I first connected with Kate Shellnutt on Twitter (where she has twohandles). I was very excited to be a part of her article “This Muslim-American life: Allah and the Arts,” which she wrote as a journalism student at Medill. Shellnutt has since graduated and now works on the Houston Chronicle’s religion page, where she continues to write on many of the topics which are most important to me. It was obvious that I had to formally interview here, and I think readers might find particular relevance and insight in her view of the role of religion reporters.
MW: Was there a particular experience or revelatory moment when you first decided covering religion was your passion?
KS: I don’t have a crazy story. I’ve wanted to be a journalist since I was little, and majored in journalism and religion in college (Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va.). I’ve spent most of my life very curious about religion and very concerned about religion, but without strong ties to a single tradition. Studying and covering religion has given me the opportunity to explore a spectrum of beliefs. I have the chance see how different people experience the sacred, which in the end, is the most magical, special, meaningful thing we get to do.
MW: What is a day in the life of a web producer and blogger for the Houston Chronicle’s religion site like?
KS: Several times a day, I check up on religion news online: blogs, mainstream sites, religion-specific sites, organization reports and releases. I look for stories to localize, get background information and note any trends. I meet with religious leaders and attend events in the area to cover on the site. I also manage our team of pastor and reader bloggers, offering suggestions and helping promote their work on the chron.com site. And, what seems to be my least-fun job, I patrol our forums and comments for hateful and offensive remarks.
MW: What are some of the unique challenges and opportunities for religion writers?
KS: If you’re a religion writer, in many ways, you are THE expert in the room on matters of faith. The average person, even among the educated, doesn’t have impressive levels of religion knowledge and rarely has any helpful knowledge outside of their own tradition. I see the role of religion journalists to encourage their newsrooms to consider the religion angle on all sorts of stories, because it’s often helpful and relevant, but not the obvious way to go. They can help organizations deepen their coverage of everyday topics. Just this week, I’ve found religion angles to stories about Texas football, national politics the weather and celebrity gossip. The audience for mainstream news includes a great number of people of faith, and we underserve them if we don’t consider this dimension of life in our coverage.
MW: How seriously do you think religion reporters are taking religious art? Do they tend to view it as a source for soft, feel-good stories, or are religion newsrooms seriously considering religious culture as potentially news?
KS: Just this morning Houston’s Belief section in the paper led with a religion and art story. This story, as a profile of a local church and its artwork, is more feature-like; it’s not merely fluff, but not incredibly in-depth, simply a local look. I think most religion and art stories you see are either like this or on the other end of the spectrum, the controversial piss-cross kind of stories. I’d like to see art and religion stories that better explain how the art relates to the tradition, rather than just pointing at the phenomenon, like “look at that, it’s Jewish/Muslim/Christian!”
MW: Do you think there has been a tendency lately to focus on the negative side of religious art in the press (Danish cartoons, chocolate Jesus, etc.)? If so, is that because religious artists aren’t pitching their stories well enough, or is it the fault of religious press?
KS: Yes. Controversy, juxtaposition, the unexpected certainly get more attention, but that’s the case with almost all news. People are still desperate to know and learn, but they don’t necessarily want to spend time with long essays that don’t draw them in from the start. Religion reporters, like all reporters, must consider the audience and present topics in exciting, creative ways that make people want to click and read.
MW: What are some of your favorite examples of religious art? Favorite religious artists?
KS: Ok, so I did do the mandatory European art history kind of course in college, and I’ve studied in Italy, touring the museums and churches in Rome and Florence… but that’s not really the kind of religious art that turns me on.
Rather than art that depicts religious events or is commissioned by a church or includes religious symbols, I like when artists create work in a way that reflects their religious tradition. I met an artist in Chicago who was inspired by her Jewish roots. Ellen Gradman (Twitter) makes large, multimedia colleges, sculptures and environments using found objects. In the creation of her work, she’s putting pieces together, acting out the Jewish notion of “tikkun olam,” which is a notion that Jews have the responsibility to serve the broken world they live in and rebuild it piece by piece. What a deep, and almost literal, way to put religion into action, I thought. Plus her work was beautiful! (I haven’t told her this, but even her little Twitter logo reminds me of the logo for Tikkun Daily.)
