Arts Roundup: Bringing the Religion Back to Rastafarianism and the Greatest Spiritual Document in the Christian Art Canon
March 22nd, 2007 by Menachem Wecker
Joseph Israel’s album brings religion back into Rastafarianism, with maintaining its political stance.
[PopMatters]
Amid a somewhat tribalistic post on how Jews should share their truths with members of other faiths, without reciprocating, Yitzchok Adlerstein moves to the question of embracing art of other faiths: “Could I be inspired by religious art, music, drama? Undoubtedly yes. But I think that it is forbidden under the rubric al tifnu el ha-ellilim [”Do not worship idols”]. I am not prepared to sacrifice one iota of halacha [Jewish Law], chas v’shalom [God forbid], to engage people of other communities.”
[Cross-Currents]
The Islamic Council of North America is cosponsoring Arts & Islam USA Tour with a bunch of organizations. Included is an artist who combines graffiti art and Islamic calligraphy.
Bach’s “miraculous” St. Matthew Passion, is “a musically minor moment in a work regarded by some as the greatest spiritual document in the canon of Christian art,” and yet also “quasi-Buddhist. Life is suffering. Death is the end of struggle.”
[LA Times]
My article Jewish Women Artists Talk About Their Work (Part One) is in this week’s Jewish Press. More on this to follow.