The Sacredness of Art and God in the Perspective of Worship

Abstract

The sacredness, though always has a destination other than the common, does not always have a divine destination. There are objects and places, parts of literature and music that have become sacred due to their historical value, due to the author or because of the message they bear, but which are not intended to God. In this context we can talk about some monuments to the glory of heroes, or patriotic musical-artistic compositions etc., artistic events that are set aside, commemorated and that claim an attitude of sacredness from those bound emotionally and metaphysically to the moments evoked. Complementarily, as artistic value and religious law, are those parts of the sacred art which are intended to a “reality”, that people consider as transcending the perishable reality, and which lie somewhere outside time. This sacred art is intended either to the gods or to God. In this new orientation regarding the recipient of art, its sacredness becomes an object of controversy and authenticity, but never on the reality of its sacredness, but always on the addressee. Always are searched arguments for or against the existence of the alleged deity. At this level, sacredness implies a different bond between the spiritual dimension of the human being and the sacredness of the art in question. When talking about sacredness, in general, and about the sacredness of art, in particular, the problem of morality intervenes from a biblical perspective. This is because whenever we have to do with the artistic sacredness, we have to do with an election through which we switch from worshiping God to something else entirely. Since the sacredness is the reality put aside for someone or dedicated to someone, the following questions arise: How sacred can become an artistic detail (music, painting, sculpture, literature, etc.) not to become an idol and how sacred can become the human attitude towards an artistic reality not to become idolatry? Also, we must ask ourselves to what extent can get involved the artist in the sacred art he creates, not to get in conflict with some passages in the Bible, that forbid the image, and how little can an artist get involved in creating sacred art to accomplish the image some passages of the Bible require? In the present research we will try to put the scientific-dogmatic basis on the issue of the above. Without claiming to solve the problem, we will emphasize, however, some nuances trying to take both into account the artistic vocation and the artistic intention, both the vocation of the artist and the artist's intention.