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Rowan Williams
- Born June 14, 1950
- Theologian and poet
- Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002-2012
- Studied at Universities of Cambridge and Oxford
- Speaks three languages and reads nine
- Fought, although unsuccessful, for the appointment of women as bishops in the Church of England
- Stepped down as Archbishop to become Master of the Magdalene College at Cambridge University
- Later was appointed to Chancellor of the University of South Wales.
- Written over 40 books
Unpacking Grace & Necessity
With this book, written by a highly educated Reverend and Doctor to highly educated counterparts, I first felt truly intimidated... as I do with most of the books I read for Tim Timmerman's classes. However, after having a discussion with classmates and having my professor unpack things a little, I began to understand Williams' hermeneutics and intelligent jargon.
So here is what he is hoping to accomplish with the book:
He explains in his intro that there are plenty of discussions about text, but very few about the visual arts. His goal is to begin discussions about the visual arts in a way that is provoking and interesting.
Below are several quotes that stuck out to me in the reading. I will try my best to unpack them a little, or at least share why I found them interesting and worthy of quoting.
Grace & Necessity Quotes
"God makes a world in which created processes have their own integrity, so that they do not need God's constant direct intervention to be themselves. At a deeper level, it assumes a unity between grace and nature: the integrity of a created process will, if pursued honestly and systematically, be open to God's purposes" (Williams, 9).
- This quote was interesting to read because it made me think of my intentions when it comes to creating artwork. Is there integrity in my work, am I allowing room for God's purposes to come to fruition with my artwork? I think this is a question all artists should ask of their work. And although I don't really have an answer in regards to my work yet, I am certainly working on figuring it out.
"Art is not of itself either grounded in or aimed at moral probity. It is a virtue of the practical intellect- that is, of the mind focused not on knowledge as such but on action" (Williams, 10).
- This is a good reminder to me personally that no matter how many good concepts I have, or how many sketches I have drawn, if I don't move to action it won't ever become art. Like he says, we need 'practical intellect', to transfer our thoughts to our hands. At least this is my interpretation of the quote.
"The production of beauty cannot be a goal for the artist. If the artist sets out to please, he or she will compromise the good of the thing made..." (Williams, 14).
- This was by far the most convicting quote for me. I must have read it several times through. The idea that I need to create for myself and perhaps even for God, but not for the approval of others. And sure, it is fine to want to others to like our work, but when it takes a toll on our artistic identities, and we are creating in order to see how many Facebook likes we can get, or how many people will comment on our work, we are compromising the good and beauty of our work. This is something that I personally need to work on.
"The artist as artist is not called on to love God or the world or humanity, but to love what he or she is doing..." (Williams, 14).
- The idea behind this quote is that God gives us freedom of choice but he is intrinsically involved in our process and we are equally working towards the purpose of God. Our artwork may not be like that of Thomas Kinkade or even have an underlying Christian message. We can be faithful to God by being passionate about our art. I had a hard time with this quote at first, not understanding that Williams meant, and I am still trying to work through it, but it is certainly making a lot more sense now.
"Art seeks to reshape the data of the world so as to make their fundamental structure and relation visible. This the artist does set out to change the world... but to change it into itself" (Williams, 18).
- I love this quote so much! The idea that we are to point our audience back to creation and to its Creator. That we are not called to change the world, but to help it return to its truest essence. I love this idea... I might need to think up a photo concept for this.
Sources:
Williams, Rowan. Grace and Necessity: Reflections on Art and Love. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 2005.
"Roles and Priorities." Roles and Priorities. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2014. <http://rowanwilliams.archbishopofcanterbury.org/pages/roles-and-priorities.html>.
"Rowan Williams." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 02 Oct. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Williams>.
Thanks so much for the summary on Williams. My oh my his ability with languages puts me to shame. His linguistic abilities and the number of books he has written makes it clear to me why his writing is so deep and rich. I liked your approach with this post putting up quotes you liked or resonated with from the text, and then clarifying them. Nice work. Perhaps an image, artwork or example of something that you feel demonstrates one of the concepts you looked at would be helpful. I love the idea of you developing a photo concept for the last quote you unpacked. That could be a very interesting set of artwork!
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