PROFESSOR IN THE PRACTICE OF THEOLOGY AND THE ARTS

Ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Administrative appointment since 1996

Rev. Dr. Cindi Beth Johnson is a professor in the Practice of Theology and the Arts at United. She is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She earned her MDiv from Luther Northwestern Seminary and her DMin from Luther Seminary. She serves as the board chair of the Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies (SARTS). Most recently, she was a Creative Community Leadership Fellow with Intermedia Arts in 2014. She has written many articles for the SARTS journal, ARTS, as well as contributing to Visual Theology: Forming and Transforming the Community through the Arts (ed. Robin M. Jensen and Kimberly J. Vrudny); Arts, Theology and the Church: New Intersections (ed. Kimberly Vrudny and Wilson Yates); and Teaching for a Multifaith World (ed. Eleazar Fernandez). Cindi Beth believes that the arts are a vessel for imagination and the creative spirit.

Education

• DMin, Luther Seminary
• MDiv, Luther Northwestern Seminary
• BA, St. Olaf College

Teaching and Ministry

• Church and the arts
• Evangelism through the arts
• Arts and congregational renewal
• Visual arts and spirituality

Publications/Articles
(since 2000)

• “The Arts at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.” ARTS: The Arts in Religious & Theological Studies 25.2 (2014): 43-46.
• “Messengers of Jazz.” Visual Theology: Forming and Transforming the Community through the Arts. Ed. Robin Margaret Jensen and Kimberly J. Vrudny. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009.
• “Exploring Caravaggio’s Calling of Saint Matthew.” Seasons of the Spirit. Inver Grove Heights, MN: Logos Productions, 2005. Congregational Life Resource for Pentecost 1.
• “Three Models for Arts Programs in Seminaries and Churches.” Arts, Theology & the Church: New Intersections. Ed. Kimberly Vrudny and Wilson Yates. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2005.
• “Leadership Preparation.” Seasons of the Spirit. Inver Grove Heights, MN: Logos Productions, 2003-2004. Congregational Life Resource for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.

Miscellaneous

• “The Integration of the Visual Arts into Theological Education.” DMin Dissertation. Luther Seminary, 2002.
• Compiler/Writer. Behold: Arts for the Church Year. Logos Productions. Seasons of the Spirit Curriculum.

Awards, Leadership Positions and Memberships

• Religious Art Show Juror
• Crossview Lutheran Religious Art Show, 2010
• Woodbury Lutheran Sacred Art Show, 2008
• Northeast Minneapolis Sacred Art, 2002

Fellow

• 2014 Intermedia Arts Fellowship, Intermedia Arts’ Creative Community Leadership Institute, Minneapolis, Minn.

Board Member & Secretary

• SARTS (Society for Arts in Religion and Theological Studies), an academic society Uprising Theatre Company