Research Profile
My research activities mainly deal with the relationship between Christianity and visual arts, in particular between Protestantism and images, or between postmodern Christianity and contemporary art. My hermeneutical approach is influenced by Paul Ricoeur’s understanding of metaphor and Charles Sanders Peirce’s theory of signs. I am working towards a semiotic understanding of visual contemporary culture while looking for traces of Christianity in postmodern culture. I am the webmaster of www.protestantismeetimages.com (some pages also in English, German and Italian).
Teaching Profile
From the Bible to contemporary art (topics: God, Imago Dei, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit; in the Bible, in early Christian art, in Reformation art,and in 20th-21st centuries art).
– Christianity and the media: Advantages and difficulties of the testimony of faith in the virtual world and in the network culture.
– Jesus Christ in popular culture (advertisements, movies, objects of devotion).
– Catechetics and the benefits of the visual for the transmission of faith.
– The aesthetics of John Calvin (his understanding of signs and sacraments; the secret testimony of the Holy Spirit).
– The emerging Church in French speaking Europe.
Selected Publications
In english
Virtual Christianity. Potential and Challenge for the Churches, Geneva, WCC publication, 2004.
“The Spiritual Image in Western Christianity, Yesterday and Today”, Timothy Verdon (ed.), Beauty and Life. Spirituality in Contemporary Art, Orleans, Massachusetts, The Community of Jesus, Inc., 2011, 69-91.
“Practical theology in French Speaking Countries of Europe”, International Journal of Practical Theology, 2012.
“The Art of a Post-modern Catholic”, Anne Biroleau (ed.) Joel-Peter Witkin. Enfer ou Ciel. Heaven or Hell, Paris, Bibliothèque de France, éd. La Martinière, 2012.
Das Wort Gottes im Bild. Eine Herausforderung für die protestantische Theologie, Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001.
Jean Calvin und die Modernität Gottes, 1509-1564, Kehl-Strasbourg, Safida Media, 2009.
W. Gräb, J. Cottin (Hg.), Imaginationen der inneren Welt. Theologische, psychologische und ästhetische Reflexionen zur spirituellen Dimension der Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, 2012.
En français
La mystique de l’art. Art et christianisme de 1900 à nos jours, Paris, Cerf-Histoire, 2009.
“L’art d’un catholique post-moderne”, Anne Biroleau (éd.), Joël-Peter Witkin : Enfer et ciel, (catalogue d’exposition à la Bibliothèque Nationale de France), Paris, BNF-éd. de la Martinière, 2012.
Article « Art, Esthétique », in : Eric Gaziaux, Laurent Lemoine, Denis Müller (éd.), Dictionnaire d’éthique chrétienne, Paris, éditions de Cerf, 2012.
Contact
Email: cottin@unistra.fr
