An Introduction into the Popes’ Hermeneutics of Art. The Theology of the Aesthetic Experience of the “Other” in an Image

Abstract

This paper aims to show how we must rethink the theological dimension of the image, and reformulate its methodological approach. The paper raises a fundamental, although still neglected, question of how one should formulate the theological, philosophical, anthropological and aesthetic differences between the image in the Western tradition and the “icon”, introducing the reader into the writings of the modern popes, in order to show the new vision of a pedagogy of the image as an aesthetic experience. It is hoped that this exercise should clarify the theological dimension of the image, as based on the role of artistic creativity, the subjectivity in the process of the creation, the spiritualization of the aesthetic experience and the dialogical dimension of the image. One last aspect is the heuristic criteria for highlighting the difference between an icon and the occidental image. The dialogical dimension of an image opens up the question of how one should relate to an image, a problem already evident dur...