Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts (RSA) is a program of the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University Indianapolis that brings together artists, religious scholars, religious communities, humanities experts, and a broad range of publics from diverse backgrounds and disciplinary perspectives for sustained study, analysis, and discussion of religious texts in a seminar environment.

Directed by Prof. Karen Baldner, Rev. Dr. Marti Steussy and Dr. Andy Findley, these textual discussions, which explore the varieties of religious experience and understanding, provide the inspiration for creating new artistic works (e.g. music, poetry, fiction, drama, performance, visual art, dance). Artists share their creations through exhibitions and presentations to members of the Central Indiana community, including religious organizations, congregations, schools, libraries, and community groups. 

Who Am I to Answer the Call? A Conversation with Exodus 3 and Go Down Moses 

When Moses goes to investigate a burning bush in Exodus 3, he hardly expects to encounter the divine, let alone have a conversation with God.  He's not sure that he is the right person or that he wants this responsibility to lead his community, but he accepts it. As the famous spiritual Go Down Moses hints, fate calls many of us to do the extraordinary. Who Am I to Answer the Call? Artists in the 2024-2025 Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts program will explore traditions around Exodus 3 and Go Down Moses and respond with their own works of creative debate.

Faculty and Guest Speakers:

Prof. Karen Baldner, Visiting Lecturer of Fine Arts, the Herron School of Art and Design at IU Indianapolis 

Daniel Cueto, PhD Candidate, Composer, Performer, Associate Instructor, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

Dr. Andy Findley, Lecturer of Classical Studies and Art History, The School of Liberal Arts and the Herron School of Art and Design at IU Indianapolis

Dr. Francisco Lozada, Dean of Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis

Franklin Oliver, Educator, Poet, Podcaster, Public Speaker, Consultant 

Dr. Sandy Sasso, Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck

Rev. Dr. Marti Steussy, MacAllister-Petticrew Professor of Biblical Interpretation Emerita at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis 

Rev. Dr. Winterbourne LaPucelle Harrison Jones, scholar, author, ecclesial leader, and pastor of the Witherspoon Presbyterian Church

Dr. Jillian Harrison Jones, scholar and musical director

• *Additional faculty members or guest speakers may be added as needed. 

Meetings

Sessions will be held on Thursday evenings from 6:00–8:30 p.m. at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields  (4000 N Michigan Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46208) or Herron School of Art + Design  (735 W New York St, Indianapolis, IN 46202). 

The annual exhibition will be held on May 2, 2025 at the Harrison Center for the Arts (1505 N Delaware Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202).

Key Texts:

Go Down, Moses and Exodus 3

Participant Expectations and Rights:

By agreeing to participate in the RSA, artists are expected to attend every seminar session and submit at least 1 original artwork for critique and for use in an in-person and online curated exhibition. Artists are encouraged to produce more than 1 work, especially in collaboration with other participants of the program. Unless otherwise granted permission by the directors, artists must submit works in their primary medium. (One consideration in accepting applicants is a diversity of artistic media. You were chosen according to the artwork you submitted as work samples).

Although the RSA program reserves the right to display artist work for the exhibition, artists will be included in all decisions that might involve the promotional use of their original works (i.e. flyers, social media posts, etc). Unless sold or other arrangements prevail, artists retain the original rights to their work. 

The RSA is a collaborative program that brings together artists from various disciplines and experience levels. The environment is intended to be supportive, but also challenging. Critique and feedback are an important part of the process to ensure that the culminating exhibition is a success. 

It is possible that our discussions will touch upon sensitive issues. Indiana University has a policy for speech about such issues; you can find it at https://policies.iu.edu/policies/ua-10-expressive-activity/index.html. This policy asks that speech show respect for dialogue partners and their human dignity. Here are some practical guidelines for maintaining such a tone:

• Assume that people come in with different viewpoints and will still have different viewpoints when they leave. The point is not to bully others into agreement (changes of heart seldom come from being the target of outrage) but to learn something from listening to each other.

• When engaging an opposing viewpoint, aim to understand it  well enough that you can restate it in terms to which the other will say, “yes, that’s what I meant/that’s how I feel.” Until you reach that point, limit yourself to clarification questions.

• After that, you can and should offer honest questions/statements about why you disagree, but after you speak, listen to the replies. Avoid “attack questions” that are really speeches or accusations rather than honest questions.

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Meetings:

The dates for our seminar are Thursdays from 6-8:30 pm.  The annual exhibition will be held on 5/2/25. Pending availability, interest, and need, we may schedule optional sessions in March and April. All meetings will be held at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields (4000 N Michigan Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46208) or Herron School of Art + Design (735 W New York St, Indianapolis, IN 46202).

Meeting Schedule and readings:  

Session 1

Topic: Artist and faculty introductions, Go Down, Moses and Exodus 3, program expectations

Faculty: Marti Steussy, Karen Baldner, Andy Findley, Daniel Cueto, Franklin Oliver and Guest speakers Rev. Dr. Harrison-Jones and Dr. Jillian Harrison-Jones

Readings 

• Go Down, Moses: (feel free to explore other renderings). The lyrics vary from rendition to rendition (as you can see if you compare those given at https://songofamerica.net/song/go-down-moses/ with those at Louis Armstrong – Go Down Moses Lyrics) 

• Background biblical material: Read at least Genesis 12, 16, 21:1-21, 39-41, 45, 47; review Exodus 1:1-6:13, 6:28-7:25, and 11; read Deuteronomy 34. (Better yet, read Genesis 12-Exodus 24, Exodus 32-34, and Deuteronomy 34, giving yourself permission to skip genealogies and skim rapidly through other sections of laws and lists.) Be aware that you are probably encountering multiple storytellers who do not agree on all details.  If you do not have a Bible, you can read the NRSV (a good modern translation) online at https://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/. 

