‘Queering’ the religious image: sinners, saints and the experience of the divine. - Art History Lecture

‘Queering’ the religious image: sinners, saints and the experience of the divine.

School II, Monday 6 March, 4-5pm, reception afterwards in School of Art History.

Dr Andrew Horn (School of Art History)

The goal of this talk is to open a discussion regarding the possibilities offered by 'queer' readings of religious images, concentrating on examples from the early modern period. These will be discussed in relation to medieval and early modern devotional texts and traditions, as well as contemporary 'queer theologies’. 'Queer' is intended in the widest sense, to include anything outside binary, heteronormative understandings of identity and human experience, and applied in order to offer alternative narratives of sacred history, faith and religious experience as expressed in art. Issues addressed will include gender, gender-fluidity, and gendered experiences of faith; the sexuality of Christ, his apostles, and religious individuals; as well as body-centred experiences of the divine which raise questions regarding sexuality and its place in Christianity.