The Lilly Network National Conference 2025

The national conference of the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities 

The Christian Imagination in Higher Education

October 31 – November 2, 2025 | Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT

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The education students receive at church-related institutions encompasses all facets of their experiences both inside and outside the classroom. At the same time, these experiences move them beyond the printed and spoken word into a diverse array of media and arts that they increasingly consume and produce. In this digital age, the visual arts have gained prominence, as students increasingly find their world mediated by visual media and often describe themselves as visual learners.

How does the Christian imagination illuminate students’ experience of the arts? The plenary speakers will unpack the theology and spirituality of the arts and how they challenge us as scholars and teachers. The impact of the arts spans and pushes disciplinary boundaries, challenging us to think holistically about how our work fits into students’ broader lives on campus and beyond. Artistic endeavors raise questions about the common good and about the relationship between formal education and a lifetime of learning. These questions will flow into the group discussions and on-campus art experiences and performances during the conference.

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Plenary Speakers

Natalie Carnes, Ph.D., Baylor University

“How Art Makes (And Unmakes) Our Disciplines”

Natalie Carnes is a constructive theologian invested in questions that cross the fields of aesthetics, feminism and systematics. She has published several books pursuing such questions, most recently Attunement: The Art and Politics of Feminist Theology. Currently, she is finishing a manuscript on poverty and art in Christianity and working on a theology of creativity. After training at Harvard University, University of Chicago and Duke University, Natalie began teaching at Baylor, where she is professor of theology in the religion department, affiliate faculty member in women’s and gender studies, and director of the Baylor Initiative in Christianity and the Arts.

Jonathan Anderson, Ph.D., Regent College

“Theological Imagination: A Meditation on ‘Visual Theology’ in the Search for Wisdom”

Jonathan Anderson is the Eugene and Jan Peterson Associate Professor of Theology and the Arts at Regent College. His scholarship explores the interrelations of art history, theology and religious studies, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary art. He is the author of The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art (2025), Modern Art and the Life of a Culture: The Religious Impulses of Modernism (with William Dyrness, 2016), and many articles and book chapters on related topics, including “Modern Art” in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion (2021).

Cecilia González-Andrieu, Ph.D., Loyola Marymount University

“If Beauty Saves, What Does Ugliness Do?”

Cecilia González-Andrieu is professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University, lecturer and author and president-elect of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States. She writes regularly for America and the Southern Cross. Among her writings are the book Bridge to Wonder: Art as a Gospel of Beauty and contributions to Go Into the Streets: The Welcoming Church of Pope Francis, Contemporary Art & Religion: A Curious Regard, Catholic Women Preach Year and Miradas a Todo Color. Her work includes theological aesthetics, political theology, Latine theology, education and women.

Accommodations

Enjoy a comfortable stay at the Marriott Trumbull (180 Hawley Lane, Trumbull, CT 06611), where accommodations are included with your event registration. There’s no need to make a separate reservation with the hotel—your registration takes care of it all. Simply arrive, check in and focus on making the most of your conference experience! 

Travel

Sacred Heart University is easily accessible from several Connecticut and New York airports. Distances below are approximate to the conference hotel, the Marriott:

• Tweed New Haven Airport (CT) – Served by Avelo and Breeze Airways (21 miles)
• Bradley International Airport (CT) – 65 miles
• Westchester County Airport (NY) – 39 miles
• LaGuardia Airport (NY) – 64 miles
• John F. Kennedy International Airport (NY) – 70 miles

Airport Transportation

Go Airport Shuttle offers shared-ride and private transportation from New York City airports and Bradley International to destinations in Connecticut. View their website or contact them at 203-672-8900.

Registration

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