It’s a “truly exciting time: for contemporary Iranian and Middle Eastern art, at least according to this.
Image on the right: a Chagall recently acquired by a Jewish museum in London. I’m not sure why the NY Times piece declares so assuredly that Chagall’s use of the crucifixion motif was “is used as a metaphor for persecuted Jewry.” I’m also curious, given the quality of the piece, that there is no discussion about its provenance or authenticity.
A Catholic priest, who “long ago discarded his clerical collar in favor of a painter’s smock.”
“In Jewish thought, art is about the spiritual beauty and the essence it embodies. The external is only a way to exalt the inner spirit. And, of course, beauty brings the viewer to a higher dimension,” says Rabbi Yonah Weinrib, who, as you can see from viewing his work in the video below, is unfairly compared to Chagall and van Gogh in the lead paragraph.
This post is part of a feature of critical responses to sermons by religious leaders.
In Lon Solomon’s 12/13/09 sermon (audio, video), the lead pastor at McLean Bible errs in his analysis of the story of Noah, and offers what is unfortunately a regular feature in his otherwise thought-provoking sermons: a hateful, snide comment about rabbis. He also talks about how God told him to become lead pastor at McLean.
Though “every American child, just about, has heard of Noah and his ark,” Solomon begins, what made Noah a great man wasn’t that people know about him, nor that people have toys that look like him, but that the bible honors him as “one of the greatest men ever to live.”
Solomon mentions that Isaiah (see Isaiah 54:9 to see that this isn’t a positive reference), Peter (see here), Ezekiel (see here) and “the Lord Jesus himself” cast Noah in a positive light. Solomon also cites Hebrews 11, which he calls “the Bible’s spiritual hall of fame, the Cooperstown of the Bible.”
“There’s old Noah, big as life, and what was it that the Bible applauds Noah for above everything else? Well folks, it was for his full obedience to God.”
According to Solomon, the Bible tells us Noah had never seen rain and had no empirical proof that a flood was coming. “Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Noah obeyed God,” Solomon would have us believe. After discussing the wedding at Cana, Solomon (starting about 11:30 into the clip) adds, “What made Noah the spiritual giant that he was, what caused the Bible to applaud him and put him into the hall of fame, was his full obedience to God. What God told him to do Noah did. He did it fully, and he did it completely, and he did it without compromise.”
Indeed, the passage Solomon quotes, Hebrews 11:7, states, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”
The trouble is that Solomon neglects another important Old Testament passage, Genesis 7:7 (Hebrew), “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood” (emphasis mine).
The medieval commentator Rashihas noted that Noah entered the ark not because he was faithful even without empirical proof of the flood, but because the waters pushed him in. “Even Noah was one of those who is short of faith,” Rashi writes, “he sometimes believes and sometimes does not believe that the flood would come. And he did not enter the ark until the waters forced him.”
Elsewhere in his sermon (19:55 ff), Solomon discusses God’s reasons for stripping Saul of his kingship and replacing him with David. “Friends, in God’s mind, partial obedience is no obedience,” he says. What then of Noah’s partial obedience? How does Solomon explain the Genesis verse that Noah actually entered the ark because of the empirical evidence that promised a watery grave if he did not shut himself up in his boat?
Of course, the Hebrews verse says Noah started building the ark out of faith — since the flood had not come yet — but that can co-exist with the OT statement that what actually drove Noah into the ark wasn’t his faith in God, but actually meteorological evidence that a flood was beginning. (The Rockwell image on the right comes to mind.)
