Conversing About Religious Art

To encourage engaging conversations about religious art; have a look at these 10 ideas and share them with your family members, church members, and friends. Perhaps we can collectively shift American culture and engage more people, simply by improving our approach to the dialogue. As we become courageous in asking questions, listening and in exploring, we will find that our own ability to talk about religious art increases. 

1. Explore a painting. Search for art in gallery openings that respond to religious influence. Do it with a partner and get agreement to explore it intensely. Do it together and notice the engagement between you sparkle. 
2. Ask someone to teach you. Hear about someone who knows something you would like to learn? Reach out and ask them to show you how, or teach you. Be attentive, curious, and encouraging as they share with you some new knowledge. 
3. Listen deeply. Engage another in conversation about a work of religious artistic controversey by giving 100% focused, present, and deep listening. When someone feels heard their value, worth and engagement rises. 
4. Allow silence. When the person you are speaking with pauses, allow the silence to hang suspended and continue to hold a focus with them. Don't interrupt. They will take a breath, realize you are truly engaged and continue sharing their thoughts. 
5. Coach Others.If someone expresses a weakness or concern about appreciating religious art, ask if you can coach them. Use gentle, powerful, and thoughtful questions to engage them in conversation, listen well, and suspend your own judgement helping them to find their own answers. 
6. Share a moment from a film. To illustrate, or spark conversation in a new way, reflect on the messages in popular culture, especially commercial films. Re-tell the story and encourage communication to stem from the movie stimulating different thoughts and engaging different parts of the brain. 
7. Ponder a quote. Quotes are words spoken and remembered. They often inspire and make us think. Create a question from the quote about art and engage in conversation with others about the meaning and application to your life. You may find it surprising to see the shift in your thinking and the level of your engagement. 
8. Integrate it into someone’s passion. When you know someone has a passion try to engage them in dialogue about religious art through the lens of that passion, an obsession with "free", an compulsive shoe shopper, or money manger and share it with them. Engage them in conversation on their passion and sense the energy and vitality. 
9. Converse with artists. Artists provide a window to a new way of seeing the world but because of their education and training, it is not without baggage. Many for instance have been taught not to pursue religion in their art. Learning what artists see brings an engaging energy to old topics. Find ways to connect to the artists in your community and ask them to engage you in their conversations about their own faith journey. 
10. Define Artist. Artist as a word has no recognized definition. Create a definition with others, explore what Art looks like, find examples of Artists from history including Michelangelo and Byzantine icons; and engage in Artist-filled conversations.