Art and Spirituality

This exhibition Essay was written for the Online Virtual Exhibition, "Karma of the Dragon: The Art of Jack Wise,” curated by Angela Anderson, at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 2001.  It was originally posted on the website dedicated to Jack Wise: http://jackwise.net/contemplate_on_jack_wright.html  . However, that website -- along with most of the images of Jack Wise's art on the Internet - has disappeared. I am not sure when or why that has happened, but the resulting near-erasure of this artist and his legacy just at a time (in the 10-20 years following his death), concerns me greatly, which is why I post this older essay, in the hopes that more research will be done on this influential and important early 'global contemporary' artist. This would normally be the time period within or after which an artist's legacy would begin to be explored and established, art historically. And there is no doubt in my mind that Jack Wise would find his place within Canadian and North American and global modern and contemporary art, especially the styles and genres that serve to connect disparate cultures and artistic / philosophical traditions.

The commemorative edition of Titus Burckhardt's Art of Islam, Language and Meaning published by World Wisdom is to be commended. Two close friends and fellow scholars of the perennialist philosopher contributed to the volume: Seyyed Hossein Nasr wrote the foreword, and Jean-Louis Michon the introduction. In the latter, Michon recounts his surprise at a journalist recently asking him whether Burckhardt's work had 'withstood the test of time', using the anecdote to underline the centrality of the notion of timelessness running throughout the late author's oeuvre. Art of Islam indeed argues that Islamic art is a timeless art because it is sacred art. The republication of the book, however, can only be described as timely because academic discourses and texts on Islamic art have, in the past decade, slowly begun to show more receptiveness to interpretative readings of Islamic art. Art of Islam, commissioned by the World of Islam Festival, first appeared in 1976. It drew upon and further consolidated Burckhardt's earlier writings on Islamic art, and sacred art more generally. The international character of the World of Islam Festival meant that Burckhardt's spiritual and unitive approach to Islamic art garnered much visibility and legitimacy. Burckhardt's approach also provoked critique, in particular by the late Oleg Grabar, undoubtedly the best known Islamic art historian of the twentieth century, not to mention Grabar's students. An unfortunate cleavage in scholarship on Islamic art developed with regards to the question of meaning. For Burckhardt and those sharing his outlook, Islamic art constitutes a visual embodiment of the Islamic worldview structuring Islamic culture(s), a perspective criticized as being unscientific, dogmatic, as well as founded on a sweeping but ill-defined 'Islam'. The divide can be understood, in large part, as a case of mistranslation: the function, aim, and language of works like Art of Islam, usually penned by scholars of Islam rather than Islamic art historians proper, are inherently different from those of mainstream art historical scholarship. However, the inability to consider the possibility of a spiritual dimension to Islamic art and the dismissal of the idea as essentialist and/or orientalist also betray the problems encountered when the historical concepts and systems of classification of Western art are applied to non-Western artistic traditions. If it is impossible here to detail the former's culturally circumscribed or non-transcultural nature, suffice it to say that the crux of the problem resides in the fact that Islamic art depends in essence on abstract and non-narrative forms to confer and convey meaning. The methods of art history remain unequipped to study an artistic tradition premised not on a system of allegorical signs and recognizable figures, but on pure visuality which, moreover, because of its nature, bypasses the very need for a textual tradition of art history. In recent years, however, prominent Islamic art historians have again begun to acknowledge the intrinsic relationship between artefacts and monuments, and the 'master narratives' of the culture that produced them. Even more noteworthy is the fact that philosophers dealing with aesthetics, most notably Valerie Gonzalez, are reading Islamic art in a manner that intersects in many ways with the perennialist school. These studies are, however, framed in a language and method-in this case, aesthetic phenomenology-with which Islamic art historians are more accustomed. The point is to concurrently contextualize and highlight the importance of the republication of Art of Islam, as well as to evince that its reception in academic circles confirms the continued relationship between power, knowledge, and Eurocentrism, and must therefore be analysed from a perspective informed by postcolonial, cultural, and World Art studies. Art of Islam is structured both thematically and chronologically, and although its intention is to establish the spiritual unity underlying the historical and geographical variations of Islamic art, it nonetheless provides the reader with a succinct historical overview from the Dome of the Rock to the

This book is a speculative attempt to describe why serious religious art that represents major religions is largely excluded from the art world. Why do the major venues of international art, and the principal journals and historians, consider only work that is ambiguous, ironic, or critical in relation to the major religions?