Surely, Solomon need not respond to every biblical verse in every sermon, but starting at 14:01, he says in a different context, “Well friends, every nincompoop can get this one right. I mean even those rabbis can get this one right.” In that light, I will say, friends, every school child who has studied the Hebrew bible knows Genesis 7:7. And especially the lead pastor at a mega church, who fancies himself an expert on the Hebrew Bible, should get this one right.
Image: The Entry of the Animals into Noah’s Ark by Jan Brueghel the Elder, 1613. Getty Museum.
Amazing article by Benyamin Cohen on Jewish Christmas Eve (with references to rabbinic-ordained sex-free Dec. 24, tearing toilet paper, poker).
Simon Wiesenthal Center apparently convinces eBay to cancel a sale of an Auschwitz-like sign. The Center says the seller is trying to “cash in” on the recent theft of the sign, but I fail to see the problem here. Many Jewish-run auction houses deal in Antisemitica, and there shouldn’t be a problem with that.
Driven from the mainstream, Muslims with extremist approaches to their faith are thriving online and “exploit[ing] visitors’ religious illiteracy,” says altmuslim.
With the economic downturn, book thefts are up, reports the NY Times. The most frequently stolen book? I’ll give you a hint. It’s a religious one.
“Jewish art is like a pendulum, it swings back and forth, yes, no, maybe, yes,” says 81-year-old artist Jo Milgrom, creator of Visual Midrash. Particularly intriguing is the piece Milgrom describes on page two of the article based on Song of Songs.
On “egregious mistakes” National Geographic committed with respect to Jewish practice. [I haven’t seen the publication in question, but if this blog post is quoting accurately, NG should be very embarrassed.]
Yet another fantastic WSJ art piece, this time on Tissot (which I’m hoping to see this weekend) and R. Crumb.
“I always say that people are either born as collectors or they don’t collect at all,” says Willy Lindwer, who evidently was born to collect Judaica and Israeli/Palestinian artifacts to the extent his wife “almost threw me out of the house.”
My article on Camille Pissarro, rebbe of the Impressionists, appears in MyJewishLearning.com.
“There isn’t too terribly much” about women in scripture, “and many times what is mentioned isn’t exactly flattering,” writes Christine Rappleye in Mormon Times. Unsurprisingly, Camille Fronk Olson, author of Women of the Old Testament found the earlier women (like Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, etc.) were harder to research. Luckily she had the help of artist (and former student) Elspeth Young.
“When I came to visit the great art galleries of Ireland, Britain and continental Europe I saw where the provenence [sic] of European art lay: in holy pictures,” writes Mary Kenny in the Guardian. I disagree that “Catholic – and certainly Latin – culture is picture-orientated, while Protestant – and Nordic – cultures are text-orientated,” but I think Kenny is quite right to say, “You cannot understand European art without a knowledge of Christian (and Jewish) traditions.”
As a reader of the YouVersion bible on my BlackBerry, I received the following email:
Way to go, YouVersion users! Together, you’ve spent one billion minutes reading the Bible on your mobile device. It’s pretty exciting to see so many of you reading God’s word consistently because you always have your Bible with you. That’s an awesome way to make your minutes count!
While you’re on the go, you’ve been using YouVersion on iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android phones, reading the Bible in your choice of 41 translations and 21 languages.
We’re polishing up some great new features we can’t wait to share with you soon. (Like reading plans? You’ll love what’s coming!)
The Israel Museum has received $12m from the Mandel family, which, in part, will provide for a wing that combines Jewish religious and secular objects. [NY Times Arts Beat] This will be interesting to watch, as it is a rare exhibition space that actually manages to seamlessly present ritual and secular objects without favoring one over the other.
For the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ “discovery” of America, Roman Catholic priest Rev. John Giuliani is painting a “very personal” reparation: “an effort,” according to Episcopal Life, “to represent Native Americans as the first spiritual presence in the land.” Sounds noble and open minded, doesn’t it? But the priest, 77, is depicting the Native Americans as Christian saints “to acknowledge their original spiritual presence here.” I love how he is drawing from his own sacred tradition to represent others in a very personal way, but I could see some folks getting put off by this, especially since Columbus, however motivated by his faith, did some pretty reprehensible things to the Native Americans in the name of religion. Either way, check out a quote at the end of the article from Giuliani on Native Americans converting to Christianity that is quite interesting.
