LITERATURE + LECTURES

April brings a new round of free, public events associated with the Sacred Songs, Sacred Sites program organized by Houston Arts Alliance's Folklife and Traditional Arts Program. They include an exhibition, two lectures and a workshop.

6:00 pm, Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Lecture – Putting Beauty to Work: Thinking about the ‘Look’ of Religious Experience
Dr. Anthony Pinn, (pictured) Rice University
Houston Arts Alliance Gallery, 3201 Allen Parkway
While religion takes place within the context of institutions and with regard to doctrine, creeds, and practices, it also has an aesthetic dimension that is attached to how our bodies occupy time and space. This lecture provides a way of thinking about and examining these aesthetic dimensions of religious experience - clothing, bodily movement, and so on.

Dr. Anthony Pinn has a Ph.D. in the Study of Religion from Harvard University. He is currently the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University, Houston. Dr. Pinn's work over the years has focused on the study and meaning of Black religion. He has authored close to 10 books on the subject, including Why Lord? Suffering and Evil in Black Theology’ (1999), and is currently working on a book that deals with the aesthetics of Black religious experience.

Visit Houstonartsalliance.com for more information on upcoming Sacred Songs, Sacred Sites programs.

The Houston Arts Alliance is the official local arts agency for the city of Houston, providing funding, technical assistance and leadership to non-profit arts organizations region-wide. Sacred Songs, Sacred Sites is part of HAA’s new Folklife and Traditional Arts Program, the only one of its kind in the state of Texas. Sacred Songs, Sacred Sites programs are funded in part by the Houston Endowment, Inc., the National Endowment for the Arts, Sara and Bill Morgan, His Highness The Aga Khan Council for the USA and Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston.