There has probably always been an intensive relationship between religion and the visual arts or music. What people believe and celebrate urges expression. For an entire epoch in the aftermath of the Reformation, this expression took the form of Baroque in the Catholic Church. Baroque, however, was not just the art form of one denomination, but also the first global art style in history, transmitted by missionaries.
What unites art and theology is the endeavour to capture the mystery of an incomprehensible reality in a language. Both remain aware that they can only ever approach the mystery. The medium reveals what is meant and at the same time conceals it.
This year’s edition of Theology in Conversation traces this interesting phenomenon using philosophical and theological reflection as well as concrete examples that we will explore together in the environment of the Faculty of Theology: in the form of selected graphics in the City Museum, in the form of liturgical music in the Court Church and in the form of sacred architecture in the Spitalskirche and Jesuitenkirche.
Theology in Conversation 2026 is a joint event organised by the Faculty of Catholic Theology and the Tyrolean Provincial Museums.
For the detailed programme see: www.uibk.ac.at