Adrienne Chaplin

Adrienne Chaplin is a philosopher of art who taught aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto before returning to the UK. She is co-author of ‘Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts’ and is a frequent speaker and writer on the relationship between faith and art.

Adrienne gained her PhD in philosophy from the Free University in Amsterdam, in which city she also studied art history (with Hans Rookmaaker), musicology and violin. After studying for two years with Calvin Seerveld in Toronto, she moved to the UK where she worked as a staff worker amongst music students for UCCF and also served as a board member of the Arts Centre Group.

From 1999 until 2007 Adrienne taught philosophical aesthetics at the Institute for Christian Studies, a Christian graduate school in Toronto, during which time she also served as President of the Canadian Society for Aesthetics. She co-authored the book Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts in 2002, which was co-sponsored by a grant from Greenbelt, and is currently working on a book provisionally entitled ‘Embodied Aesthetics: Toward a Faithful Philosophy of the Arts.’

And for you long-term Greenbelters, Adrienne also took part in a public debate with Richard Harries (then Bishop of Oxford) on the question of beauty and art at Greenbelt 1985!