Be Still Enough
Perched on the high Himalayan
slopes of cloud-shrouded Darjeeling,
this gracious old hotel, built
in 1887 as the summer residence
of the Maharaja of Cooch Behar,
Egypt Sings to End Sexual Harassment!
London - Last August, two young Egyptian musicians released songs on the topic of sexual harassment against women, which has been on the rise since the 2011 uprising in Egypt. These musicians’ songs are two important examples of many similar, serious efforts by artists to help fight this problem.