Ljuba Poleva, of the Prague-based Precious Legacy Tours, writes to Iconia with season greetings. “It’s been an exciting year for Prague’s Jewish community,” she says, “with the celebrations for 400 years since the death of Rabbi Loew bringing the revival of Jewish life here into the secular limelight. The restoration of Jewish monuments and cemeteries all over the country continues apace, and we’re looking to the future with bright eyes!” (PL holiday card available here.
January is Jewish history month in Florida, says Heritage Florida Jewish News, and one museum is discussing questions like: “Is Jewish art any art produced by a Jewish artist, regardless of content? Is Jewish art any art product that focuses on a specifically Jewish theme? Where does the ‘Jewishness’ lie, in the artist or in the art?”
Are there links between crosses and swastikas? If I’ve learned one thing from Ori Soltes’ wonderful book Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source, the answer is maybe, but this seems like a bit much. (Although I totally disagree with the simplified statement in the piece, “The whole point of art is to express who you are.”)
Judith H. Dobrzynski absolutely slams an instance of arts journalists acting like PR flaks. Of course this is only one side of the story, but Dobrzynski has done her research, and I think her post raises very important concerns.
Enid Futterman writes that a recording by her and Michael Cohen of “I Remember,” a “chamber piece based on Anne Frank’s diary” sung by Sandra Simon is available here.
Piper speaks of von Zinzendorf’s trip to Dusseldorf, where he saw “Ecce Homo” by Italian painter Domenico Feti/Fetti. The inscription at the bottom of the painting, Piper says, is: “I have done this for you. What have you done for me?”
Von Zinzendorf said for the rest of his life, Piper says, that the experience of beholding Jesus’ suffering in that Feti painting changed his life (more on that here). He could no longer ever view himself as his own, Piper continues, but he had to ask whose he is, what did it cost to get him, and for what was he purchased.
This ties in to Piper’s larger message to his listeners, whom he encourages to think in these terms: “There is nothing that I want more in my life more than what Jesus bled to obtain.” It would be hard to argue that Piper is not supporting the sort of revelation-through-art that von Zinzendorf experienced. Powerful religious paintings can surely cause viewers to project themselves into the picture plane and imagine themselves participating in the religious scene.
Frankly, I’m not convinced the Feti painting is so powerful (I’m thinking of much better ones by Titian, Tintoretto, Memling, Rembrandt, Dürer, Bosch, etc.). But though I might judge the work as less successful artistically, it is hard to dispute its religious utility.
(Jewish readers may be interested in the last part of the sermon, where Piper recounts his recent discussion with a “Jewish rabbi” who told him that Christians owe Jews an apology for centuries of anti-Semitism. Piper agrees with the rabbi and says Jews are watching how Christians act, rather than listening to their words, however encouraging from an interfaith perspective.)
Here’s a nice passage: “The Art Department at ORU recognizes art is an expression of an individual’s beliefs and endeavors to nurture each student’s creativity, ability and call to be a Christian artist. Students receive a firm foundation blending creative experiences with a critical knowledge of art past and present.”
Art certainly can be a great expression of belief. One does not usually turn to promotional copy for academic departments for religious truths, but here’s a rare exception.
Image: Flickr user davidsilver. Creative Commons. Link.
For AIDS day, SLU’s MOCRA observes a “Day Without Art” with a painting based on St. Christopher (who carried Christ across a river). See also a post from Jesus in Love Blog.
A columnist says he’d like to see a monument celebrating the Christian iconoclasts. At first I thought the piece was completely ironic, but after rereading it, I realized that wasn’t the intent.
Google will digitally preserve the Iraqi artifacts that managed to survive the bombings/lootings.
A modern day artist says when she works, “I absolutely feel like I am keeping company with these great iconographers of the past.”
