Frank Burch Brown
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195158724
- eISBN:
- 9780199849567
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195158724.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Unlike issues of theology and morality, Christians find issues of aesthetic taste to be inconsequential. Taste is not exactly irrelevant to Christians as several congregations have addressed ...
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Unlike issues of theology and morality, Christians find issues of aesthetic taste to be inconsequential. Taste is not exactly irrelevant to Christians as several congregations have addressed arguments regarding worship style, music, and the use of both contemporary and traditional forms of media. Also, outside the church, Christians have had discriminating opinions about the styles of entertainment and art today. However, a big deal is not made out of such issues because the Bible never said anything about such issues, and those who do care are perceived to be aesthetes and elitists. Christians who love art would assert that aesthetics is not the core of religion and spirituality, and this chapter takes on artistic taste in the concept of theology and religion.Less
Unlike issues of theology and morality, Christians find issues of aesthetic taste to be inconsequential. Taste is not exactly irrelevant to Christians as several congregations have addressed arguments regarding worship style, music, and the use of both contemporary and traditional forms of media. Also, outside the church, Christians have had discriminating opinions about the styles of entertainment and art today. However, a big deal is not made out of such issues because the Bible never said anything about such issues, and those who do care are perceived to be aesthetes and elitists. Christians who love art would assert that aesthetics is not the core of religion and spirituality, and this chapter takes on artistic taste in the concept of theology and religion.
Frank Burch Brown
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195158724
- eISBN:
- 9780199849567
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195158724.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Christians frequently come into conflict with themselves and others over such matters as music, popular culture, and worship style. Yet they usually lack any theology of art or taste adequate to deal ...
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Christians frequently come into conflict with themselves and others over such matters as music, popular culture, and worship style. Yet they usually lack any theology of art or taste adequate to deal with aesthetic disputes. This book offers a constructive, “ecumenical” approach to artistic taste and aesthetic judgment—a non-elitist but discriminating theological aesthetics that has “teeth but no fangs.” While grounded in history and theory, this book takes up such practical questions as: How can one religious community accommodate a variety of artistic tastes? What good or harm can be done by importing music that is worldly in origin into a house of worship? How can the exercise of taste in the making of art be a viable (and sometimes advanced) spiritual discipline? In exploring the complex relation between taste, religious imagination, and faith, this book offers a new perspective on what it means to be spiritual, religious, and Christian.Less
Christians frequently come into conflict with themselves and others over such matters as music, popular culture, and worship style. Yet they usually lack any theology of art or taste adequate to deal with aesthetic disputes. This book offers a constructive, “ecumenical” approach to artistic taste and aesthetic judgment—a non-elitist but discriminating theological aesthetics that has “teeth but no fangs.” While grounded in history and theory, this book takes up such practical questions as: How can one religious community accommodate a variety of artistic tastes? What good or harm can be done by importing music that is worldly in origin into a house of worship? How can the exercise of taste in the making of art be a viable (and sometimes advanced) spiritual discipline? In exploring the complex relation between taste, religious imagination, and faith, this book offers a new perspective on what it means to be spiritual, religious, and Christian.
Frank Burch Brown
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195158724
- eISBN:
- 9780199849567
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195158724.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Not everyone who is perceived to be religious or follows a spiritual path is gifted with a keen taste for the arts, or chooses to practice this taste. The pursuit of true religion, however, because ...
More
Not everyone who is perceived to be religious or follows a spiritual path is gifted with a keen taste for the arts, or chooses to practice this taste. The pursuit of true religion, however, because of popular imagination, is believed to entail the absence of or drawing away from artistic delights. Religious traditions assert that some aspects of the arts and particular styles of art can be edifying or useful, and that other forms of art may have corruptive implications. Religion, in this case, becomes selective about general and abstract art for a number of reasons: certain religions are grounded on cultures in which art is a very important element; the shared identity of a combination of varied kinds of art like choral singing, stained glass, painting, and other such forms cannot be perceived; and products of religious art may not be valued the same way when placed in a museum than when situated in religious venues such as churches and temples.Less
Not everyone who is perceived to be religious or follows a spiritual path is gifted with a keen taste for the arts, or chooses to practice this taste. The pursuit of true religion, however, because of popular imagination, is believed to entail the absence of or drawing away from artistic delights. Religious traditions assert that some aspects of the arts and particular styles of art can be edifying or useful, and that other forms of art may have corruptive implications. Religion, in this case, becomes selective about general and abstract art for a number of reasons: certain religions are grounded on cultures in which art is a very important element; the shared identity of a combination of varied kinds of art like choral singing, stained glass, painting, and other such forms cannot be perceived; and products of religious art may not be valued the same way when placed in a museum than when situated in religious venues such as churches and temples.
Joshua Tucker
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226923956
- eISBN:
- 9780226923970
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226923970.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Exploring Peru’s lively music industry and the studio producers, radio DJs, and program directors that drive it, this book is an account of the deliberate development of artistic taste. Focusing on ...
More
Exploring Peru’s lively music industry and the studio producers, radio DJs, and program directors that drive it, this book is an account of the deliberate development of artistic taste. Focusing on popular huayno music and the ways it has been promoted to Peru’s emerging middle class, the author tells a complex story of identity making and the marketing forces entangled with it, providing insights into the dynamics among art, class, and ethnicity that reach far beyond the Andes. He focuses on the music of Ayacucho, Peru, examining how media workers and intellectuals there transformed the city’s huayno music into the country’s most popular style. By marketing contemporary huayno against its traditional counterpart, these agents, the author argues, have paradoxically reinforced ethnic hierarchies at the same time that they have challenged them. Navigating between a burgeoning Andean bourgeoisie and a music industry eager to sell them symbols of newfound sophistication, the book is an account of the real people behind cultural change.Less
Exploring Peru’s lively music industry and the studio producers, radio DJs, and program directors that drive it, this book is an account of the deliberate development of artistic taste. Focusing on popular huayno music and the ways it has been promoted to Peru’s emerging middle class, the author tells a complex story of identity making and the marketing forces entangled with it, providing insights into the dynamics among art, class, and ethnicity that reach far beyond the Andes. He focuses on the music of Ayacucho, Peru, examining how media workers and intellectuals there transformed the city’s huayno music into the country’s most popular style. By marketing contemporary huayno against its traditional counterpart, these agents, the author argues, have paradoxically reinforced ethnic hierarchies at the same time that they have challenged them. Navigating between a burgeoning Andean bourgeoisie and a music industry eager to sell them symbols of newfound sophistication, the book is an account of the real people behind cultural change.
