Religion and the Work of Art
Edited by Bryan S. Rennie
Paperback (Cancelled)
ISBN: 9781800507883
6.14 x 9.21 inches
Price: $45.00
On back order
Hardback (Forthcoming)
(November 2026)
ISBN: 9781800507876
6.14 x 9.21 inches
Price: $100.00
Religion and the Work of Art seeks to investigate what art does and how it works, specifically in respect of religions.Â
In the afterword to Religion and Contemporary Art: A Curious Accord (edited by Ronald Bernier and Rachel Hostetter Smith, 2023), S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate insists that “to understand the religiousness of art, the artwork is often much less important than the work of art”, specifying that, while “artwork” is a noun, in “the work of art,” the term “work” is verbal. There is a tendency endemic in art history and the study of art and religion to remain on the level of content, of analysis of the artwork itself, rather than of its effects. Religion and the Work of Art employs the word “work” in its specifically verbal sense. The volume seeks to investigate what art does and how it works, specifically in respect of religions. While consideration and analysis of artworks themselves is necessary, the further consideration of the work of art is the principle focus of this volume. “Art” is intended in its widest possible sense including conceptual, performative, literary, plastic, audible, and visual arts. Considerations from perspectives as wide-ranging as neuroscience and cognitive science to paleoanthropology and philosophy are included, as are articles on the work of art in specific faith traditions.
Overture: The Work of Art in the Context of Religious Behavior Bryan S. Rennie Art in the Register of Religious Traditions Christianity 1. The Work of Art in Spiritual Experience Regina Coupar, Visual artist 2. Before and After the Ikon Stephan Vaneyan, Moscow State University 3. The Violated Madonna of Dubai Frank Bosman, Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Netherlands 4. Polemics in the Streets: The Religious and Anti Religious Work of Graffiti Joanna Homrighausen, William & Mary, Virginia Islam 5. The Alif and the Ba: The Spirit and the Letter of Islamic Calligraphy Omid Safi, Duke University Sikhism 6. Sikh Kirtan, Gurmat Sangeet, and the Transformation of Sikhi into Sikhism Conner Singh VanderBeek, Davidson College, North Carolina Hinduism 7. Meeting the Eyes of the Deity Marianne Qvortrup Fibiger, Aarhus University Classical Antiquity 8. The Aesthetics of Sacrifice: Sensation and Performance in Ancient Greco Roman Sacrificial Rituals Johan Brun Mendes Cederfeldt, Aarhus University Contemporary Spirituality 9. In Damanhur Everything is Art Luigi Berzano, University of Turin, and Stambecco Pesco, Damanhur School of MeditAction Religion in the Register of Artists 10. Seeing the Earth: Artists and their Visions Maureen Korp, Historian 11. Counter-virtues and the Work of Art in Wolfgang Laib Jeffrey Kosky, Washington & Lee University, Virginia 12. Conjure Aesthetics: Imagining the Entangled Ancestral History of African Americans as Outsider and Insider Artists Norman Girardot, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania 13. The Piper and the Bard: Bob Dylan in the Crack of Dawn Rachela Permenter, Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania The Philosophical Mode 14. Art That Works: Nietzsche's Figures of Suffering Zoe Anthony, University of Tampa 15. Modern Art as Symbolic Representation: A Critical Analysis of Modernism in Mircea Eliade's Works Gabriel Badea, Romanian Academy 16. Art, Religion, and the Search for Non Meaning Gary Kibbins and Eric Chalfant, both at Queen's University, Canada The Anthropological Mode 17. Gods And Their Mode of Being: Religion and Art Beyond Subjectivity and Metaphysics in Papua New Guinea and Beyond Ricardo Santos Alexandre, Centre for Research in Anthropology, Portugal The Ethological Mode 18. Very Like Art: Self-Taught Art from an Ethological Perspective Ellen Dissanayake, Independent scholar The Neurocognitive Mode 19. From Perception to Aesthetics: Recent Neurocognitive Approaches to Art (and Religion) Armin Geertz, Aarhus University 20. Music and the Miraculous: The Neurophysiology of Music's Emotive Meaning Candace Alcorta, University of Connecticut 21. Sensible Affective Knowledge of Imaginary Orders in Art Rami Gabriel, Columbia College Chicago 22. Self-Programming and the Self-Domestication of the Human Species: Are We Approaching a Fourth Transition,
Table of Contents
Art in the Register of Religious Traditions
Christianity
1. The Work of Art in Spiritual Experience, Regina Coupar, Visual artist
2. Before and After the Ikon, Stephan Vaneyan, Moscow State University
3. The Violated Madonna of Dubai, Frank Bosman, Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Netherlands
4. Polemics in the Streets: The Religious and Anti Religious Work of Graffiti, Joanna Homrighausen, William & Mary, Virginia
Islam
5. The Alif and the Ba: The Spirit and the Letter of Islamic Calligraphy, Omid Safi, Duke University
Sikhism
6. Sikh Kīrtan, Gurmat Sangeet, and the Transformation of Sikhī into Sikhism, Conner Singh VanderBeek, Davidson College, North Carolina
Hinduism
7. Meeting the Eyes of the Deity, Marianne Qvortrup Fibiger, Aarhus University
Classical Antiquity
8. The Aesthetics of Sacrifice: Sensation and Performance in Ancient Greco- Roman Sacrificial Rituals, Johan Brun Mendes Cederfeldt, Aarhus University
Contemporary Spirituality
9. In Damanhur Everything is Art, Luigi Berzano, University of Turin, and Stambecco Pesco, Damanhur School of MeditAction
Religion in the Register of Artists
10. Seeing the Earth: Artists and their Visions, Maureen Korp, Historian
11. Counter-virtues and the Work of Art in Wolfgang Laib, Jeffrey Kosky, Washington & Lee University, Virginia
12. Conjure Aesthetics: Imagining the Entangled Ancestral History of African Americans as Outsider and Insider Artists, Norman Girardot, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania
13. The Piper and the Bard: Bob Dylan in the Crack of Dawn, Rachela Permenter, Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania
The Philosophical Mode
14. Art That Works: Nietzsche’s Figures of Suffering, Zoe Anthony, University of Tampa
15. Modern Art as Symbolic Representation: A Critical Analysis of Modernism in Mircea Eliade’s Works, Gabriel Badea, Romanian Academy
16. Art, Religion, and the Search for Non Meaning, Gary Kibbins and Eric Chalfant, both at Queen's University, Canada
The Anthropological Mode
17. Gods And Their Mode of Being: Religion and Art Beyond Subjectivity and Metaphysics in Papua New Guinea and Beyond, Ricardo Santos Alexandre, Centre for Research in Anthropology, Portugal
The Ethological Mode
18. Very Like Art: Self-Taught Art from an Ethological Perspective, Ellen Dissanayake, Independent scholar
The Neurocognitive Mode
19. From Perception to Aesthetics: Recent Neurocognitive Approaches to Art (and Religion), Armin Geertz, Aarhus University
20. Music and the Miraculous: The Neurophysiology of Music’s Emotive Meaning, Candace Alcorta, University of Connecticut
21. Sensible Affective Knowledge of Imaginary Orders in Art, Rami Gabriel, Columbia College Chicago
22. Self-Programming and the Self-Domestication of the Human Species: Are, We Approaching a Fourth Transition? Merlin Donald, Queen's University, Canada
Coda
23. Skill and the Sacred: Material Expression and Phenomenal Experience, Bryan S. Rennie
- Edited by Bryan S. Rennie
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