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1、“UnveilingtheSacredinContemporaryArt”RichardD.HechtandLindaEkstromDepartmentsofReligiousStudiesandStudioArtUniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbaraCulturalTurnIIITheProfaneandtheSacredUniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara24February,2001Artandreligionhavealon
2、gintertwinedhistoryofsubjectmatter,conceptualization,representation,patronage,anduse.Few,wethink,wouldquestionthepowerofthatsymbiotichistory.Yet,formanyartistsandtheirinterpreters,whatoncewasanessential,natural,andorganicconnectionbetweenthereligiouse
3、xperienceandartisticrepresentationhasbeenallbutbroken.Thedissolutionofthatessentialbondisnotthesubjectofthispaper.WemighthowevernotethatthetransformationofartisticpatronagethathasitsrootsintheRenaissance,theriseofmuseums,andthefragmentationofartistict
4、raditionallcontributedandperhapsacceleratedthebreak.Certainly,manyartistsmightsaythatthecenturywehavejustpassedthroughhaswitnessedtoomuchviolenceandbrutalitywhichtheybelievehasitsorigininreligiousintolerance.Theymightunderstandthemselvesassocialcritic
5、s,asstandingintheprophetictraditionofthewest,theprophetictraditionwhichwastheimplacablecriticofastatusquoandtheshortcomingsofsociallife.LikethegreatprophetsoftheHebrewBible,artistshaveseensomethingofaworldthatcouldbebetterthantheoneinwhichtheyandwehav
6、ebeenmired.Againsttheeventsofthispastcentury,evenmorethanthenineteencentury,theyhavelearnedtodistrustreligion,andtheyhaveturnedtheirbacksuponit.Orsomanyartistsandtheirofficialcriticsandinterpreterswouldwantustobelieve.Theproblemismademorecomplexbythen
7、atureoftheinstitutionsinwhichartistsaretrainedandthediscoursesthatvalidatetheirwork.Manyartistsaretrainedinthehighlysecularizedenvironmentsoftheuniversityandartinstitute,andthusmayhaveonlythemostrudimentaryfamiliaritywithinterpretivelanguagesforunders
8、tandingreligion.Likewiseartcriticism,whichhasoftenbeenschooledintheverysameenvironments,mayonlyspeakthelanguageofsecularismandbeunabletorecognizeorexplicateanybutthemostobviousreligiouswork.Thelanguageofcriticismmayconcealmorethanitreveals.Mus