The Task of Theological Humanism
142
vity, but also empower one to be something more. If, for example, I sense that the work of art undercuts or overturns my own sense of self and world, and presents me with a higher standard of integrity than I had previously The work may not only challenge one’s world and one’s sense of subjecti-
known, then the work of art presents a the work of art confronts my world and sense of self with a meaning that I must admit is superior to the views with which I have been living. The work not only challenges one to change one’s life and fills one with the sacred or spiritual dimension. In this case
sense that life cannot continue as before, it also concretely gives a new sense of the integrity of life. This gift fills one with feelings of awe, humility, reso-lution, and gratitude. If these feelings, along with accompanying intuitions and visions of possibility, can form a new basis of motivation in life, then the
art is sacred.paradoxical, because it embraces two opposite meanings. The new sense of selfhood is donated to one through the work of art as something that is The experience of a sacred or spiritual dimension to the work of art is most
my ownSecond, one experiences the gift of consciousness in the work of art as at the same time own life as a gift from another – from God or the universe or the artist – but ; it enables one to become the one I truly am as a human being. not at all one’s own. Through the work of art one receives one’s
not from oneself. In such a case, the work of art manifests and enables spiri embodied coHow does this model of visual art relate to current debate?tual presence experienced nsciousness. in and through a material object that is an
In our time, art is in a crisis that is at once a blessing and a curse. If any-thing can be art, then nothing is art or everything is art. Visual art is free to The Plight of Contemporary Art
relate in new ways to its own history and to the traditional materials of art. In this way, the situation of art is analogous to the current condition of theology, as explored in chapter 3. How so? According to Arthur Danto, there are four major eras in the development of art toward its “end.” (^28) To
review these eras is helpful, because they reveal how reflective goods may appear in art as a mask of mind, and it has an analogy to the crisis of theology in the West.The first period spans the ancient and medieval worlds, lasting until
approximately 1400. This period is called “pre-art.”objects that we would think of as art objects were produced and venerated^29 In the era of pre-art,