Faith and the Arts
Presentors
'The Peerless Bridge': Faith and the Poetry of Emily Dickinson, Presented by the Revd Professor Dorothy Lee, Wednesday 18th March St Peter’s Church 6pm-8pm
The Peerless Bridge: Faith and the Poetry of Emily Dickinson Presented by the Revd Professor Dorothy Lee Professor Emerita of Trinity College, University of Divinity Wednesday 18th March St Peter’s Church 6pm-8pm This talk explores the poems of Emily Dickinson and the sense of personal spirituality which emerges from them. In reaction to the strict nineteenth century Calvinism of her environment, Dickinson's poetic work represents the articulation of a faith that is complex, nature-oriented and entirely her own. Dorothy A. Lee is Professor Emerita at Trinity College in the University of Divinity and an Anglican priest. Her research has focussed particularly on literary approaches to the Gospels and she has a keen interest in nineteenth century women’s writing.
Les less miserable: the poetic journey of Les Murray, Presented by Michael McGirr, Wednesday 13th May St Peter’s Church 6pm-8pm
Les Less Miserable: The poetic journey of Les Murray Presented by Michael McGirr, author and Mission Facilitator of Caritas Australia Wednesday 13th May St Peter’s Church 6pm-8pm Les A Murray (1938-2019) was a complex man with a tender ear for language and a deep understanding of life’s pain. In some ways, he was a wise innocent, and less thoughtful people took advantage of him. His poetry is rich in celebration. It is also a relentless and unyielding search for the sacred in an often-confusing world. Murray spent over fifty years at his craft, and this talk will sample delicacies from every part of his career.
Stanley Spencer: Prophetic Visions, Presented by Dr Claire Renkin, Thursday 16 July St Peter’s Hall 6pm-8pm
Stanley Spencer: Prophetic Visions Presented by Dr Claire Renkin, Yarra Theological Union, University of Divinity Thursday 16 July St Peter’s Hall 6pm-8pm Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) is one of the most celebrated and idiosyncratic English painters of the 20th century. Born in Cookham on the Thames, Spencer rarely worked outside his village and its vicinity. Scripture and Christian revelation inspired him above all, as he depicted people and places of his home in a visual language all his own. Working alone, almost defiantly, he crafted paintings full of passion and energy that catch not just a sense of life now, but what lies behind it: he evoke something greater than all of us. Thoroughly anti-urban and anti-elitist, he rooted his art in his local community, full of eccentric neighbours and wounded villagers who exude a perverse joy. His own life was not easy, but by deploying muted colours and distorted shapes he manages to evoke redemption beyond suffering, goodness at the heart of humanity. Always struggling, Stanley Spencer stares deeply into our world, creating a prophetic vision of ourselves in all our brokenness, yet held in a greater love.
‘There are more things in heaven and earth… than are dreamt of in your philosophy’: A Renaissance Prince or a Reformation Play? Shakespeare’s Hamlet’, Presented by Revd Dr Gregory Seach, Tuesday 22nd
There are more things in heaven and earth….a Renaissance prince or a Reformation play? Shakespeare’s Hamlet Presented by Revd Dr Gregory Seach, Vicar of St George’s Malvern Tuesday 22nd September St Peter’s Church 6pm-8pm In an essay titled ‘“Sweet Religion” in Post-Reformation Shakespearean England’, published in 2025, one critic of Shakespeare (1564-1616) writes: ‘Hamlet, I would argue, is in fact explicitly concerned with the transition from Catholicism to Protestantism.’ This presentation will explore evidence within the play to consider this claim. From the early appearance of a ghost, clearly escaped from ‘Purgatory’ (robustly discredited in England by the time of the play’s first performances), to his son, a prince who returns to Denmark from his studies in Wittenberg University, we will consider the profound questions Hamlet presents and raises regarding the abrupt ‘change’ in religion England had experienced in the 70 years or so before the play was written and first performed. Not only will we discover that ‘the time is out of joint’, but above all that ‘the play’s the thing’ which expresses these questions in ways that are still confronting and disturbing.
‘Damned by our Knowledge’ (Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter) - English religious anxiety in Graham Greene, Presented by Revd Michael Bowie, Wednesday 18th November St Peter’s Church 6pm-8pm
'Damned by our Knowledge' English religious anxiety in Graham Greene Presented by Revd Michael Bowie, Vicar of St Peter’s Eastern Hill Wednesday 18th November St Peter’s Church 6pm-8pm ‘The trouble is, he thought, we know the answers - we Catholics are damned by our knowledge.’ Graham Green, The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene (1904-1991) is one of the great English novelists of the 20th century and his Catholicism is one of the intriguing elements in his make-up. Greene was a searingly honest and sometimes depressive character, a bit scary in his public persona, but known for his great private generosity and charm, whose Catholicism was always at odds with his personal relationships. He never dodged this messiness and these contradictions, and the novels present a fascinating roll-call of flawed but almost perversely saintly figures, whose Catholicism is very much to the fore. Greene grapples repeatedly with a universal religious problem: the disjunction between God and the institution which mediates God. In the end the religious anxieties he explores may or may not convince the reader. But the supreme humanity of authentic characters expressed in such economical and transparent prose never fails to engage. The talk will refer to four novels – The End of the Affair, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, and A Burnt-Out Case.
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