The book has resulted in a number of shorter publications, conferences, and catalog essays, most of which are listed on the vita; this is an ongoing issue between the (relatively small) art world, which is mainly secular, and the (very large) domain of serious religionists who also make art.

Chapter 1, "The Words 'Religion' and 'Art,'" sets the stage for the discussions that follow by providing temporary definitions. I also propose a heuristic definition of "spirituality." These aren't prescriptive, but are intended only to guide some of the discussion later in the book.

Originally published as On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art (New York: Routledge, 2004). Now on Kindle.

See note to chapter 1.

This is a chapter in the book On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art (New York: Routledge, 2004), available on Amazon.

Chapter 2 was originally published with two "verys":  "From Bird-Goddesses to Jesus 2000: A Very, Very Brief History of Religion and Art," Thresholds [MIT] 25 (2002): 76–83, including a discussion with Caroline Jones. Later it was reprinted in Faith, exh. cat., edited by James Hyde (Hartford CT: Real Art Ways, 2005-2006), 79-90.

This is about as brief as a history can get: the idea is to show that in Western practice before the Renaissance, the concepts of "religion" and "art" did not exist in their current forms, so it does not make sense to talk about "religious art" in all centuries and cultures. The chapter also points to developments from the 16th to the 19th centuries, in which "art" became increasingly detached from "religion." Without these very abstract, very sweeping observations, it can sometimes be difficult to know what is being claimed in conversations on religion and art.

This article has originally been published in: Imaginatio et Ratio. A Journal of Theology and the Arts 4, (2015): 27 – 38.

Being one of the most influential pioneers of video art, Bill Viola has always shown a distinctive interest in  spiritual and religious issues. For instance, in some of his pieces, he deliberately relates to religious paintings from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
During the last twenty years his works have increasingly been exhibited in churches all over the world. Obviously, the artist covers topics which are prevalent among theologians and church officials as well. This paper reflects about questions like: Why exactly is it so interesting to show his pieces in the sacred buildings of Christianity? What do they gain by the intervention? And how do the videos interact with the historical site?

In this dissertation, I approach spirituality in art from a psychological and neurological perspective. The main innovation is to present Iain McGiclhrist's theory about the divided nature of our brain to argue that art and spirituality are far more connected to each other than we previously believed, being both processed mainly by our Right Hemisphere. McGilchrist's ideas are then applied to Bill Armstrong's Infinity photography series.

In the course of the past two decades, “the return of religion” has become a wildly popular term and has been introduced to address the resurgence of religion both in social and cultural sphere. In the field of visual art, there is a wide consensus about the resurgence of religion in contemporary art however many difficulties are yet to be overcome. This article pursues a line of inquiry that seeks to map out the relationship between contemporary art and religion by examining the role of the body as a key site through which “the return of religion” is manifested.

Orar con el arte significa encontrar a Dios en el arte más que «usarlo» como medio para fines religiosos. El arte no sólo ofrece el medio y el instrumento de la oración, sino también su ámbito y su lenguaje. En lugar de una aproximación «funcional», contemplar el arte como oración ignaciana significa descubrir el fondo oracional y mistagógico del arte mismo para escuchar y saborear allí el silencio elocuente de Dios. Para tal efecto, esta contribución recoge de los Ejercicios tres claves sencillas para acercarse al arte hoy. Son tres rasgos de una auténtica sensibilidad estética ignaciana de configuración con Cristo. De tal modo, la espiritualidad ignaciana fomenta el devenir de personas sensibles, activas y «agitadas» para servir a otros y mejorar el mundo, conscientes de que tal cambio empieza por uno mismo, desde un modo de proceder paciente y humilde, macerado por el discernimiento y la contemplación.