A “Catholic Jew” reflects on Miriam’s well and art. I don’t follow the post at all, and I must admit I can’t tell if it is informative or nonsensical. If anyone can help decipher it, please let me know.
LA Times covers Barbara Mendes’ evolution from “raw and sexual” underground comics artist to Orthodox Jewish biblical painter.
Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, on the church and art: “We are a bit like estranged relatives; there has been a divorce.”
Haitham Eid (see here, here) writes that he has some paintings on exhibit on Nov. 11 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the JW Marriott Lobby on 614 Canal St. in New Orleans. If you would like more information, leave a comment or send me an email. I’d love to hear how the event was if any readers are able to make it.
A 900-year old Indian Koran, which is taking two years to digitize at the Walters Art Museum.
Idolatry is alive and well, according to Rabbi Amy Scheinerman, and it makes us think we are God, rather than just created in God’s likeness. (Though the rabbi talks about every kind of idolatry but art.)
Comic books and God: Rev. Mark Bleakley’s artistic inspirations for his stained glass.
I’ve been giving a lot of thought recently to youth pastors/rabbis/imams, and I have mixed reactions. At the religious day school I attended, and at the religious institutions I studied at in Israel and at which I completed my undergraduate studies, there were younger rabbis (often newly married and with really young kids) whose job was to reach out to teenagers. These rabbis invariably related that they used to be “cool” when they were younger (they often said they used to “party,” “drink,” and be involved with “girls” and “rock-n-roll” — some even played in bands), but they soon saw the light, and can vouch for the fact that it’s not worth even trying the lifestyle they’ve come to reject. They’ve been to hell and back, and you might as well just take their word for it and learn from their mistakes.
I am in no way doubting the sincerity of these youth ministers. I am entirely confident that some of them are in it for the attention and the power/honor/paycheck/ego, but I am sure many (I daresay the overwhelming majority) really want to help people who are getting started on their faith journey. There are even a ton of websites that are devoted to helping religious institutions maintain robust youth ministry staffs — I particularly enjoy Youthpastor.com/jobs — but there is also Dan Savage’s “Youth Pastor Watch” which surfaces high up in Google searches.
I have no problem with parents encouraging their children not to touch a hot stove, and the children shouldn’t have to back that up with experience. I get that the Church/Synagogue/Mosque often acts in loco parentis, but I do not like the idea of teens having to learn from the experiences of (alleged) ex-hipsters-gone-professional/lame. It is all just a bit too campy for my taste, and I think it encourages young people to practice a faith that is contrived rather than personal. I would love to hear from people who agree, and would love more to hear from those who disagree.
In a sermon, Rev. Gary W. Schultz writes on what he perceives as the failures of religious calendar art:
I often receive these calendars in the mail, with nice pictures and Bible verses on them, like this stream and beautiful white rocks and the fall leaves beginning to change. And at the bottom it says, “The Lord showed miraculous signs and wonders – Deuteronomy 6:22.” But if you look up Deuteronomy 6:22, it is talking about the miraculous signs our Lord did when He delivered the Israelites from bondage and slavery to the unbelieving heathen Egyptians.
We do not look to nature to find God, like this beautiful picture from New Hampshire, or in sunsets, or the Grand Canyon. Those are wonderful things, but they are not the Gospel.
I’m not going to entirely disagree with Rev. Schultz, but it seems to me that often the artists who take the pictures (when the photos are intended as religious art) do find God in nature, and there is nothing wrong with that. I wonder what is wrong with New Hampshire landscapes, such that they repel the Gospels. It seems to me that the Gospels can be seen everywhere one looks properly, and that includes New Hampshire.
The Reverend has an interesting point that “The Gospel is not separated from Body and Blood” (and if anyone can explain his reason why the crucifix is “such a wonderful Christian symbol, the center of all Christian art and images,” I’d be very grateful). But surely the Gospel can reside in beautiful sunsets too. One can say that without necessarily being called a mystic, don’t you think?
