Art And Religion Summary

We are also shown how these different forms of art change over time and how different cultures have adopted them and used them as their own form of art to express emotion, love, creativity, and passion. This book teaches us how art is viewed in different ways by the church and was very informative for me to obtain a better and deeper understanding of art and how the churches valued it.

I found all of the perspectives that Schaeffer lists to evaluate art very interesting. The one perspective that really sparked my thinking was “Christian art is by no means always religious art” (Schaeffer 88). Schaeffer explains how God created more than just religious things during creation, such as flowers, birds, etc. and that these things are worthy of being painted, photographed, wrote about, sung about, etc. Therefore, as a Christian artist, every one of our works does not have to be religious in nature. Everything in God’s beautiful creation is worth creating art out

Religious artwork has been prevalent throughout all of history. Christian artwork has been ever changing and evolving based on what it going on during the time period in which the work was created. In Romanesque artwork, art was imaginative and involved mysticism along with themes that represented their fears of the end of the world. In Gothic artwork, the art turned away from evoking fear and instead had the goal of bringing people into the church. In the fourteenth century, the religious art responded to the crises of the time period. During the Renaissance, artwork shifted to an interest in realism, which can be seen in Raphael’s Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John. The medium for this work of art is oil paint. it was painted in 1500 and is 47 inches in diameter.

Every religion in this world has their own culture and thereby their own creative forms, like art, dance, architecture, music and craft. Like the tradition varies from each religion to religion so as their Art. I chose to compare Art forms of Islamic Art and Hinduism Art, as Art have always exited me and inspired me in many ideas, and secondly arts have its own history and reasoning.

There exist three basic components of traditional Islamic art: calligraphy, geometric patterns, and floral and vegetal motifs. These three stylistic tools are beautifully rendered and masterfully integrated into complex works of art, but there is no question that artistic expression is severely limited under these categorizations. However, this limitation stems from Islamic theology and concept of art. The main reason for the limitation imposed on visual art is the Islamic theological prohibition of figural imagery. Social laws presented in the Hadith prevented the representation of figures because any imitation was deemed idolatrous. Also, art is considered to be decorative and imitative. Script and patterns are used to decorate

During this time was The Reformation of the church and this influenced a lot of artists of that time. The basis of The Reformation was that people began opposing the practices of the church. This relates to current times also. In the United States lately, there has been a revolt against the government. There have already been multiple works of art depicting these current events including artwork, music, videos, etc. This artwork shows that no matter what the message is, if it is based on biblical scripture, it will always be relevant to current

As I write this post, a recent memory springs up in my mind. Earlier this year, my dad had an art show at the Steffen Thomas Museum focused on Christian Art. One afternoon, Chris and I decided to go over there so I could look at his show. I am always amazed at my dad's art and this was no exception. As we went from painting to painting, I could not imagine the countless hours he spent on each one of these paintings.

With the adoption of Christianity as the official religion, art was able, so to speak, to come above ground in the old pagan city of Rome, and painting, instead of being restricted to the decoration of the walls of the Catacombs or of small chambers and chapels, came into use on a large scale in the new churches that were at once set up. At the same time patronage moved from the hands of the poorer classes to the richer, and artists of outstanding quality came to be employed as well as those of obscurer character, who would work for small fees (www.religion-online.org). To wall painting was added the more luxurious art of mosaic; numerous sculptures were done, and minor objects, often in expensive materials, were in addition produced in the service of the Church, so that art production became at the same time both more extensive and more luxurious (www.religion-online.org ).

The Protestant Reformation had a huge impact on the visual arts in Northern European art. One of the major changes was that religious imagery was no longer the major feature in art. Iconoclasm took over as protestant reformers revived the removal of religious images. Many churches were no longer authorizing religious art for display because it was believed that religious imagery was distracting and could lead to worship. The supporters of the north became more interested in earthly concepts and ideas, and they also wanted their messages about morality to be portrayed in less religious ways. The Reformation led artists to seek supporters outside of the church. Several different types of subject matter were obtained after during this time. There became a high demand for small paintings, which contained earthly subject matter. Landscapes are an example of subject matter, which was requested after, this type of artwork was

Christian art has never been decorative nor has it been publicized instead it was only represented throughout funerals and devotionals. The bible was a way of picturing the word and how reading it opened the word for the people. Christianity relied solely on imagination and contradicted what art work is considered today which now relies heavily on visual images. In the roman empire the people saw things through mosaics, wall paintings, portraits etc. That is how they pictured their art. They were trying to set up the way art work they believed should be viewed. They had decorations on various monuments, churches, tombs etc. which represented the pagan aspect. They wanted more visual art work whereas with Christianity they visualized through their own mind and instead lived by

My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok, tells a story about a Hasid, young man driven by a great passion: drawing. The character Asher Lev is presented within a Hasidic, Jewish community. These Hasidic communities are very conservative in many aspects; they care deeply and influence their members in a lot of decisions they make in life. The Rebbes of the Jews is the man whose members of the community go to quite often for advice, as Asher’s uncle Yitzchok said to Aryeh, “People go to the Rebbe because they have a cold” (30). The relevance of the Rebbe is shown in very early stages of the book when, for example, Asher’s father explains to him how

In Protestantism where things are personal, people had a sense of a more direct relationship with God and that God could have an impact on common people. This is a stark difference to Catholicism where worship was an affair where God’s influence was recognized publicly and people’s relationship with God was through other people. The change in people’s perceived relationship with God and the role of the church in everyday life has huge implications for art. Those who went Protestant, where everything was personal and private, wished to have art for themselves, in their own homes. Protestant disliked the type of idolatrous art that was commonplace in Catholic churches and did not allow any images in their own churches.

Just as it’s human nature to believe in something larger or more powerful than oneself, it is also human nature to express that divinity through art, this is proven time and time again in human history. Picturing the divine is a type of testimony to show a cultures greatness. The painting Arhats Giving Alms to Beggars comes from the Chinese culture of the Southern Song period. Whereas, the mosaic Christ as Pantocrator comes from the Byzantine culture of the Greek Orthodox tradition. Although these paintings come from very different backgrounds both cultures show the divine and their pressure on mankind to follow the rules, such as giving away worldly desires. By doing so and letting go of material possessions, mankind can be hopeful of

Art in the Medieval Times was dreary and bland. Many works of art were solely about God or holy figures. The most obvious change from the Renaissance to Medieval Times was the arts, according to Document A and also that “One begins to know the names of the artists ... feel stronger emotions in the subjects”. This shows that Renaissance art not only changed in style, in changed in how it made the viewer feel when seeing the art. Similarly, in Document A, Renaissance art is described as “new artistic styles would echo the broader movements and interests of the new age.…”. As compared to Medieval Times, the style of art became something similar to the time that people could relate to. In the Medieval Times, art was just meant to extol God’s many feats. People who viewed the painting were supposed to put that style of art on a pedestal. Medieval art was supposed to be worshipped, not so much understood. The individual in the Medieval Times was supposed to take away from the painting that the only thing that mattered in their life was the Roman Catholic church and God already had a plan for their lives. But in comparison, Renaissance art was supposed to empower and help people of the time to understand themselves and the fact that they can change their own lives.

Early Islamic and Christian art are based off of monotheistic religions, but differ techniques on how to reach their followers. Both use gold to represent regality in their works when considering God and his love. They symbolize the word of God from their religion texts and touch the senses of their followers, in order to reach inside of the soul. Islamic art uses a invoking style in Mirhab, through God’s word of the Quran, to aid Muslims in thinking about God and only God. The fewer distractions, the better, no distraction leaves no room for doubt.