Aesthetics and St John of the Cross  presents itself to us as a subject because, apart from being a Christian mystic, San Juan was also an artist and poet. This essay will identify principles that may be drawn from both his practice as a poet and his thoughts about art, which may inform contemporary Christian spirituality . Today, the people to benefit from San Juan’s approach to aesthetics are artists, especially poets, who are Christians desiring to engender contemplation through their medium. From a pastoral perspective, there is also a need for more understanding of artists in regards to their life in the Church, especially as the Church is turning to them to help bridge the ever-widening cultural gap between Church and society.  As the challenge of communicating the Gospel within Western society deepens, it is being more recognised that art is a way of communicating that appeals to a persons’ spiritual nature.  In our current cultural milieu symbolism is strong currency, and it may well become more crucial for the Church to be able to communicate truth in ways that are non-verbal, imaginative and intuitive, in a way that does ‘use’ the arts, but honours and understands its true function. As Thiessen has noted in the last twenty years the dialogue between theology and the arts has become a major focus in theology, and it is no coincidence that this trend has run alongside the aestheticisation of everyday life in postmodern society through the powerful impact of images.

The 'Transcendent Double Selfie' is a visionary, technoetic app devised to capture the image of the user's transcendent double. It is part of the series 'Opener of the Ways, Access Consciousness' which experiments conceptually, aesthetically and experientially with noetic technology utilizing apps and technologies that explore consciousness. This article reflects on the Transcendent Double Selfie app which is inspired by the Kabbalistic traditions of the Golem and Zelem as well as the notions of the double that are prevalent in shamanic traditions. It underlines the integration of ancient spiritual techniques and advanced technologies for the making of twenty-first century technologies of transcendence along with technologically-based and scientifically informed mystical techniques. The app's formulation forges a speculative exploration of consciousness as a non-local phenomenon. In addition, it indicates historical and cultural patterns that reflect the shifting attitudes towards the spirituality of the human body and mind and the experience of transcendence.


Moore, Lila " The Transcendent Double Selfie App", in Dalila Honorato and Andreas Giannakoulopoulos (eds.) Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence in Art & Science 2017 Conference Proceedings, Corfu: Ionian University - Department of Audio & Visual Arts, 2018, pp. 229-236

Moina Bergson Mathers (1865–1928) was the first female initiate of the Hermetic Order of Golden Dawn, which was co-founded in 1888 in London by her husband Samuel Liddell “MacGregor” Mathers. Moina Mathers developed, wrote, and disseminated unique forms of magical practice aimed at personal development, social change, and the advancement of women. She invested her artistic talents in the production of spirit drawings, ceremonial artifacts, and pioneering public performances termed as the Rites of Isis, which commenced in 1899 in Paris. In her role as a High Priestess in these theatrical events, and in her position as a principal teacher of the Golden Dawn system, she demonstrated, through personal example, the equal partnership of women and men in all matters, sacred and profane. Moreover, she emphasized her belief in women’s inherent sensibility that enables them to excel in the practice of magic, realize ideas, and embody divinity.

https://wrldrels.org/2019/08/25/moina-bergson-mathers/

Panoramik bir fotoğrafa bakarken gözümüzle serbestçe geziniriz; ilgimizi çeken noktalara odaklanırız.
Sonra gevşetiriz bakışlarımızı ve bir başka noktaya yöneliriz. Pasifçe bakmayız, yaşarız adeta. Bu
panoramik okuyuş tecrübesi müzik gibi, zamansal. Fotoğrafçının bize dayattığı mutlak doğru bir bakış
noktası veya diğer nesnelerden daha önemli (merkezî) bir nesne yok. Dar açıyla çekilmiş fotoğraflara
kıyasla geniş açı gerçek hayattaki görme tecrübesine çok daha yakın değil mi?
Zannediyorum fotoğraf sahası, Rönesans ile birlikte resim sanatı üzerine
tahakküm kuran merkezî perspektifin sanattan uzaklaştırıcı etkisini anlamak
için iyi bir başlangıç. Zira doğrudan Rönesans’ı eleştiren insanlar “sanattan
anlamaz” damgası yiyor kolaylıkla. Ruhban sınıfı gibi davranan bu insanlara
göre doğru anlaşılması gereken dogmalaşmış, tartışılması teklif dahi
edilemeyen mutlak bir sanat var. Kendilerini sanat ile halk arasında özel bir
yerde gören rahiplerce aforoz edilme tehlikesi var! Sanat eleştirmeni değil de
vatikanist papalar gibi davranan bu insanları tartmayı okurlarımızın irfanına
terk edelim.
Ama şunu unutmayalım: Rönesans’tan sonra yaygınlaşan merkezî perspektif resimde uygulanabilen tek
perspektif değil. Mekânı tasvir ve tasavvur etmenin yollarından sadece biri bu. Zaten sıkıntıya sebep olan
perspektif tekniğinin kendisi değil mevcut yollardan birini seçip doğru / mutlak / objektif diye diğerlerinin
yerine bunun dayatılması. Merkezî perspektifi bir ilerleme, mükemmelleşme gibi gören, bunu kullanmayan
toplumları “ilkel” diye damgalayan sanat tarihçileri hiç de az değil.