The Pilot, the official paper of Boston’s archdiocese, reports that the Pope is meeting hundreds of artists at the Sistine Chapel in an effort “to rekindle faith-art dialogue.” According to the article:
Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the meeting was to be the first of many initiatives aimed at bridging the gap that has developed between spirituality and artistic expression over the last century or so.
I’m not sure that the problem is really a century old, but this is a great move by the Vatican, in my opinion. There need to be more collaborations between people of faith and artists. But Archbishop Ravasi unfortunately did not stop there. He added that many modern churches “do not offer beauty, but rather ugliness.”
A major issue that the Vatican should address is the gap between Catholic church architecture and art and that of non-Catholic denominations. One reason that the archbishop may confuse many modern churches with “ugly” architecture is that many fear that art distracts from religious experience, so they keep things plain. (Indeed, many medieval manuscripts include “grotesques” in the margins to tempt readers, according to some scholars.)
This would be a great entry point for a discussion, which could be sponsored by the Vatican and could be truly interfaith. That would be more than just exciting; it’d be truly revolutionary.
I had a great interview last Sunday with Shalom USA radio (Baltimore based) that I have been meaning to post about. It was certainly different to be on the interviewed rather than interviewer side of things! Unfortunately, Shalom USA does not seem to have any archives posted online, so I can’t link to the clip. I have sent an inquiry to the producer to ask if there is something I can link, but until then I will only be able to let folks who are interested listen to a low-quality recording of just my segment (email me if you are interested).
Shalom USA has been on the air for 10 years, and host Jay Bernstein and producer Larry Cohen were fantastic. Jay asked me about my recent articles in the Forward on curly-pillar motifs in synagogues and in The Jewish Press on Jael and Sisera. Jay, it turns out, has a very impressive grasp of Jewish art, and his questions were right on the mark.
One thing he asked me was whether his hunch was correct that there are not many other writers addressing the intersection of Jewish and Christian art for Jewish readers. I agreed of course, but noted that this is a larger problem of a lack of religion and art reporting and scholarship in general. Hopefully this is changing, and Iconia is my little attempt to further the discussion about faith and art.
If you had a chance to hear the interview, I’d love it if you dropped me a comment or an email about what you thought.
Image: An etching of Hitler playing chess with Lenin, by the former’s Jewish teacher, from theTelegraph.
It’s always tough to understand the intricacies of Islamic calligraphy if you don’t read Arabic, but KT has an interesting piece on Kuwaiti calligraphy, which tries to explain how that form is unique.
Although soulful art should be calming, Iran’s cultural ministry has a dilemma: being accused of either liberalism or censorship, stuck “between the two blades of a pair of scissors.”
It is exciting, though, to see the beginnings of a dialogue on Islamic and Christian approaches to idolatry at the Examiner.
I am quoted in Kate Shellnutt’s article “This Muslim-American life: Allah and the Arts” for News21.
Here are the quotes:
While plenty of art galleries in the U.S. display ancient Islamic art — hand-woven tapestries and painted earthenware pottery dating back to the time of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century — there’s somewhat of a void for more recent works by Muslim-Americans.
“I have noticed also that there seem to be many more venues for Jewish and Christian artists in this country to show their work than there are for Muslims,” said Menachem Wecker, a freelance writer on religious art. He covers the intersection between faith and art, mostly focusing on Jewish, Christian and Islamic works on his blog, Iconica.
“I think the gap between artist who believes and artist who does not believe is much larger than the gap between artists of different faiths,” said Menachem, a Jewish artist and graduate of Yeshiva University in Manhattan.
I was interviewed by Aaron Roller of the Mima’amakim journal on a variety of topics related to art and faith. The interview is posted here, and it addresses (at least in part) mostly Judaism, but also Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and LDS. (The photo, which Aaron selected without consulting me, is from my trip to South Africa a couple of years ago, but maybe it’s appropriate because the thing over my right shoulder looks like a cross.)
