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.
- Edited by TH Zock
Other Titles in this Series
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
Nobilities in Europe in the Twentieth Century
Reconversion Strategies, Memory Culture, and Elite Formation
Volume 50
Understanding Art in Antwerp
Classicising the Popular, Popularising the Classic (1540-1580)
Volume 45
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Volume 6
Naples as Laboratory / Laboratorium Neapel
Style Options, Artistic Rivalry and Self Fashioning in Neapolitan Baroque Painting / Plurale Stilbildung, Kunstlerkonkurrenz und Self Fashioning in der neapolitanischen Barockmalerei
Nurturing the Elite
Representations of Drinking, Eating, and Religious Vessels in Palmyrene Funerary Iconography
Volume 13
Technical Studies of Asian Art
Proceedings of the Seventh Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