The artistic notion of the 'death' of painting needs little introduction. It has shaped the course of twentieth century art, and affected the lives and practices of millions of artists in fundamental ways, but the model of the human mind upon which it implicitly rests is no longer considered to have useful relevance in the twenty-first century.

Cognitive science and evolutionary psychology have concluded that the mind is not a blank slate but content-rich at birth, and as such humans bear an array of innate expectations of reality and non-reality, many of which apply as much to the artform of painting as they do other cultural behaviours and expressions such as religion or music.

This eclectic and creative thesis takes in a diverse series of case studies tracing the prehistory of painting in light of these cognitive propensities, from the beginnings of human culture in Southern Africa to abstract designs and hand-prints in the Palaeolithic caves, from Bushman rock art depicting swift-people to the reported experiences of painters living today, to uncover a perennial and foundational function for painting which cannot die: the ubiquitous sensation of an 'otherworld' beyond the surface of the canvas or rock face.

This simultaneously new and ancestral approach to painting demands a rehabilitation of the medium as both a humanising self-expression and as beyond-the-self exploration in a modern art context increasingly estranged from the wider world. Painting as 'Liminal Contact' seeks to abandon artistic ideologies and limiting art theories of what is possible in favour of a direct image-based communion with human nature.

This is the second in a series of explorations towards a more holistic system of thought, perception and experience, entitled Visionary Humanism.

This paper analyzes Andrea del Sarto’s 'Noli me tangere' (1510) in view of the learned exchanges that occurred between the artist and his Augustinian collaborators. A central thesis of mine is that Andrea’s artistic decisions draw on several branches on knowledge simultaneously. His sophisticated handing of the human figure inflects Leonardo da Vinci’s chiaroscuro techniques in ways that invite the beholder to consider the mysteries of Christ’s body, as expressed in St. Augustine’s theological writings. Andrea’s incredibly novel facture, meanwhile, intersects with Augustine’s meditations on the senses and on spiritual reform. In this respect, I maintain that Andrea del Sarto’s significant yet often overlooked painting has much to tell us about the complex realities of producing religious art in the Italian Renaissance. It contributes to our increasingly nuanced understand of Augustine’s enduring relevance in this period, as well. The commission for the 'Noli me tangere' compelled Andrea to engage with some of the most ancient ideals of the Christian faith. And Andrea’s artistic decisions serve as indices of the religious knowledge he acquired as a result.

This paper is an investigation into the study of spirituality in art as a universal human experience from the perspective of phenomenology. This research paper, will explore through careful consideration of themes, evident in a critical analysis of varied artworks how the philosophy of phenomenology, both in the making and viewing of artworks is evident .This paper will also explain why the approach of phenomenology as a foundational aspect of primary philosophy as understood through the creating and viewing of art, resulting in artworks being experienced, as opposed to artworks simply understood through cerebral discourse and analysis

