Maxwell Institute Podcast #167: Do You Prefer Religious Art to be Powerful or Pretty? Featuring Anthony Sweat

Maxwell Institute Podcast

Religion & Spirituality, Education, Christianity

4.8 • 789 Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Nelson recently taught, “As we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our efforts to hear Him need to be ever more intentional. It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily lives with His words, His teachings, His truths.” The prophet has asked us how we “Hear Him”--but have you thought about how you “See Him”? Do you bring pictures or other artistic representations of Christ into your spiritual life? For today’s episode I interview Dr. Anthony Sweat, an oil painter himself and a professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU. Dr. Sweat has thought a lot about art and faith, in his creative and his scholarly pursuits. We discussed a fascinating article he co-authored analyzing Latter-day Saints’ preference for pictures of Christ praying in Gethsemane over Christ on the cross. We talk about why this might be the case, why we should make a point to include the crucifixion in our spiritual reflection, and how to incorporate art more deliberately into our faith lives. Instead of asking, “What picture would look best above the couch?” Anthony challenged me to ask, “What am I seeking from art, and do my artistic choices lead me to Christ?” It’s not always about what looks prettiest. It can be hard to view the death of the Savior. But the experience can draw us to him. Join us, and see what you think.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Maxwell Institute podcast, where we seek out faith illuminating scholarship.
0:15.1	I'm Rosalind Welch, Associate Director at the Institute.
0:19.3	This season, we're exploring the questions we should be asking.
0:23.7	Thanks for joining us.
0:26.0	President Nelson recently taught,
0:28.6	as we seek to be disciples of Jesus Christ,
0:31.5	our efforts to hear him need to be ever more intentional.
0:35.3	It takes conscious and consistent effort to fill our daily
0:39.3	lives with his words, his teachings, his truths. The prophet has asked us how we hear him,
0:45.9	but have you thought about how you see him? Do you bring pictures or other artistic representations
0:51.7	of Christ into your spiritual life?
0:55.0	For today's episode, I interview Dr. Anthony Sweat, an oil painter himself,
1:00.2	and a professor of church history and doctrine at BYU.
1:04.1	Dr. Sweat has thought a lot about art and faith in his creative and his scholarly pursuits.
1:14.4	We discussed a fascinating article he co-authored analyzing Latter-day Saints' preference for pictures of Christ praying in Gethsemini over Christ on the
1:22.7	cross. We talk about why this might be the case, why we should make a point to include the crucifixion in our spiritual reflection, and how to incorporate art more deliberately into our faith lives.
1:37.3	Instead of asking, what picture would look best above the couch, Anthony challenged me to ask, what am I seeking from art? And do my artistic
1:47.4	choices lead me to Christ? It's not always about what looks prettiest. It can be hard to view
1:54.7	the death of the Savior, but the experience can draw us to him. Join us and see what you think.
2:01.6	Good morning, Anthony Sweat, and welcome to the Maxwell Institute podcast.
2:06.0	Thank you, Roslyn.
2:07.1	So happy to be with you and to talk with you on this.
	...

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