Rethinking Sacred Arts
Edited by
Peter Bouteneff and Christina Maranci
Edited by
Peter Bouteneff and Christina Maranci
ISBN 978-0-88141-780-7, 9780881417807
Size: 6x9
300pp
To say that the term sacred arts requires “rethinking” implies that there is an accepted definition, ready to be reconsidered and overturned. Yet no such consensus exists. The essays in this volume confront foundational, often overlooked questions: What do we mean by “sacred arts”? Are there boundaries that delineate sacred from secular arts? Can an object be inherently holy, or does sacredness lie in its use?
Bringing together leading scholars and practicing artists, this book explores these and other questions across visual art, architecture, music, poetry, and liturgy—bridging disciplines from art history, musicology, and aesthetics to theology. Its contributors blend rigorous scholarship with lived faith, illuminating how sacred arts are created, perceived, and understood.
Ideal for practitioners and scholars alike, this volume offers a vital resource for anyone probing the spiritual dimensions of art within an academic or liturgical context.
This book is remarkable for examining sacred art from an impressive range of perspectives, covering art history, curatorship, painting, music, aesthetics, liturgy, theology, and poetry. The result is a volume which by turns engages, enlightens, and challenges the reader, and which will inspire many fruitful discussions of this complex and important field in the future.
—Henry Maguire
Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University
The authors of this stunning collection of essays write with wisdom, discernment, scholarly depth, and abiding respect for the complexity by which people know, experience, and articulate the human-divine relationship through diverse modes of expression. This book surprises even as it challenges the reader to engage ever more deeply with the aesthetics of religious devotion.
—Susan Ashbrook Harvey
Professor of History and Religion, Brown University
The Institute of Sacred Arts at St Vladimir’s has become a much- needed wellspring of wisdom when it comes to the interface between human creativity and the divine. This multidisciplinary book will expand that reputation. A rich and accessible collection that deserves attention from any with interests in the field.
—Jeremy Begbie
Professor of Theology, Duke University
This book is remarkable for examining sacred art from an impressive range of perspectives, covering art history, curatorship, painting, music, aesthetics, liturgy, theology, and poetry. The result is a volume which by turns engages, enlightens, and challenges the reader, and which will inspire many fruitful discussions of this complex and important field in the future.
—Henry Maguire
Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University
The authors of this stunning collection of essays write with wisdom, discernment, scholarly depth, and abiding respect for the complexity by which people know, experience, and articulate the human-divine relationship through diverse modes of expression. This book surprises even as it challenges the reader to engage ever more deeply with the aesthetics of religious devotion.
—Susan Ashbrook Harvey
Professor of History and Religion, Brown University
The Institute of Sacred Arts at St Vladimir’s has become a much- needed wellspring of wisdom when it comes to the interface between human creativity and the divine. This multidisciplinary book will expand that reputation. A rich and accessible collection that deserves attention from any with interests in the field.
—Jeremy Begbie
Professor of Theology, Duke University