This is the title page contents, intro, conclusion and bibliography of my Master thesis (full paper is 16, 564 words).
When looking at Wojtyla’s poetic output, it became clear to me that an understanding of his formation as an artist in Poland, which during the years of the Second World War came together with his spiritual formation, is central to understanding his specific role in the fall of the Communist regime in Central Europe. My study, coupled with Wojtyla’s interpretation of the Rhapsodic Theatre, reveals his view of the unique role of culture in a nation’s history, and also how the Rhapsodic Method is “one piece” with his poetry, as well as an extremely effective methodology when applied on the world stage. This study outlines the historical and political context in which Wojtyla grew up - which notably connected art with the struggle for spiritual and national freedom - to a setting out of Wojtyla’s interpretation of Rhapsodic Theatre in his own words. When looking at Wojtyla’s poetry, which I see as an extension of the Rhapsodic Method, the work of the poet Cyprian Norwid is presented as a key figure to understand Wojtyla’s unique writing and placing it in the system of contemporary poetics. The devices of 'contemplative' or meditative writing are drawn out. For the research element I devised a workshop - 'The Place Within' and ran with 2 groups; people are invited to interact with KW's poetry. The results are written up in order to extrapolate how KW's poetry may be used to help those on a spiritual journey. 
Email me if interested to read whole chapters.

Human beings express their emotions through the language of art; it is therefore both the spirit of progress and one of the most important means of developing emotions. Consequently, those who cannot make use of this means are incomplete in their maturation. Ideas and other products of the imagination can be given tangible form with the magical key of art. By means of art, humanity can exceed the limits of the earth and reach feelings beyond time and space. Beauty in the realm of existence can be recognized through art. Moreover, the great abilities inherent in human nature can be understood and witnessed in works of art. However, from an Islamic point of view, there are some restrictions on certain fields such as sculpture and painting. It is therefore imperative to analyse the notion of art in Islam and its philosophy and then reflect upon the need of the spirit to connect to God through the language of art while meeting some religious obstacles on the way.

This is a short description that I wrote about my recent monumental sculpture "The New Being" for Sufism Reoriented's new Sanctuary in the Bay Area designed by Alan Ritchie of the Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architectural firm, NYC. See Page 9. (Misspelled my last name!)

This article extends the realm of spiritual experiences to art and nature-based experiences by adopting a phenomenological heuristic methodology. This enquiry's approach consists in comparing the language found to describe the phenomenology of non-ordinary experiences in James's classic text of religious and mystical experiences, with (a) Funch's metastudy on the psychology of aesthetic appreciations, and (b) Ashley's enquiry about Wilderness Spirituality or Nature-Based Experiences. In the first part of the enquiry, Elkins et al.'s humanistic-phenomenological definition of spirituality is accepted as a guiding heuristic principle. Their assumption of experience as the core of spirituality finds further support from McGilchrist's more recent Divided Brain theory, which looks at the role played by the, metaphorically speaking, Right Hemisphere for nature, art and religion. In the second part, a textual analysis is carried out among the three texts, which aims at bringing out the experiential similarities within different contexts (religion, art and nature). The textual approach allows for non-religious experiences to be reclassified as phenomenologically analogous to the spiritual ones and for extending spirituality's field of studies to other non-religious disciplines. Steve Taylor's wider theorization of spontaneous awakening experiences (SAE) provides for a more comprehensive classificatory system in which to place aesthetic experiences (AE) and Nature-Based Experiences (NBE) within the expanded class of awakening experiences, hence reconciliating Funch's original aesthetic classification with a wider definition of spirituality.

This short paper (6 pages) is a talk given by Sarah Fordham to the Churches Coordinating Spirituality Group 29th September 2010. She shares her story about how art - and poetry in particular - ‘found’ her and set her on a spiritual quest. Also included are thoughts about  being an artist and a Christian and why it is important to talk about this subject in our current culture climate in the West.

The two small figures in the cosmic landscape of my monotype reveal themselves to me as Dante and Virgil. Dante, in spite of his deepest fears, has willingly followed his guide through the terrors of the Inferno. Now, in the final Canto, Virgil begins to lead Dante into Purgatorio. It is a a place of conscious acceptance of the arduous healing of wrongdoing, but also a place of forgiveness and a promise of the coming Light. There is no way back - only forward up the mountain. ~ Everything awaits.

