ART AND RELIGION AS COMMUNICATION

by James & F. W. Dillistone -- Eds. Waddell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1974

These eight essays attempt to bridge the gap between religion and art by defining both essentially as processes of the constructive imagination, with each having its own means of ordering experience and its own language to express that ordering. Both, in other words, are viewed as means of communicating reality. The contributions reflect various aspects of that theme. John Dixon, for instance, describes the artist as a cartographer of the inner life who -- by structuring space, time, material and cause -- helps man achieve a consciousness of his own identity. W. R. Comstock discusses the achievement of McLuhan as the formalist of technological culture. The most stimulating piece, and the most intelligible, is by Peter F. Smith on ""Architectural Environment and Psychological Needs,"" in which he argues that ""contemporary"" architecture fails to respond to some of contemporary man's basic needs. This is not an easy book, even for a reader familiar with the jargon of the plastic arts and communication. Nonetheless, the interested theologian or artist will find several of the essays well worth the effort.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: John Knox

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION