‘Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story’ is a free resource to help people explore the Christian faith, using paintings and Biblical story as the starting points. It’s been created by St Martin-in-the-Fields in partnership with the National Gallery. It’s been designed as a 22-week course over three terms, and was originally run at St Martin’s between September 2015 and June 2016.
The course uses fine art paintings in the National Gallery’s collection, along with a theological reflection and a Biblical text, as a spring board for exploring these two questions:
- How can I deepen my faith in God?
- What does it mean to follow Jesus today?
The course is designed for use in a group, and is intended to build relationships among those participating.
The course has been structured as 22 hour-long gatherings over three terms. It covers key elements of the Biblical story from Creation to Apocalypse. Each hour-long session can, however, stand alone: participants don’t need to have attended an earlier session to participate.
The following resources are offered:
- An overview of the course
- Guidelines for course facilitator(s)
- A list of further recommended resources
- Divided into three ‘terms’ are:
- 22 images of National Gallery paintings
- 22 theological reflections
- 22 handouts with a Biblical text
The images of the paintings have been grouped into three presentations on PowerPoint, for each term, and are designed to provide a good quality image when projected using a data projector or through a television.
The guidelines for course facilitators offer detailed process advice to help ensure that each session runs well. You can choose to run one session, one term or the whole course.
The resources are provided free of charge, but you must register your details to access the materials. If you’d like to register your details and to access the resources, please click on the link below:
In partnership