Session 2

Topics: Exodus 3 in Ancient Human Context, Midrash

Faculty: Marti Steussy, Karen Baldner, and Rabbi Sandy Sasso 

Readings:

• Review the biblical background material listed for Session 1

• "Pp. 6-51 in Midrash - Reading the Bible with Question Marks, by Sandy Sasso.  Paraclete Press, 2007.  

• White Fire: The Art of Writing Midrash," by Alicia Ostriker in Reform Judaism Magazine 58 (1999)

Reading questions:

• What is the history of relationships between Abraham’s line and Egypt?

• How do your assumptions about the Exodus story change after these readings and in what ways do the stories invite you to engage in new storytelling?

• What makes a text sacred? 

Session 3 

Topic: Go Down, Moses in cultural and historical context; alternative interpretations

Faculty: Guest Speakers: Rev. Dr. Harrison-Jones, Dr. Jillian Harrison-Jones, and Dr. Francisco Lozada. 

Readings:  

• Robert Warrior, “A Native American Perspective: Canaanites, Cowboys, and Indians.”

Reading questions:

• Into whose narratives has the exodus story been taken up?

• In what ways do our interpretations of “texts” (broadly construed) reflect and reinforce power relations? 

• How do “texts” play a role in shaping national identities?

Session 4

Topic: Art History 

Faculty: Dr. Kjell Wangenstein, Associate Curator of European Art and 

Dr. Andy Findley, Lecturer of Classical Studies and Art History

Readings:

• Evan Freeman, "Icons, an Introduction," in Smarthistory, December 3, 2020.

• Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons, “Art.” In The Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture, edited by John F. A. Sawyer, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2006. 

• Karen Stern, "The Synagogue at Dura-Europos," in Smarthistory, May 12, 2023.

Reading questions:

• How did pre-modern artists understand the function(s) of art? How did pre-modern viewers interact with and understand art? 

• How can we understand representations of Moses in creative and illustrative arts? 

• What power could iconographic art possess for believers? 

Additional Optional Readings:

• Jen Baird, "Dura-Europos," in Smarthistory, January 21, 2022, accessed August 10, 2024. 

• Jonathan Goldstein, “The Central Composition of the West Wall of the Synagogue of Dura- Europos” in Semites, Iranians, Greeks, and Romans: Studies in their Interactions. Brown Judaic Studies. 2020. 

• Anne McClanan, "Art and Architecture of Saint Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai," in Smarthistory, September 22, 2020, accessed August 12, 2024. 

• Kära L. Schenk, “Temple, Community, and Sacred Narrative in the Dura-Europos Synagogue.” AJS Review, NOVEMBER 2010, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 195-229. 

Session 5

Topic: Contemporary Art, Music

Faculty: Karen Baldner and Daniel Cueto

Readings:

• Anselm Kiefer, Exodus (Gagosian at Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, November 19, 2022–June 16, 2023)

• Temu Cole, Go Down Moses exhibition (Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois, July 18 - September 29, 2019)

Additional Optional Readings:

• Anselm Kiefer, “Art Documentary”, BBC One, Imagine Series, Presented by Alan Yentos, 2014

Session 6

Topic: Literary Arts

Faculty: Franklin Oliver

Readings: 

• Mahmoud Darwish In Jerusalem Published in The Butterfly’s Burden, 2007

• James Weldon Johnson, Let My People Go, Published in God’s Trombones, 1927

• Allen Kanfer, Moses, Published in Poetry, December 1953, p.136

• Andrea Skevington, On Fire, but not burned. Exodus poems 5, August 6, 2020, accessed August 23, 2024

• Pavel Friedman, The Butterfly, Published in I Never Saw Another Butterfly by US Holocaust Memorial Museum, edited by Hana Volavkova, © 1978, 1933 by Artia, Prague Compilation © 1993 by Schocken Books.

Session 7

Topic:  Critique Session I   

Faculty: Marti Steussy, Karen Baldner, Andy Findley, Greg Hull, Franklin Oliver, Daniel Cueto, Ben Martinkus, Danielle Riede

Readings:

• Past Exhibitions 

• 2023-24 Virtual Exhibition

Session 8

Topic: Critique Session II 

Faculty: Marti Steussy, Karen Baldner, Andy Findley, Greg Hull, Franklin Oliver, Daniel Cueto, Ben Martinkus

Readings:

• Past Exhibitions 

• 2023-24 Virtual Exhibition

Important Dates and Deadlines:

12/19: Progress reports due

4/1: Artist bios and artwork commentary due

4/10: Preliminary images due

4/28-29: Final Artwork Due- in person at the Harrison Center

5/2: Opening exhibition at the Harrison Center  

Later in May: Wrap-up celebration. Date TBD once IU Indianapolis releases the commencement schedule