About

Religion and the Arts seeks to explore religious experience and expression in the verbal, visual and performing arts, in the context of contemporary theory and culture. While there exists a rich and varied scholarship on the religious dimension in the arts, Religion and the Arts encourages the development of new religious critical discourses, in order to explore neglected dimensions of works of art, and open up new possibilities for the field.

Religion and the Arts is an interdisciplinary publication where interpretations of old and new works can appear. We look for explorations of new terrain as well as summaries and critiques of existing scholarship. We seek discussion of modern artistic works which explore religious insights, and look for new ways of talking about traditional religious experiences in the arts. We are interested in the relation of spirituality to daily life, politics, gender concerns, and developmental issues, as these are explored in works of art. We encourage articles sensitive to modern explorations of heterogeneity and pluralism, material culture and sign systems, power relationships, and issues of exploitation and unmindfulness. But we believe that ancient traditions of religious spirituality—whether of East or West, North or South—may provide profitable hints and directions for developing these interests.

Literary critical discourse in our time has had a powerful influence on critical discourse in the visual and performing arts, as well as on philosophy, theology, and many other fields. We hope to encounter the current discourse in creative and cooperative ways. At the same time, Religion and the Arts believes that all those working on the critical frontiers of each of the arts can make important contributions to the development of religious criticism.