Talk to Examine Baptismal Imagery in Art

Robin Jensen, Luce Chancellor’s professor of the history of Christian art and worship at Vanderbilt University, examines the visual arts and spatial design of Christian liturgy in a free, public lecture Thursday, Oct. 10, from 3:30-5 p.m. in Winter Hall’s Darling Foundation Lecture Hall (Room 210) at Westmont. The Erasmus Lecture, “Baptismal Imagery in Art and Architecture,” is sponsored by the Westmont Office of the Provost and the Art and Religious Studies Departments.

Jensen, a renowned patristic theologian and art historian, will discuss ways that imagery and decoration of a ritual’s physical context shape both its practice and meaning.

She teaches courses in the department of the history of art and the Divinity School. Most of her research and publication focuses on the interpretation of early Christian art and architecture in light of its theological significance, ritual performance and cultural context.

Her most recent books are “Living Water: Images, Symbols, and Settings of Early Christian Baptism” (Brill, 2011), and “Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity” (Baker Academic, 2012).

She graduated from Concordia College and earned a Master of Art, Master of Philosophy and doctorate from Columbia University/Union Theological Seminary.