Mediaalinen taide ja monet siihen läheisesti liittyvät termit (kuten esimerkiksi spiritualistinen taide ja kirjallisuus, kanavoitu taide tai automaattikirjoitus) on historian saatossa kiinnitetty erilaisiin arvottaviin luokitteluihin ja toiseuttamisen käytäntöihin. Jo 1800-luvun loppupuolella termit yhdistettiin hysteriaan ja muihin patologisina pidettyihin mielentiloihin ja 1940-luvulla ne sisällytettiin ulkopuoliseen tai "toiseen taiteeseen" viittaavan art bruttermin alle. Kahdessa, eri tieteenaloja edustavien tutkijoiden esityksistä koostetussa sessiossa pohditaan ja arvioidaan uudelleen näitä mediaalisen taiteen ja kirjallisuuden rajoja. Millainen mediaalisen taiteen käsite on hedelmällinen 1800-luvulla ja 1900-luvun alussa toimineiden taiteilijoita ja kirjailijoita tutkittaessa? Entä miten välttyä toisintamasta niitä arvottavia luokitteluja ja toiseuttamisen käytäntöjä, joihin mediaalisen taiteen käsitteellinen historia kietoutuu?

This paper frames feminist theorizing related to the intersectionality of post-colonial indigenous philosophies -- taken as a challenge to sovereignty -- as understood in nation-sustaining and facing the reconceiving empowerment within indigenous communities based on gender and sexual differences, Presented at the FEAST 2017 (The Association for Feminist Ethics & Social Theory) Decolonizing & Indigenizing Feminist Philosophy Conference 5-8, Oct 2017 @ Sheraton Sand Key Resort, Clearwater Beach, FL, USA.

As organizers commenced a gathering to arrange the 2nd International Conference:  “Viriditas – Grünkraft – Green Power of Life” to “herald” Hildegard von Bingen's great enthusiasm for the divine Feminine, we were reminded in doing so, how true today these words' rang as much as it was in her own time, providing an alternative path to the fundamentalist views in belief systems that “revere the dominating power of the authoritarian mind” shifting the balance off the intuitive aspects of ourselves.

At this highly provocative conjunction of transit, commerce and divinity (Kölner Domplatte being the number one tourist destination for the nation's natives) we found ourselves inspired by Hildegard's model of dialogue (through an authentic embrace of her feminist forum) to “intermediate” oppressive expressions of the journeys, struggles, and refugee reflections experienced as disenfranchisement and alienation.

Via Hildegard's sacred, artistic, theological, medicinal and ecological stories and imaginings, we began to explore how might feminist philosophy become a transforming discipline in relation to a broadly construed approached to more humane appreciation of indigenous thought, experience and the decolonizing/recolonizing process.
Opening link in article:
https://clairehubble.com/2016/01/07/why-blaming-women-for-cologne-new-years-eve-attacks-undermines-the-problem/

ABSTRACT. This chapter deals with visual artworks as media of divine revelation. Since the third century, Christianity as a religion of revelation is using images to transmit knowledge of God and His action in history. These pictures rate among the oldest communication media of revelation. Apse mosaics of late antique churches served anagogical purposes leading beyond the pictorial work to transcendent realities. Placed intentionally above the altar, Christ’s sacramental presence was given a visual form through his pictorial presence. In the Middle Ages, the perception of images could represent the beginning of anagogical ascent towards the transcendent divine. In the Renaissance occurred a rhetorical shift. Gazes and pointing gestures of the figures in a perspectival space draw the viewer’s attention to the stage-like performance of the divine. The Baroque rhetoric of visionary revelations deployed theatrical and illusionistic features. In contemporary history, the issue of revelation in art became frequently controversial because the concord between artistic self-expression and the Judeo-Christian understanding of revelation was no longer a given. Many vanguard artists shaped their work as aesthetical expression of their spiritual ideas (Kandinsky, Newman). At present, the individual responses to divine revelation continue (Lüpertz, Pawson).

