Centre for Theology and the Arts
The Arts and Theology in Conversation
Director: Rev Dr Dominic White OP
- An intellectually rigorous conversation about the Arts as a key element of Theology, the creative person imaging the creator God, the God made visible in the incarnation, “both an encouragement and a challenge to Christians” (St John Paul II, Letter to Artists).
- The arts and theology in conversation with wider society in our shared experience of depth, resonance, uplift and the search for meaning.
- Every event involves a real experience of art, in whatever medium (visual, poetry, music, theatre) – embodied experience and scholarship together.
Notes on the image: Virgin and Child by Janet Boulton
Upcoming events
2025-26 Seminar series
All seminars take place at 2 pm in the Aula at Blackfriars, normally lasting 90 minutes (2 hours for 21 November).
Please contact Rev Dr Dominic White for more details.
Trinity Term
Friday 1 May
Prof Christian Leitmeir, Associate Professor in Music, University of Oxford: From Sign to Sound: Towards an Aesthetic Presence of Dead Music
Friday 8 May (3pm – 4.30pm)
Dr Cynthia Liu, Junior Research Fellow, Blackfriars Hall: Poetry and Translation in Sino-European ‘Classical’ Exchange
Previous events
The Centre for Theology and the Arts was launched at Blackfriars on 1 July 2025 at a joint conference between Blackfriars Hall and the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge, Thomism, Creativity and the Arts: Jacques and Raïssa Maritain. It included a keynote lecture by the distinguished composer Sir James MacMillan, and included live music by him, Dominic White, Peter Carter and other composers
- Watch on YouTube
- The proceedings of the conference will be published in a future volume of New Blackfriars.