Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 74 No. 4, 2004.
Original scientific paper
The Church and the Arts. The Drama of Faith in the Arts in the Twentieth Century
Mirko Jozić
; Franciscan Theology - Institution of Higher Education of Franciscan Province Bosna Srebrna, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract
The relationship between the Church and the arts in the twentieth century represents a mutual estrangement, leading to an increasingly deeper mutual misunderstanding. Indeed, the main cause of this development ought to be firstly sought in the epochal process of secularization. The estrangement of the arts and the Church has not resulted in the disappearance of religious themes in the arts. On the contrary, a new religious art has evolved and being different from traditional religious art, has been named as secular religious art.
Secular religious art is imbued by a dramatic conflict of subjective faith from which evolved the masterpieces of the twentieth century. However, these works have not found their abode in the churches. Namely, according to the traditional theological concept, secular religious art does not express a faith of the Church and tradition. Instead, it represents a subjective impression of the artist's faith, which according to his insight and disposition, can neglect or even reject the Church. Secular religious art in contemporary culture becomes a specific substitution for religion.
Even though the twentieth century has seen the great artists' contribution to some of the churches, the church communities have as a whole, remained outside of the mainstream tendencies in modern art. The Second Vatican Council recognized an equality of all styles and poetics, hence conceiving the assertions for the Church's opening up to the modern arts.
Keywords
Christian art; secular religious art; ecclesiastical art; modern art; iconoclasm; secularization; subjective impression; new spiritual art; transformation of the religious; religiosity-poetry; religiosity-creativity; religiosity-contemplation
Hrčak ID:
25050
URI
Publication date:
8.4.2005.
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