Document Type

Working Paper

Abstract

This essay demands something that is a little bit theology and a little bit art, and can only address a little bit of each. The material that follows does not presume to speak universally or systematically for either. Not only would such a thing be folly, but it would also be impossible. Systematic theology and systematic aesthetics are always a mess. Multiple volumes are written trying to sort out impossible situations gotten into by trying to systematize God, humanity, the world, the imagination, images and the complex of relationships that exist between them. We need to hold onto some of the modest respect for mystery that is recommended to Job by God from the Tempest, "Do you know the laws of heaven or impose its authority on earth?"

Art historians are becoming more and more frustrated about the direction of contemporary art, because it is taking up so many particular interests, directions, cultures, and sub-cultures that it is no longer possible to weave the meta-narrative they love so dearly. Many have shifted methodologies, themselves taking up new directions, in response to the shifting landscape of contemporary art. The globalization of art has spread Western forms into non-Western content and ideas, smashing different worlds and traditions together into a visual chimera that is wonderfully complex and difficult. As things open up to broader perspectives, artists seem to simultaneously focus even more on the particular and idiosyncratic, dialoging with each other in tiny pockets rather than as a whole. While this can be frustrating and infuriating to some as they try to organize what is going on, it is also a fantastic, lively and exciting feature of contemporary art.

Since universal claims are fraught with disaster, I will instead speak of a particular set of ideas about the nature of religion and of art that will most surely exclude some other purposes, phenomenon, and possibilities. For example, a broad idea that interests me relates to eschatology, but when I discuss eschatology, I am not proposing any particular eschatological vision or chronology. Some theologians and traditions deal with these notions more than others, and a lack of space allows me to only follow a few of them. Though the theology of Jurgen Moltmann serves as the starting point, the tracing of ideas will range from Saint Augustine to Paul Tillich and Hans Frei to Nicholas Wolterstorff and Francis Schaffer; as well as non-theistic writing that, nonetheless, has theological implications, such as that of Elaine Scarry, Carol Becker and Thomas McEvilley. So, while not endorsing a specific eschatology, the core points relate to overall themes, impulses and results of the culmination of creation in most Christian thought. The details will remain fuzzy (as they do). And when discussing art with eschatology, I write knowing that there is significant contemporary and historical work that may not fit neatly ( or at all) in to this scenario. When the text reads "art" or "artists" the reader may do well to see "some art" or "some artists. " This statement is more rumination, or compilation of ideas and possibilities, than a firm delineation (though it may take that tone at times). It is a hypothesis or a perception of how things appear to be.

Department(s)

Art and Design

Publication Date

2014

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