Cohen starts with an understanding of why Yale UP decided not to reprint the notorious Danish cartoons in Jytte Klausen’s book “The Cartoons That Shook the World.” But the article approaches the topic with a simplistic approach to the issues. For example, claiming that Muslims throughout the world saw the cartoons as “blasphemous” without defining the nature of the blasphemy (or even what blasphemy means in the context of the Koran), is not very useful. Also, applauding Yale for diligently consulting “two dozen authorities, including diplomats and experts on Islam and counterterrorism” (who said [surprise!] that the cartoons should be excluded) without at least wondering aloud why someone like Oleg Grabar was not included, immediately places the story in the context of international affairs rather than art.
There is some great comic relief in the article when Reza Aslan (Twitter) reminds everyone that it’s “an academic book for an academic audience by an academic press … There is no chance of this book having a global audience, let alone causing a global outcry … It’s not just academic cowardice, it is just silly and unnecessary.”
As I’ve said many times before, I’m not sure what the “blasphemy” is here. Cohen is right to point out that
Although many Muslims believe the Koran prohibits images of the prophet, Muhammad has been depicted through the centuries in both Islamic and Western art without inciting disturbances.
But I’d be very interested to hear more insight into whether those realistic traditions of Muhammad representation are largely in the Persian miniature style, as opposed to other traditions in Islamic art. I also have yet to hear any imams or other Islamic legal scholars weigh in on what exactly a representation of the Prophet entails. Does idolatry exclusively mean a realistic depiction, or can a cartoon constitute representation? What of a Cubist Muhammad (as in the rough image below, with thanks to this post) or a FauvistAisha?
It would surprise me if many imams had thought this through. Of course, that is hardly an indictment of their legal imagination, as studying art history is hardly a prerequisite to becoming a scholar of imam. When I asked several rabbis at a major Israeli yeshiva whether Cubist human figures or Fauvist celestial bodies violated the second commandment, I got blank stares (sort of like this joke, second-to-last blockquote on the page).
It remains my hope that a conference might be convened of Islamic legal and religious scholars, in which presentations would be made on what exactly the Koran permits for artists and what it forbids. This would be a great opportunity also to examine differences between Jewish, Christian, and Islamic interpretations of the Second Commandment, and also to include Buddhist and Hindu leaders, some of whom have told me that they resent the fact that their art is considered idolatrous and primitive.
Until then, we will continue to see more and more nonsense like this story.
Yesterday, I attended the Frontline (young adult) service at McLean Bible Church’s Tysons campus. This was my first mega-church experience, and if you haven’t had one it’s something absolutely unique. I’m not great at estimating numbers, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were 2,500 seats in the room, and almost all were full — so full that the room needed two JumboTrons to convince those seated in the rear of what was taking place on stage. There was a video hookup to a Silver Spring campus and online streaming video.
After about 35 minutes of rock concert (lead guitar, electric guitar, backup singer, drums, keyboard), the pastor, Todd Phillips, talked about his theme of remembrance, and then there was communion and then more songs. And then things got interesting.
I wish I’d taken a picture of it, but the book store had some rings with Hebrew on them, including a few that said “Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li” (”I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me,” from Song of Songs, 6:3).
And then there was the one that meant to say, “Anochi ha’derech, v’ha’emet v’ha’chaim” (”I am the way, and the truth, and the life”). Not only was the inscription in Rashi script rather than print (very bizarre), but the second third letter was completely wrong, substituting a “bet” for a “kaf.” The inscription then read, “Anovi” or “Anobi” instead of “Anochi.”
I saw an image of the ring on this blog, though it’s a bit hard to see. It can also be viewed in this post, from a Christian store, though the store includes an image of the ring with the quote about Jesus being the way, with the translation of the verse from Song of Songs. I’ve included a blown-up image of the ring below, so readers who know Hebrew can see the misshaped letter (on the far right).
