We are excited to announce that Bishop Todd has appointed the Rev. Dr. W. David O. Taylor as Scholar in Residence: Arts, Media, Culture. In the days to come, David will curate issues and events of arts, media and culture, helping C4SO clergy make meaning of and engage more fully in these areas. He will contribute articles, reviews and more to the C4SO website each month, providing observations, reflections and commentary.

“I am glad that David has agreed to be our guide in arts, media and culture,” Bishop Todd says. “The Church has sometimes distanced herself from or felt left out of these important endeavors. As a diocese, we want to wisely and winsomely interact with arts, media and culture, and David will help us to do so.”

W. David O. Taylor is Associate Professor of Theology & Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and the author of several books, including Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life (Thomas Nelson, 2020), Glimpses of the New Creation: Worship and the Formative Power of the Arts (Eerdmans, 2019), The Theater of God’s Glory: Calvin, Creation and the Liturgical Arts (Eerdmans, 2017), as well as editor of For the Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts (Baker Books, 2010) and co-editor of Contemporary Art and the Church: A Conversation between Two Worlds (IVP Academic, 2017).

A C4SO priest, David has lectured widely on the arts, from Thailand to South Africa. He serves on the advisory board for Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts as well as IVP Academic’s series, “Studies in Theology and the Arts,” and he is a core participant in the four-year project “Theology, Modernity, and the Visual Arts,” hosted by King’s College, London. The project involves annual conversations between scholars and artists in London, Chicago, Berlin, and Venice. David lives in Austin with his wife Phaedra, a visual artist and gardener, and his daughter Blythe and son Sebastian. See his CV here.

“I’m deeply grateful to the bishop for this opportunity to play a role as Scholar in Residence in the diocese,” David says. “My hope is to offer resources, perspectives, and practical guidance on matters as wide-ranging as the role of public art in our public witness as Christians; the place of ‘enemy’ language in our corporate prayers during an election year; the trauma and possibility of worship through Zoom in perpetuum; what it means to be human according to HBO’s science fiction drama Westworld; the representation of Black bodies in contemporary iconography; and new book releases in the fields of art and faith, art and worship, and art and theology.”

Do you have a question or potential topic for David? Email him.

Follow David on Social Media:

Twitter: @wdavidotaylor

Instagram: @davidtaylor_theologian

Facebook author page: @wdavidotaylor2020