ART 373 Art and the Church

A thematic and historical examination of the changing uses of and attitudes towards the visual arts in the Christian church. Beginning with paintings in the Roman catacombs and continuing through the present, this course considers how theological and socio-political concerns have shaped the ways in which the Church has understood the role of art in both public and private religious contexts. While the focus of the course will be on Roman Catholicism and western Evangelicalism, we will also look at some examples from Eastern Orthodox churches and from artists working in specific non-western contexts. Prerequisite(s): ART 270 3 hour(s).