The fifth annual Fall Conference examined the variety of ways in which the fine arts can help build a more genuinely Christian civilization in an ever more deeply post-Christian era. “Epiphanies of Beauty” (November 18–20, 2004) was inspired by Pope John Paul II’s 1999 Letter to Artists, which he addressed “to all who are passionately dedicated to the search for new ‘epiphanies’ of beauty, so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world.” In using the word “epiphany,” the Holy Father drew attention to art as the manifestation, or “shining forth,” of the glorious beauty of God’s creation. Accordingly, as the pope says elsewhere in the letter, beautiful works of art serve as “a kind of bridge to religious experience,” and thus as a genuine source of moral, spiritual, and cultural renewal. Watch video recordings of the presentations using the links below.

Featured Presentations

• “Shouts or Whispers? Faith and Doubt in Contemporary American Literature,” Gregory Wolfe, Seattle Pacific University
   
• “Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen,” a lecture-concert by Hyesook Kim, Stephane Lemelin, and Stephen Schlosser
   
• “Isolation, the Community, and Artistic Life,” Barbara Nicolosi, Act One: Writing for Hollywood
   
• “What Makes a Painting a Religious Painting?” Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame, Oxford University
   
• “First, Kill All the Lawyers: Intellectual Property and the Re-Feudalization of Culture,” Leo Linbeck III, Rice University, Linbeck Corporation
   
• “Poetry, Fiction, and Evangelization,” Kevin Hart, University of Notre Dame; Ralph McInerny, University of Notre Dame
   
• “J. R. R. Tolkien:  Our Post-Modern Contemporary,” Ralph Wood, Baylor University
   
• “Contemporary Film,” Jorge Garcia, Boston College; Thomas Hibbs, Baylor University
   
• “The City is Also an Aesthetic Object,” Philip Bess, University of Notre Dame
   
• “Worship as High Art: The Liturgy as the Epiphany of Beauty and Truth,” Tristram Engelhardt Jr., Baylor University
   
• “Love’s Labor: The Poetry of John Paul II,” Laura Garcia, Boston College
   
• “Epiphanies, Beauty, and a Father’s Love,” David Lyle Jeffrey, Baylor University
   
• “William Schickel’s Metaphysical Realism,” William Schickel, Schickel Studios; Gregory Wolfe, Seattle Pacific University
   
• “Epiphanies of Beauty in Architecture,” Thomas Gordon Smith, University of Notre Dame; Duncan Stroik, University of Notre Dame

Image: Spring Morning (c. 1979) by William Schickel. Enamel on canvas. Used with permission from Schickel Studios.