At the Crossroads of Art and Religion
Imagination, Commitment, Transcendence
edited by T.H. Zock
Since the ‘turn to the subject’ in modernity, aesthetic experiences have become crucial in the creation of meaning. This explains why art and religion are becoming increasingly intermingled in late modern Western culture. The search for meaning is no longer confined to traditional religious settings and it is especially in art that people are looking for moral and spiritual significance. Religion is being aestheticised while art is being spiritualised. This volume contains studies on the interface between art and religion. Scholars from art studies, theology, philosophy and psychology of religion address the following questions: What psychological and religious functions does art fulfil? What are the similarities and differences between aesthetic and religious experiences? How does the aestheticising of religion affect theological thinking? How does the spiritualising of art affect artistic practices and theory? Case studies are taken from literature, visual art, film and opera, both from ‘high’ and popular culture. Among others, there are chapters on J.M. Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarians, Richard Wagner’s operas, the Harry Potter books and the concept of beauty from a theological perspective. The contributors all highlight the crucial role of human imaginative capabilities and the capacity of art to open up wider horizons of meaning.
Since the ‘turn to the subject’ in modernity, aesthetic experiences have become crucial in the creation of meaning. This explains why art and religion are becoming increasingly intermingled in late modern Western culture. The search for meaning is no longer confined to traditional religious settings and it is especially in art that people are looking for moral and spiritual significance. Religion is being aestheticised while art is being spiritualised. This volume contains studies on the interface between art and religion. Scholars from art studies, theology, philosophy and psychology of religion address the following questions: What psychological and religious functions does art fulfil? What are the similarities and differences between aesthetic and religious experiences? How does the aestheticising of religion affect theological thinking? How does the spiritualising of art affect artistic practices and theory? Case studies are taken from literature, visual art, film and opera, both from ‘high’ and popular culture. Among others, there are chapters on J.M. Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarians, Richard Wagner’s operas, the Harry Potter books and the concept of beauty from a theological perspective. The contributors all highlight the crucial role of human imaginative capabilities and the capacity of art to open up wider horizons of meaning.
- Edited by TH Zock
Other Titles in this Series
Invisible Hands?
The Role and Status of the Painter's Journeyman in the Low Countries c.1450 - c.1650
Volume 23
Transnationality, Internationalism and Nationhood
European Avant-Garde in the First Half of the Twentieth Century
Volume 48
Europa: Charming Zeus … and Numerous Others!
International Political Economy of EU Accession
Volume 29
Form and Style in Journalism
European Newspapers and the Representation of News, 1880-2005
Volume 26
Commonplace Culture in Western Europe in the Early Modern Period I
Reformation, Counter-Reformation and Revolt
Volume 39
Commonplace Culture in Western Europe in the Early Modern Period II
Consolidation of God-given Power
Volume 40
Commonplace Culture in Western Europe in the Early Modern Period III
Legitimation of Authority
Volume 41
Believers in the Nation
European Religious Minorities in the Age of Nationalism (1815-1914)
Volume 52
Cultural Mediators
Artists and Writers at the Crossroads of Tradition, Innovation and Reception in the Low Countries and Italy 1450-1650
Volume 31
Lady Macbeth’s Sisters
Women's Power in Political Elites in the Transition from Monarchy to Democracy
Volume 43
The Beloved Mothertongue
Ethnolinguistic Nationalism in Small Nations: Inventories and Reflections
Volume 33
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