Dr Gesa Elsbeth Thiessen
Theology and History of Religious Art
Academic Degrees and Qualifications:
1998 Ph.D. in Theology, Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy/Higher Education and Training Awards Council, Dublin
1991 Diploma, History of European Painting, Trinity College, University of Dublin
1986 M.Phil.(Ecum.), Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College, University of Dublin
1985 Zwischenprüfung, Faculty of Protestant Theology, Tübingen University
Research Interests:
Theological Aesthetics / Theology and the Arts
Ecumenical theology and ecclesiology
Theology of God, Faith and Revelation
Contextual/liberation theologies
Individual (systematic) theologians/thinkers (e.g., Luther, Tillich, Rahner, Sölle, Eagleton)
Teaching Responsibilities (2012/13):
JF Biblical Traditions in Western Art and Culture
SS Imaging God in the History of Christian Art
Publications:
Books:
Monographs:
Apostolic and Prophetic – Ecclesiological Perspectives, Eugene, OG: Cascade Books/Wipf and Stock, Autumn, 2011, pp.192.
Theology and Modern Irish Art, Dublin, Columba, 1999, pp. 304.
Edited volumes:
Ecumenical Ecclesiology – Unity, Diversity and Otherness in a Fragmented World (incl. Foreword by Linda Hogan), London/New York, T&T Clark/Continuum, 2009, pp. xii+247.
Pbk. edition 2011
Trinity and Salvation – Theological, Spiritual and Aesthetic Perspectives, Studies in Theology, Society and Culture (Series eds. Declan Marmion, Gesa Thiessen, Norbert Hintersteiner), vol. 2, Oxford/Bern, etc., Peter Lang, 2009, pp. 184. (ed. with D. Marmion)
Theology in the Making - Biography, Contexts, Methods, Dublin, Veritas, 2005, pp. 130. (ed. with D. Marmion)
Theological Aesthetics – A Reader, London, SCM Press and Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 2004, pp. 400. (incl. six introductions to the six sections in the book; see articles)
Articles / Book Chapters:
‘Artistic Imagination and Religious Faith’ in Handbook of Theology and the Arts, ed. Frank Burch Brown, Oxford, Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2012.
‘From Segregation to Community in Christ’, Treasures of Irish Christianity, People and Places, Images and Texts, eds. Salvador Ryan, Brendan Leahy, Dublin, Veritas, 2012, 247-250.
‘The Lutheran Church: Confession, Church, Congregation, Denomination’,in Denomination – Assessing an Ecclesiological Category, eds. Barry Ensign-George and Paul Collins, London/New York, T&T Clark, 2011, 50-66.
‘Dreifaltigkeit – Gott denken als Trinität’, Erhalt uns Herr bei Deinem Wort, Glaubensbekenntnisse auf kurfürstlichen Prunkwaffen und Kunstgegenständen der Reformationszeit, eds. Dirk Syndram, Jutta Charlotte von Bloh, Christoph Münchow, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden/Sandstein Verlag, 2011, 72-73.
Entry ‘”Blessing” in the visual arts’, Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR), 30 vols., chief editors Choon-Leong Seow, Hermann Spieckermann, Hans-Josef Klauck, Paul Mendes-Flohr, Bernard McGinn, Eric Ziolkowski, et al, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, from 2008 (entry publ. in 2011). The EBR won a CHOICE Award for Outstanding Academic Title, published by the American Library Association in 2011.
‘Converted through an Image: Paul Tillich’s Theology of Art’, translated into Czech: ‘Konvertitou díky obrazu: Teologie umĕni Paula Tillicha’, Konverze a Konvertité, Quaestiones quodlibetales, no.9, eds. Jiři Hanuš and Ivana Noble, Brno, Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury, 2009, 61-69.
‘Seeking Unity: Reflecting on Methods in Contemporary Ecumenical Dialogue’, Ecumenical Ecclesiology – Unity, Diversity and Otherness in a Fragmented World, ed. Gesa E. Thiessen, London/New York, T & T Clark/Continuum, 2009, 35-48.
‘Images of the Trinity in Visual Art’, Trinity and Salvation – Theological, Spiritual and Aesthetic Perspectives, eds. D. Marmion and G. Thiessen, Studies in Theology, Society and Culture, vol. 2, Oxford/Bern, etc., Peter Lang, 2009, 119-40.
‘The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’, Irish Theological Quarterly, 72:1, 2007, 74-87.
‘Theological Aesthetics’, in The Cambridge Companion to Karl Rahner, eds. Declan Marmion and Mary Hines, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005, 225-34.
Introductions to six sections in Theological Aesthetics – A Reader, ed. G. Thiessen, London, SCM Press / Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 2004: ‘Introduction’, ‘The Early Church’, ‘Medieval Church’, ‘The Reformation’, ‘17-19th Century’, ‘The Twentieth Century’.
‘Towards a Theological Aesthetics: Karl Rahner’s Contribution’, in Theology and Conversation, Towards a Relational Theology, Jacques Haers, Peter de Mey, eds., Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium CLXXII, Leuven University Press/Peeters, 2003, 857-64.
‘Exploring a locus theologicus: Sacramental Presence in Modern Art and its Hermeneutical Implications for Theology’, in selected papers from the 2. LEST Conference in Leuven, 1999: The Presence of Transcendence, Thinking ‘Sacrament’ in a Postmodern Age, eds. Lieven Boeve and John Ries,, Leuven, Paris, Sterling, VA, Peeters, 2001, 213-22.
‘Imaging God: Spiritual Dimensions in Modern Art’, in Anne M. Murphy, Eoin G. Cassidy, (eds.), Neglected Wells – Spirituality and the Arts, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 1997, 97-113.
‘Religious Art is Expressionistic - A Critical Appreciation of Paul Tillich's Theology of Art’, Irish Theological Quarterly, 59:4, 1993, 302-11.
Contact:
- Room 5024
- Phone: 01 896 2585
- Email:gesa.thiessen@tcd.ie
Contact: jwelch@tcd.ie | Last updated: Nov 16 2012 | Back to top