Sacred Art in Culture today

Sacred Art in Culture today

The word art comes from the Latin stem ar which means to fit together. The word religion is probably related to religare, to bind. And the word culture derives from colere, to worship (hence cult) and to till. These etymologies reflect the profound fact that throughout history art and religion have been inexplicably linked. The purpose and inspiration for devotional art has traditionally been to join and bind together our world and divine world.
The first paintings – the cave paintings – anthropologists believe fulfilled some sort of shamanic function; Greek art reflected a realm of ideal beauty; Chinese art was a focus of Taoist meditation; African masks were used as part of sacred dances; Islamic calligraphy and architecture reflects the divine order revealed in geometry; and of course the Christian icon, our main subject here, acts as a door or window between heaven and earth.

Approximately from the Renaissance onwards the west has gradually sundered art from its spiritual roots. As a result we are no longer sure if there is value in new devotional sacred art. Today we have a plethora of art movements, demarcations of style, technique and mixed media. Artists who posses restlessness, angst, the search for stimulation through novelty – the shock of the new - the exaltation of one isolated truth – Abstract energy with color and vibration are all features of secular art. These movements are the natural fruit of artist’s autonomy and individual expression. For me the individual expression does not hold up if it is outside the source. We are becoming more accustomed to art which is independent from the divine, and this has affected Christian art in church.

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