Aesthetics of Religion

Aesthetics of Religion

Author: Alexandra K. Grieser

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2017-12-18

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 3110460459

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This volume is the first English language presentation of the innovative approaches developed in the aesthetics of religion. The chapters present diverse material and detailed analysis on descriptive, methodological and theoretical concepts that together explore the potential of an aesthetic approach for investigating religion as a sensory and mediated practice. In dialogue with, yet different from, other major movements in the field (material culture, anthropology of the senses, for instance), it is the specific intent of this approach to create a framework for understanding the interplay between sensory, cognitive and socio-cultural aspects of world-construction. The volume demonstrates that aesthetics, as a theory of sensory knowledge, offers an elaborate repertoire of concepts that can help to understand religious traditions. These approaches take into account contemporary developments in scientific theories of perception, neuro-aesthetics and cultural studies, highlighting the socio-cultural and political context informing how humans perceive themselves and the world around them. Developing since the 1990s, the aesthetic approach has responded to debates in the study of religion, in particular striving to overcome biased categories that confined religion either to texts and abstract beliefs, or to an indisputable sui generis mode of experience. This volume documents what has been achieved to date, its significance for the study of religion and for interdisciplinary scholarship.


The Aesthetics and Ethics of Faith

The Aesthetics and Ethics of Faith

Author: Christopher D. Tirres

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2014-01-17

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0199352542

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What is the future of liberation thought in the Americas? In this groundbreaking work, Christopher D. Tirres takes up this question by looking at the methodological connections between two quintessentially American traditions: liberation theology and pragmatism. He explains how pragmatism lends philosophical clarity and depth to some of liberation theology's core ideas and assumptions. Liberation theology in turn offers pragmatism a more nuanced and sympathetic approach to religious faith, especially its social and pedagogical dimensions. Ultimately, Tirres crafts a philosophical foundation that ensures the continued relevance of liberation thought in today's world. Keeping true to the method of pragmatism, the book begins inductively with a set of actual experiences-- the Good Friday liturgies at the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas-- and provides a compelling description of the way these performative rituals integrate the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of faith. Subsequent chapters probe this integration deductively at three levels of theoretical analysis: experience/metaphysics, sociality, and pedagogy. As Tirres shows, the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of faith emerge in different yet related ways at all three levels. He argues that utilizing the categories of the aesthetic and ethical enables a richer understanding of the dynamic relationship between faith and politics. This book builds new bridges between a number of discourses and key figures, and will be of interest to all who are interested in the liberatory potential of engaged faith praxis, especially when it is expressed in the form of religious ritual.


International Handbook of the Religious, Moral and Spiritual Dimensions in Education

International Handbook of the Religious, Moral and Spiritual Dimensions in Education

Author: Marian de Souza

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-06-04

Total Pages: 1417

ISBN-13: 1402052464

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In today’s pluralistic world, many cultures feel a shift in the relationship of people with religious traditions. A corresponding movement is a resurgence of interest in human spirituality. This Handbook presents the views of education scholars who engage these concepts every day, in a collection of essays reflecting the international state of the discipline. Out of these rises a vision for the emergence of a just and peaceful world.


On Holy Ground: The Theory and Practice of Religious Education

On Holy Ground: The Theory and Practice of Religious Education

Author: Liam Gearon

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-07-18

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1136304444

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Religion has had notable and renewed prominence in contemporary public and political life. Religious questions have also been freshly examined in philosophy and theology, the natural sciences, the social sciences, psychology, phenomenology, politics and the arts. These fields reflect complex, multi-disciplinary understandings of religion, some hostile, some accommodating. For religious education this has all contributed to its own international renaissance. Religious education, in ensuring it is contemporary, shares with these fields the same criticality, the same distance between the study of religion and the religious life. Yet what are the grounds of this modern religious education? Through a systematic historical and contemporary cross-disciplinary analysis, answering this question is the ambitious task of the book. Chapters include: philosophy, theology and religious education the natural sciences and religious education the social sciences and religious education psychology, spirituality and religious education phenomenology and religious education the politics of religious education the aesthetics of religious education. The central problem of all modern religious education remains this: what are the grounds of religious education when religious education is no longer grounded in the religious life, in the life of the holy? Although this primarily appears to be an epistemological problem, it soon becomes a moral and existential one. The book will be of key interest to teachers, theorists and researchers working in religious education.


The Aesthetic Dimensions of Educational Administration & Leadership

The Aesthetic Dimensions of Educational Administration & Leadership

Author: Eugenie A. Samier

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-11-22

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1134200730

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The question of aesthetics as a theoretical framework for thinking about modern leadership issues in educational settings is an emergent area of inquiry that is receiving considerable attention. There is a growing sense that the mechanistic approach to leadership, which has been widely encouraged over the last ten years, is sterile and that a more philosophical approach is now required. This approach is covered here, taking into account the importance of aesthetics on all aspects of the administrative and leadership world: the ways ideas and ideals are created, how their expression is conveyed, the impact they have on interpersonal relationships and the organisational environment that carries and reinforces them and the moral boundaries or limits that can be established or exceeded. While presenting a significant departure from conventional studies in the field, the international contributors reflect a continuity of thought on administrative and leadership authority, from the writings of Plato through to current theory.


Global Perspectives on Catholic Religious Education in Schools

Global Perspectives on Catholic Religious Education in Schools

Author: Michael T. Buchanan

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-03-01

Total Pages: 653

ISBN-13: 9811361274

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This book shares global perspectives on Catholic religious education in schools, chiefly focusing on educational and curriculum issues that take into account the theology and the pedagogy which support learning in connection with Catholic religious education. Further, it offers insights into the distinctive contribution that Catholic religious education makes to religious education and education in general across diverse schooling contexts. Bringing together insights from leading scholars and experts on Catholic religious education around the globe, the book offers an essential reference guide for all those involved in researching, planning and designing curricula for Catholic religious education, as well as developing related theories in the field.


When Art Disrupts Religion

When Art Disrupts Religion

Author: Philip Salim Francis

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0190279761

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When Art Disrupts Religion lays bare the power of encounters with the arts to unsettle and overturn deeply ingrained religious beliefs and practices. Grounded in the accounts of more than 80 Evangelicals who experienced such a sea-change of religious identity, the book bridges the gap between aesthetic theory and lived religion, while exploring the interrelationship of religion and art in the modern West.


MasterClass in Religious Education

MasterClass in Religious Education

Author: Liam Gearon

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-03-28

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1441154221

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A comprehensive guide to religious education, ensuring a solid foundation for supporting effective learning and teaching.


And We Shall Learn through the Dance

And We Shall Learn through the Dance

Author: Kathleen S. Turner

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2021-07-28

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1532619499

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Liturgical dance is a way to present, reflect, instruct, learn, study, and share religious beliefs with one’s self, within one’s worship community, and with one’s God. Such a belief is confirmed and witnessed within a variety of religious settings throughout the world from the beginning of time to this present age. However, there is a vacuum of resources that connect liturgical dance within the Christian context as a tool for religious learning within the field of religious education. With the continual rise of liturgical dance as an artistic form of expression, this book proposes that liturgical dance offers unique attributes conducive to the teaching and learning of faith and to faith formation. Kathleen S. Turner shows how liturgical dance is religious education in two very important ways: first, by addressing the power and potential liturgical dance has in nourishing the faith life of Christian congregants through means that are both educative and reflective; and second, by giving examples of how liturgical dance can be implemented as a religious-education tool within the teaching life of the church.