Schedule

Shaping Cities: the Necessity for Sacred Space in Urban Environments

Joel Kotkin, Distinguished Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures, Chapman University, Orange, California

Joel Kotkin is an internationally recognized authority on global, economic, political and social trends. Described by the New York Times as America’s “uber-geographer,” for over three decades Mr. Kotkin has been one of the nation’s most prolific and widely published journalists. His work appears regularly in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The American. Kotkin is the author of The City: A Global History and most recently, The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050. He currently writes the weekly “New Geographer” column for Forbes.com.

Sacred Places, Sacred Space

Nicholas Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Nicolas Wolterstorff is the Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at Yale University and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. He has held professorships at Calvin College and Yale University as well as visiting professorships at Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, and Notre Dame. He has been awarded several prestigious lectureships including the Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen, The Wilde Lectures at Oxford University and the Stone Lectures at Princeton Seminary. His landmark book, Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic (1980), continues to be a primary text for artists of faith today.

The evening will conclude with a dialogue with Joel Kotkin, Nicholas Wolterstorff and Biola Provost, David Nystrom.

University professors, graduate students, and area pastors are invited to this special Friday Seminar with Dr. Ben Quash of King's College as he demonstrates and discusses the integration of theology and the arts. This seminar will look at: (1) how art has acted as a means of expressing and developing religious ideas, (2) art as a way to make theological points with its own status alongside the sermon, (3) distinctive things that the arts can achieve which other modes of theological communication cannot manage so easily.

Join in a rousing discussion as both local and symposium artists delineate the most challenging issues confronting artists of faith today. Practical as well as theoretical issues will be addressed.

The Development of the Christian Sacred Space in Rome, the Cradle of Christian Architecture

Elizabeth Lev, Duquesne University, Rome, Italy 

Elizabeth Lev is an American-born art historian who, while doing graduate work at the University of Bologna, first traveled to Rome to research her thesis on the Church of San Giovanni and Petronio. She soon realized that she couldn’t live another day if she didn’t live it in Rome! The Eternal City has been her home ever since. Elizabeth describes herself as “a joyful member of the Rome faculty” at Duquesne University’s Italian Campus program, where she teaches art history. In addition, her services as a guide are in high demand and she has been privileged to accompany many distinguished visitors, including former First Lady Laura Bush, through the Vatican Museums. She also hosted Catholic Canvas, a 10-part television series on the art of the Vatican Museums. Elizabeth has recently completed her first biography, The Tigress of Forli: The Remarkable Story of Caterina Riario Sforza, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Press, October 2011.

A Sacremental Vision of Sacred Space

Father Hugh Barbour, O. Praem, Abbot, St. Michael’s Abbey

Father Hugh Barbour is the prior of St. Michael’s Abbey of the Norbertine Fathers in Trabuco Canyon, Orange County, California. Fr. Hugh holds a B.A. in Classics from UNC-Chapel Hill, a license in Patristics from the Pontifical Institute of Augustinianism in Rome, and a Ph.D. in Thomistic Philosophy from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He teaches both Augustinian studies and philosophy in his abbey, and he is a member of the Ecumenical Commission of the Diocese of Orange.

Chanted by The Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael’s Abbey, Trabuco Canyon, CA, Under the Direction of Rev. Chrysostom Baer.

“[Plainsong] speaks to our soul, which longs for peace and connection to the ultimate source of meaning and value.”  
—Brother David Steindl-Rast

The Norbertines of St. Michael’s Abbey in Trabuco Canyon, CA, belong to a religious order founded by St. Norbert in the year 1121. The abbey started out with seven Hungarian expatriates who had escaped the communists in 1950, and now numbers 70 confreres. New members are taught to sing by daily participation in the choir office (which takes nearly three hours on an average day, proportionately more on feasts and solemn holy days) and daily 30-minute chant classes for the first years of formation. The schola of singers consists of both priests and young men studying for the priesthood.

Burning Bushes: Sacred Space in the Wilderness

Dayton Caslteman, Trinity Christian College, Chicago, Illinois

Dayton Castleman is a Chicago-based multi-disciplinary artist, educator, curator, writer, and choreographer. He completed his undergraduate work at Belhaven University, and received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has completed large-scale site-specific works in Philadelphia, and his artwork has been presented in museums and galleries across the United States and in Europe. Recent projects have included the development of concert dance works for the stage, in collaboration with dancers from world-renowned Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and MOMIX. Dayton teaches at Trinity Christian College in Chicago, and serves on the board of Christians in the Visual Arts.

What Sacred Space Can Show Us About God

Ben Quash, King’s College, London, England

Ben Quash works principally in the area of Christian theology, and is increasingly fascinated by how the arts can play a part in renewing and refreshing theological engagement with the Bible, with Christian tradition, and with contemporary culture. He is Professor of Christianity and the Arts at King’s College, Cambridge, where he runs an MA program in association with the National Gallery of Art, London. He also collaborates with the Britten Sinfonia, the Royal Opera House, the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music, and broadcasts frequently on BBC radio.

Discussion With Elizabeth Lev, Ben Quash & Nicholas Wolterstorff

Enjoy a lively conversation as Elizabeth Lev, Ben Quash and Nicholas Wolterstroff examine "Sacred Space" together. This session will be moderated by Biola Provost, David Nystrom.

Join symposium speakers for conversation and food in our new banquet room. Speakers will be seated at different tables throughout the facility so that multiple dialogues can take place simultaneously. Bring your own bag lunch or order a deli lunch or salad from Biola catering.

Vegan and gluten free options are available.

