Prof. Aaron Rosen
Dr. Aaron Rosen served as Professor of Religion & Visual Culture and Director of the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts & Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary from 2019-2023.
He now serves as Executive Director of The Clemente Course in the Humanities, a national non-profit providing free college courses to underserved communities. He is also founder and director of The Parsonage, a non-profit gallery on the coast of Maine exploring spiritual and ecological themes through contemporary art.
Dr. Rosen is also Visiting Professor at King’s College London, where he was previously Senior Lecturer in Sacred Traditions & the Arts and Deputy Director of the Center for the Arts and the Sacred. Rosen began his career at Yale, Oxford, and Columbia Universities, after receiving his doctorate from the University of Cambridge. He has lectured widely around the world, and held various honorary posts, including visiting professor at University College Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Rosen is the author of four books: What Would Jesus See? (Broadleaf, 2023); Brushes with Faith (Cascade, 2019); Art and Religion in the 21st Century (Thames & Hudson, 2015; pbk 2016), named one of the best books of the year by The Times; and Imagining Jewish Art (Legenda, 2009). His edited books include: Religion and Sight (Equinox, 2020);
Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue (Brepols, 2018); Visualising a Sacred City: London, Art and Religion (I.B. Tauris, 2016); and Religion and Art in the Heart of Modern Manhattan (Ashgate/Routledge, 2015; pbk 2018). He is currently working on a monograph entitled The Hospitality of Images: Modern Art and Interfaith Dialogue. His research has been supported by numerous scholarships and grants, including a major grant from Templeton Religion Trust for a project on aesthetic understanding and spiritual discernment.
Rosen is the visual arts editor for Image Journal, and the co-editor of book series for Brill, Brepols, and Bloomsbury publishers. He has written widely for publications including CNN.com, The Los Angeles Times, Apollo, Times Higher Education,
The Guardian,
and Art in America, and often comments for radio and television in the US and UK, including PBS and the BBC.
Prof. Rosen was a guest curator at Jewish Museum London and co-founded the international public arts project Stations of the Cross. He also writes books for young people, including Where’s Your Creativity?, The Met: 5,000 Years of Awesome Objects, and A Journey through Art, which has been translated into seven languages. He is married to the Rev. Dr. Carolyn Rosen, an Episcopal priest.