Sunday Theology Talk: Church, Social Justice, and Civil Society (Week 3)

This Theology Talk was led by Dr. Jessica Scott, Lecturer of Christian Theology at the University of Nottingham, UK.

The English artist, Stanley Spencer (1891-1959), is known for creating paintings that show biblical scenes occurring in his beloved village of Cookham, in which he casts his fellow villagers as different characters within the Gospel narratives. In this talk, I want to explore how Spencer’s paintings might invite us to imagine God’s life outside of the places we already know to be holy; how his paintings locate hope in people and places beyond the church; and the temptation his paintings also hold up to us as works of (over?)-imaginative projection. What Spencer’s paintings raise, I will suggest, are a critical set of questions with which to wrestle as we address our own relationship to our localities through the practice of community organizing.

The Adult Education program at Saint Thomas Church offers sound Christian teaching presented with intellectual vigor, teaching that is grounded in Holy Scripture, mediated by the catholic tradition that is the inheritance of Anglicanism and set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. For more information about our theology program and to receive links for weekly Sunday Theology Talks, please contact Fr. Gioia.

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