God in the Garden
On Holy Ground - The Environment Series
Professor Tina Beattie and Mary Colwell
Thursday 31st March, 7.30 p.m.
Tina Beattie is Professor of Catholic Studies and Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Catholic Studies at Roehampton University in London, and Mary Colwell is an award winning radio and television producer specialising in natural history. Both are regular columnists in ‘The Tablet’, and both have a strong interest in theology and ecology.
Their joint presentation at the Lauriston Jesuit Centre was entitled ‘God In the Garden’, and they focussed in particular on the beautiful medieval painting ‘The Little Garden of Paradise’, by an unknown German artist from around 1410, found in the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt.
Mary and Tina reminded us that “Medieval paintings of saints in an enclosed garden – Hortus Conclusus - are treasures to be viewed on many levels. They are symbolic depictions of religious teachings, inviting us to contemplate the lives of holy men and women before God as revealed through nature. The gardens are beautiful with accurate depictions of many real animals and plants, while the human figures are often stylised and carefully placed to give the viewer a sense of redeemed humanity at peace within a graced creation. These paintings can be seen as a view of a time to come when all of nature and human activity merge in harmony – a time of perfect grace and wisdom, free from the problems of life and bathed in the light of God's presence. Today the paintings take on a deeper meaning as we face ecological crises that strike fear and uncertainty into our souls. Can these images of the Hortus Conclusus - paintings of an incarnate God in the garden of creation - give us hope for the future that is based on religious tradition, wisdom and also life itself?”
Click this link to see a Flickr page dedicated to ’The Little Garden of Paradise’, with many detailed close up views.
It was a wonderful presentation, and you can listen to it by clicking the player below. Here you also find the images used in the talk. You can click on them to see a larger copy
Thursday 31st March, 7.30 p.m.
Tina Beattie is Professor of Catholic Studies and Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Catholic Studies at Roehampton University in London, and Mary Colwell is an award winning radio and television producer specialising in natural history. Both are regular columnists in ‘The Tablet’, and both have a strong interest in theology and ecology.
Their joint presentation at the Lauriston Jesuit Centre was entitled ‘God In the Garden’, and they focussed in particular on the beautiful medieval painting ‘The Little Garden of Paradise’, by an unknown German artist from around 1410, found in the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt.
Mary and Tina reminded us that “Medieval paintings of saints in an enclosed garden – Hortus Conclusus - are treasures to be viewed on many levels. They are symbolic depictions of religious teachings, inviting us to contemplate the lives of holy men and women before God as revealed through nature. The gardens are beautiful with accurate depictions of many real animals and plants, while the human figures are often stylised and carefully placed to give the viewer a sense of redeemed humanity at peace within a graced creation. These paintings can be seen as a view of a time to come when all of nature and human activity merge in harmony – a time of perfect grace and wisdom, free from the problems of life and bathed in the light of God's presence. Today the paintings take on a deeper meaning as we face ecological crises that strike fear and uncertainty into our souls. Can these images of the Hortus Conclusus - paintings of an incarnate God in the garden of creation - give us hope for the future that is based on religious tradition, wisdom and also life itself?”
Click this link to see a Flickr page dedicated to ’The Little Garden of Paradise’, with many detailed close up views.
It was a wonderful presentation, and you can listen to it by clicking the player below. Here you also find the images used in the talk. You can click on them to see a larger copy