Maybe I’m over-thinking the irony of having a mistranslation and a poor inscription on a ring that talks about Jesus being not only the way, but also the truth. Either way, if you are reading this blog and you are considering spending $63 (or even $39.99) on a ring with a Hebrew inscription, please, if you do not know Hebrew, consider sending me an image first, and I will let you know if the inscription actually corresponds to the meaning you think it does.
UPDATE: Another irony is that the senior pastor of the church is a board member of Jews for Jesus, who has a Th.M. degree in Hebrew and Old Testament. Maybe they dont’ teach Rashi script at Capital Bible Seminary?
And perhaps for a different day, I am very interested in why churches like McLean, which do not adorn their walls with any Christian paintings at all, so readily embrace Christian music during their services. If music can be used in the service of God, why can’t the fine arts as well?
Stark makes some very valid points. For instance, the crusades did not fill royal coffers, as popular belief states, but instead “made paupers of princes.” Also, crusaders were truly in it for the faith and were not just thugs masquerading under the banner of religion (though one who did not share their faith would surely want to keep one’s distance).
But Stark handles Islam in a seemingly offensive manner. Muslims in the Holy Land had it coming, he says, and crusaders were the “first military response to Muslim terrorists and their looming, advancing Islamic empire” (Stanley’s words).
“It wasn’t like they were harmless, little people minding their own business and tending their sheep,” Stark says of Muslims, adding, “I suspect that Muslims will hate the book, and I’m sorry about that … That’s just the way the world is. I make no apologies or real accusations.”
I will hold off passing judgment before reading the book (and maybe Stark will be willing to interview on this topic), but I do not think that such inflammatory statements about Islam will endear people to a book that seems otherwise to have a very fresh and important thesis. In high school, to the extent that my teachers referred to the crusades at all it involved stigmatizing them and equating them with Nazis. But the more I learned about them in my graduate study in art history the more I realized that the truer portrait of the crusaders matches the one Stark describes.
Image: Unknown French Master. Crusaders. 12th century. Mural. Chapel of the Templars, Cressac. Source: WGA.
Whereas the trend has been to take paintings away from Rembrandt and give them to his students (or worse yet, forgers), a rare piece that was not originally given to the Dutch master is now his. It’s extra special, because the subject is a pastor (pictured, image: BBC) of the Dutch Reformed Church.
I finally got the chance to check Mel Alexenberg’s Jerusalem-USA project. See the blog here. It’s well worth a look!
This one is news to me, though not altogether shocking. William Morris was inspired by Islamic art. I must say, though, that this sounds tenuous to me:
His famous advice to “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful,” echoes the Muslim saying in the Koran that “God is beautiful and loves beauty”.
I bet we could find similar statements in scriptures from many faiths. I’d welcome debate on this though.
Great headline! “Mona Lisa,” Assaulted With Teacup, Still Smiling.” ARTINFO posting from EarthTimes (which has a much less exciting title).
Move over John Galt. Who is Ai Weiwei? Answer here. Hint: he’s being called a “Chinese Santa,” and one piece is titled Han Dynasty Urn With Coca-Cola Logo (see image/source: Mary Boone).
And finally, a one-act opera (which is shown in The Godfather: Part III) is called ‘’immoral'’ and said to be ‘’contrasted with the religious festivity and the sacredness of the family'’ and is banned from the feast of Maria Santissima Del Ponte, patron saint of the Sicilian city of Caltagirone.
"Iconia has been on my blogroll from the very beginning" -Sincerae
Iconia
Iconia is a blog about religion and art by Menachem Wecker.
Contact: E-mail/AIM
Iconia is part of the Canonist network of religion blogs.
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Of course, the Hebrews verse says Noah started building the ark out of faith — since the flood had not come yet — but that can co-exist with the OT statement that what actually drove Noah into the ark wasn’t his faith in God, but actually meteorological evidence that a flood was beginning. (The Rockwell image on the right comes to mind.)
Piper speaks of von Zinzendorf’s trip to Dusseldorf, where he saw “Ecce Homo” by Italian painter 
