Natalie Carnes: Oriented Towards Feasting
On this episode of Meeting Our Moment, Jeremy Begbie talks to Natalie Carnes about asceticism, writing, justice, art and more.
Click below (or here) to hear Begbie and Carnes’ full, unedited conversation, including more detailed discussions of Augustine and Christian feminism, iconoclasm and Confederate statues, and her book "Motherhood.”
Natalie Carnes
Natalie Carnes is Associate Professor of Theology at Baylor University in Texas. Since earning her PhD from Duke in 2011, she’s established herself as one of the finest and most original voices in contemporary theology, tackling traditional theological themes in unusual ways. Her most recent book, Motherhood: A Confession, weaves together Augustine’s classic Confessions with her own experience as a mother. Her interest in theology and the arts is especially evident in her first two books, Beauty: A Theological Engagement With Gregory of Nyssa, and Image and Presence: A Christological Reflection on Iconoclasm and Iconophilia. Here she re-thinks ancient themes – like beauty, and the role of images in Christianity – but in ways that directly engage contemporary lived experience.
Extras
Here are some additional moments from Jeremy’s conversation with Natalie.
Learn More
You can learn more and connect with Natalie through her website. Her books Motherhood: A Confession and Image and Presence: A Christological Reflection on Iconoclasm and Iconophilia are discussed in this conversation.
Natalie refers to ethicist and philosopher Peter Singer’s concept of effective altruism, which you can learn more about here. Jeremy and Natalie contrast Singer’s approach with an asceticism oriented by relationality and kinship, which is a primary focus of Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. You can access this encyclical here.
You can hear Natalie say more on the topic of “Art, Excess, and Human Need” in her DITA10 plenary. DITA was privileged to host Dr. Carnes as a 2018 Distinguished Lecturer. You can listen to her talk, “The New Iconoclasm: A Christological Reflection on Making and Breaking Images,” here.