Other options for lunch include the Biola Cafeteria or nearby off-campus restaurants.

Please make a reservation if you plan to attend this event.

Book Signing with Elizabeth Lev
12:45 – 1:45 pm, Talbot East Plaza Banquet Room

The Tigress of Forli, Elizabeth Lev’s new book on the life of Countess Caterinariario Sforza De’ Medici, will be available for purchase and signing by the author in the banquet room during the lunch break.

Exploring Structural Space: Evocations of Longing, Memory and Eternity

Anna M.R. Freeman, London, England

Anna M. R. Freeman lives and works in London, UK. She received a BA from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (2004) and an MFA from The Royal College of Art, London (2010). Her work has appeared in many international exhibitions, including solo shows at Workshop Arte Contemporanea, Venice, Italy (2012) and Galerie Kollaborativ, Berlin, Germany (2007). Freeman has taken part in artist residencies at The Florence Trust, London (2010/11), and Galerie Kollaborativ, Berlin, Germany (2006-2008), and her work is part of the Saatchi Collection as well as numerous private collections worldwide. 

Thin Space: Quantum Complexity, Fractals, Freewill and Other Everyday Conundrums

Linnea Spransy, Kansas City, MO

Linnea Spransy's paintings, drawings and installations are generated using systems and rules, which are distillations of her interest in science, philosophy, theology, and quantum physics. Graduating from Yale in 2001 with an MFA in painting, her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally at numerous academic institutions and galleries and is featured in corporate collections. Spransy lives in Kansas City, MO where she leads a rather unorthodox lifestyle, architected entirely round her core values: spirituality, community, art, and simplicity. 

The First Sacred Space

Jeremiah Enna, The Culture House, Kansas City, MO

Jeremiah Enna is the Founder and Executive Director of The Culture House in Kansas City, MO, an award winning community based arts organization. The Culture House includes: The Culture House Academy of the Performing Arts with over 800 students, the world-class Störling Dance Theater, and The STAR Program, a social outreach venture that serves hundreds of incarcerated and at-risk children and youth each year. 

Holy Fire: the Soul of African-American Sacred Music 

Ruth Naomi Floyd, Philadelphia, PA

Ruth Naomi Floyd is a gifted singer/song writer who has been creating vocal jazz settings that express Christian theology for almost 20 years. Blessed with a soaring mezzo-soprano voice, critics have praised Ms. Floyd for her “superb dynamic control, flexibility and faultless diction, but also for her most important asset: an unmistakable emotional integrity that conveys her music’s power to even the most recalcitrant non-believer.” Ruth Naomi Floyd leads her own multi-faceted ensemble and her recordings consist primarily of original compositions. 

“Floyd is a masterful artist. She combines her strong belief in Christianity and her love of jazz into one vibrant package that becomes ‘gospel-jazz’.”
—Brandon Houston for Black Grooves

Soulful Melodies

Ruth Naomi Floyd, Vocalist-Composer
with her accompanying Jazz Musicians

Ruth Naomi Floyd is a gifted singer/song writer who has been creating vocal jazz settings that express Christian theology for almost 20 years. Blessed with a soaring mezzo-soprano voice, critics have praised Ms. Floyd for her “superb dynamic control, flexibility and faultless diction, but also for her most important asset: an unmistakable emotional integrity that conveys her music’s power to even the most recalcitrant non-believer.” Ruth Naomi Floyd leads her own multi-faceted ensemble and her recordings consist primarily of original compositions. 

“Floyd is a masterful artist. She combines her strong belief in Christianity and her love of jazz into one vibrant package that becomes ‘gospel-jazz’.”
— Brandon Houston for Black Grooves

Störling Dance Theater Performance

Mona Störling–Enna, Choreographer and Creative Director;
Tobin James, Choreographer and Associate Director

Mona Störling–Enna, is Founder and Artistic Director of Störling Dance Theater. She is a prolific and original choreographer. According to The Kansas City Star, “Mona Störling-Enna’s choreographic invention seems to have no limit.” The latest of Störling –Enna’s many creations is a collaboration with her Associate Director, Tobin James. Underground is a powerful telling of the history and heroics of the Underground Railroad and employs 60 dancers. It was touted by critics as one of Kansas City’s “Top 10 Performances of the Decade (2000-2009).” Störling–Enna  and Tobin James are currently collaborating with Kevin Bogan on a dance and music concert of Dave Brubeck’s, Mass: To Hope! A Celebration.

Tobin James is the Associate Artistic Director for Störling Dance Theater. She danced with The Martha Graham Ensemble before launching a freelance career in the Christian music industry as a dancer and choreographer. She has choreographed for Philadanco, Ballet Magnificat, Sight and Sound Theatres, The Continental Singers, Störling Dance Theater, Dramatic Truth School of the Arts, and The Culture House Academy of the Performing Arts. She has also taught for The University of Missouri-Kansas City and The Kansas City Ballet School.

Störling Dance Theatre is one of the premier dance companies in Kansas City, MO. They regularly perform at architect Moshe Safdie’s newly constructed Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Mona Störling-Enna together with her husband, Jeremiah, established the Christian dance troupe in 1996 based on her innovative and dramatic concepts of movement and storytelling. Throughout the years, a series of bold and substantial ballets have been created, stimulating a growing audience and a thriving reputation. 

Join the symposium speakers for a special time of worship with Roberta Ahmanson, Störling Dance Theater, Ruth Naomi Floyd, the Biola Conservatory of Music, Ben Quash, Elizabeth Lev, and others.