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03/08/2004: "Pluralism as art"
An Episcopal church in San Francisco has redecorated in a rather unusual way. According to the diocesan newsletter:
St. Gregory, the fourth century bishop of Nyssa, extolled use of the dance in worship. Today, the San Francisco congregation that bears his name incorporates dance in its liturgies, while two rows of saints that surround them are not surprisingly permanently caught mid step in what looks like the same Tripudium, danced by worshippers below.
Larger than life, they are the work of iconographer Mark Dukes, who appears to have combined the characteristics of visionary, illustrator, graphic designer, muralist, and, of course, iconographer.
Each of the icons stands seven to eight feet high. The exception is Christ–the Lord of the Dance–whose twelve-foot high scale drawing is centered on the south (liturgical east) wall. When finished, the two rows of 84 saints in this wrap around mural will cover 2300 square feet.
Those nominated for the icons needed to exemplify traits emphasized by Gregory's teachings and are upheld in the life of the congregation. The members' chapter meeting identified the qualities and a committee of six gathered some 350 nominations. They researched biographies, sorted through the names and reduced the number to eighty-four.
Among the honored: Malcolm X, musicians John Coltrane and Ella Fitzgerald, dancer Martha Graham, Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani, Sergius and Bacchus (4th century Roman soldiers and lovers), Charles Darwin, Margaret Mead, Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel, Muslim poets Rumi and Sadi, Confucian Kangxi (Chinese Emperor who reigned 1661-1772), Buddhist poet Su Shi, Hindu poet Mirabai, Shintoist Chiume Sugihara (the Japanese "Schindler"), and Greek pagan mathematician Hypatia.
What, no Wiccans?
(Left to right: Margaret Meade, Sadi, management guru W. Edwards Deming, Bacchus & Sergius and San Francisco sculptor Jenny Read)
Replies: 13 Comments
on Monday, March 8th, Reepicheep said
What! No MC Hammer!! No Michael Jackson!! It's heresy I tell you! :crazy:
on Monday, March 8th, Reepicheep said
What! No Michael Jackson!! No MC Hammer!! Heresy!! :crazy:
on Monday, March 8th, Out of Tokyo said
You made an assumption you shouldn't with Sugihara Chiune -- he in fact got baptized in the Eastern Orthodox church in the 1930s (yes, this church may not have known about this). One other interesting note on the "Schindler" portion -- the Jews who managed to get out of Eastern Europe through Sugihara's work were given homes in Japan by Wesleyan Holiness people, at considerable risk to their livelihoods at the time -- so there were Christians on both sides of this railroad to life.
on Monday, March 8th, Athanasius said
I appreciate the info. There was no reference to that at the site I got this from; they simply said he was a Shintoist.
on Tuesday, March 9th, Edward said
It suggests that their 'research' was a little bit superficial, doesn't it?
And what's that rubbish about Sergius and Bacchus? More non-research?
on Wednesday, March 10th, just a reader said
And there it is again, that naive self-centered Christian arrogance that bulldozes away the distinctiveness of all other traditions in order to usurp them for its own. The fact that this time the face it's wearing is politically correct and liberal makes the imperialism no less oppressive.
on Wednesday, March 10th, Edward said
I'm not sure that Just a Reader is justified in taking 'naive self-centred arrogance' as a Christian trait, or (more to the point here) in assuming that the people responsible for this are actually Christians in any sense that would be recognised as such outside their own cosy liberal ghetto.
on Wednesday, March 10th, Janjan said
Did anyone else notice they identified Miriam as Moses' mother, and not as his sister? This is a church publication????
on Thursday, March 11th, Athanasius said
Edward: Could you send me the URL for the Doxos post? It got deleted somehow, but I'd be glad to put it back in.
on Thursday, March 11th, Edward said
Athanasius:
Here it is: on Thursday, March 11th, Edward said
OK, that didn't work. Trying again:
http://www.doxos.com/comments.php?id=P591_0_1_0
I hope that "takes."
on Sunday, March 14th, Heather said
yall messed up your page so no one can find the icons :confused:
on Sunday, March 14th, Heather said
yall messed up your page so no one can find the icons :confused:
