I was the inaugural Presidential Professor appointed by Dr. Gregory Thornbury in 2013. And that appointment has changed my life as well as provided a compass for its direction as well. It provides me with the opportunity to share my experience as a museum curator and specialist in modern and contemporary art with students who, like me, have a passion for art and a passion for Jesus, who desire to live a life of faith and creativity. If I have a pastoral calling, it is to bear witness to a life that devoted to faith in Christ that generates a passion for the arts for my students. I consider the classroom-my classroom—to be a sacred space, one that enables and promotes honesty, vulnerability, and courage. Art has always been a way for me to think differently about God and to think about God is always to do with the arts. Moreover, to study art and bear witness to Christ in New York City, and to think about art and think about God in the art museums and the churches here is a privilege that I have enjoyed for ten years but which always feels new, exciting, adventurous, and which vibrates with potential. I care about King’s College so much that I encouraged my daughter, Morgan, to attend and she graduated in 2018. I cannot imagine my life without King’s College which has given me the unique opportunity to exercise my calling. And I cannot imagine New York City without King’s College.

In Christ,

Daniel A. Siedell, Ph.D

Senior Fellow, Modern Art History, Theory & Criticism