Several of the greatest poets in the English tradition from the Renaissance onward have sought to replace God with the human imagination, says Michael Robbins. They have succeeded and failed in interesting ways.

A Methodist minister will be offering visitors to Trafalgar Square a touch of midweek spirituality as he leads a worship service from the fourth plinth, alongside Nelson’s Column and the imposing facade of the National Gallery.

Though taking artefacts from antiquities site constitutes a severe criminal offence, the Israel Antiquities Authority says it will not prosecute a repentant New Yorker who returned a fragment he had taken from an ancient palace.

A New York City art exhibit is featuring the biblically-inspired art of Marc Chagall, a Russian exile whose work depicted both Jewish and Christian symbols but remained rooted in an earth-bound, humane view of the world.

A Christian is taking an art centre to court over an exhibition which included a statue of Jesus she believes was lewd and offensive. Civil rights activists say this is an attempt to reinstate blasphemy laws by the back door.

To cheers at Tate Liverpool gallery, 48-year-old artist Mark Wallinger won the 2007 Turner Prize, the world's premier art award, and dedicated his win to campaigner Brian Haw, whose anti-Iraq war protest shaped his work 'State Britain'.

A narrator in Japanese traditional puppet theatre, a composite art form known as Bunraku, has performed a special piece called 'The Gospel in Bunraku at a church in Sapporo, on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido.

The Ecumenical Church of Sudan will open a landmark art exhibition in the Malakal region of southern Sudan on 28 October 2007, aimed at promoting peace in an area devastated by 21 years of civil war. It is being backed by Christian Aid.