This article presents the first systematic examination of the work of the underrated Greek painter Frixos Aristeus (1879-1951). It contextualises Aristeus’s oeuvre by highlighting the historical specificities of the interaction between occultism and Greek symbolism in the early twentieth century. It is specifically concerned with the ways Aristeus integrated theosophical and spiritualist ideas into his art theoretical treatise, Light from Darkness and Darkness from Light (mid-1930s) and his allegorical paintings. Aristeus’s optic is informed by neo-romantic concepts about art as a locus of sacralisation and the artist as the prophet who is endowed with the task of conveying unseen realities to the wider audience. His intensive religious and epistemological searching aimed, as shall be shown, at interweaving Christian with occult ideas. In this blending, Aristeus preferred a representational art expressive of spiritual ideas that also characterised the work of other theosophically-influenced artists of his era. Through this case study the article aspires to shed light on the impact that processes of re-enchantment might have exerted upon modern visual culture in Greece.

Le présent volume explore les échanges entre esthétique et spiritualité au premier âge moderne. Alors qu’on a eu tendance à étudier ces deux champs indépendamment ou à les penser dans leur succession chronologique (l’ère de l’image/l’ère de l’art), comme dans leur opposition structurelle et idéologique (discours laïc/discours religieux), il s’agit ici d’envisager leur dialogue et leur confrontation à travers dif-férents lieux, parmi lesquels la littérature artistique, la littérature spirituelle, la littérature ekphrastique, l’emblématique, la poétique, la rhétorique... En portant l’attention sur le rôle de l’inspiration, de la con-templation, de l’imitation, du prodige, du langage, de l’imagination, de l’entendement..., sont mises ainsi en évidence les modalités selon lesquelles les arts et la littérature ont pu s’approprier certains éléments du discours théologique relatif à la représentation, et comment, en retour, la littérature spirituelle a pu reconnaître et exploiter sa dimension esthétique en empruntant à la théorie littéraire et artistique.

The Early Beginning of the Conflict between Good and Evil, and its First Impact on Art

Άρθρο του Μουχάμαντ Σαμσαντίν (τότε Κοσμά) Μεγαλομμάτη στο περιοδικό Τρίτο Μάτι, 18 (Σεπτέμβριος 1992), σελ. 62-65

Article by Muhammad Shamsaddin (then Cosmas) Megalommatis in the monthly review Trito Mati (Third Eye), 18 (September 1992), p. 62-65

First published online on 3rd June 2021 here:
https://profmegalommatistextsingreek.wordpress.com/2021/06/03/η-απαρχή-της-σύγκρουσης-καλού-κακού-κα/

This article proposes an interpretative study of Daren Aronofsky and Ari Handel's film Noah (2014). Our main assertion is that the film attempts to present a contemporary interpretation of the biblical flood story by incorporating values and urgent issues of the 21st century Western society, such as environmentalism, fundamentalism and eco-feminism. The paper details various traditions that serve as inspirations to the filmmakers in the re-telling of the flood myth, and elaborates on the midrashic traditions that were intertwined – or else omitted – in the process of creating the innovative cinematic midrash. It also points to the psychologization of God in the film and its theological implications.

The relationship between calligraphy and mysticism has a unique inner dynamic in Islam. Arabic calligraphy has been cultivated for centuries in the context of pious everyday practice of the Sufis and Dervishes. From the symbolic interpretation of the letters to the breathing technique-calligraphy and Sufi mysticism share many similarities. Many Muslim calligraphers were drawn to the spiritual teachings of the Sufis and were often followers of the Sufi Order themselves. The Sufis, on the other hand, found in calligraphy the appropriate artistic expression to visualize their contemplation of the Koranic word and thus to exercise their spirituality.

http://www.aaciaegypt.com/?p=11916&fbclid=IwAR1fH9Y0wvNmBZgNHNv8gGF5Ef0PDh59o8D7OIZRZjoZpqmy7tLkNboRmks&lang=en

The study provides an overview of the work of Charles Ives (1874-1954), the 'father figure' of independent American classical music, with special regard to his hermetic and oecumenical aspects and the belated international reception mainly stemming from these same aspects. Ives is now considered one of the greatest in the 20th century; however, this recognition has developed through the unfolding of postmodern musical sensitivity and through the realization that music can still be a privileged aesthetic form of human spiritual orientation.