An Aesthetic Approach to Religion

The cultivation and appreciation of art and beauty — or aesthetics — is integral to religious traditions the world over. Nearly all religions reserve some form of art for devotional purposes. Individuals are often inspired to create works of art to express their faith or reverence for a sacred entity. Varied forms of music are employed by religions globally as expressions of belief. Even the beat of a drum can serve as a call to faith or a means to convey an affective desire. And many religions use certain carefully stylized physical postures or movements to support spiritual experience

Material culture pulses with themes that evoke and provoke religious observance and communicate much about belief. In North America, for example, religious symbols pervade nearly every dimension of lived experience. Everywhere, the faiths of the world are embedded in cultural customs that create or ascribe to human experience that which might be regarded as beautiful. Aesthetics is inseparable from our human sensory experi-ence and our cultural, social, and religious history. In this chapter, S. Brent Plate explores the terrain of aesthetics in relation to religion and religious practices