Cover of book: Encountering Art
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Encountering Art

Theological Approaches to Visuality
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 2026

Summary

How can the experience of visual art point us towards the transcendent? The essays collected in this volume pursue this question from a theological perspective in the encounter with artworks of a variety of genres and epochs, from baroque sculpture to abstract painting and film musicals. The authors argue that in order to understand the possibility of such an experience as a moment of revelation and relationship with the divine, the materiality of the work and the embodied existence of viewer and artist have to be taken into account. Drawing on phenomenology, visual theory, and cultural studies, the volume contributes to an aesthetic theology that takes seriously the sensory dimension of the encounter with art. This title is also available as Open Access.



Bibliographic data

Edition
1/2026
Copyright Year
2026
ISBN-Print
978-3-7560-4069-8
ISBN-Online
978-3-7489-6995-2
Publisher
Nomos, Baden-Baden
Series
Media and Religion | Medien und Religion
Volume
11
Language
English
Pages
295
Product Type
Monograph

Table of contents

ChapterPages
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    1. Preface
    2. Acknowledgements
  2. Theological Encounters with Visuality. Introduction Pages 13 - 52
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  3. Chapter 1: The ›Profane‹ Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. Reconsidering ›Sacred‹ Art and the Spiritual Significance of Aesthetic Experience Pages 53 - 80
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  4. Chapter 2: The Nomadic Aura. Reflections on the Encounter with Art in Conversation with Walter Benjamin Pages 81 - 112
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  5. Chapter 3: Presence/Absence in Blue. Art, Reception, and Transcendence Pages 113 - 144
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  6. Chapter 4: Seeing the Invisible, Feeling the Visible. Michel Henry on Aesthetics and Abstraction Pages 145 - 162
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  7. Chapter 5: Aisthetic Theology. Sensory Knowing and Believing Pages 163 - 188
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  8. Chapter 6: Glass, Soil, and Feathers. An Encounter with Contemporary Liturgical Art Pages 189 - 216
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  9. Chapter 7: Street Art as Sacred Space. Heterotopia, Play, and Expansive Imagination Pages 217 - 248
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  10. Chapter 8: The Utopian Longing of Musicals. Experiencing Transcendence in Entertainment Pages 249 - 284
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  11. Writings on Art and Theology by Davide Zordan. Selected BibliographyPages 285 - 286 Download chapter (PDF)
  12. IndexPages 287 - 294 Download chapter (PDF)

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