Religion and Aesthetics

Aesthetic considerations have frequently played an important role within various religious traditions. For example, certain religious doctrines ascribe beauty to God, to various religious exemplars, and even to the cosmos itself. Similarly, various religious practices and rituals involve the use of music, dance, and architecture (alongside a variety of other artistic elements). Further, the world’s religions have inspired the creation of innumerable great artworks across a range of forms and genres. These fundamental connections between the religious and the aesthetic have, however, been somewhat neglected of late and are therefore ripe for sustained investigation, which this conference aims to promote. The conference will bring together both aestheticians and philosophers with expertise and interest in various religious traditions to consider the many ways that aesthetic and religious values, practices, and experiences might relate to one another.

The event is organised by Ian James Kidd and Jon Robson.

Schedule

Wednesday 26th

• 10 Welcome & T&C
• 10.30 Aesthetic Appreciation in Depression Recovery Narratives
  • Tasia Scrutton
• 11.45 T & C
• 12.15 Kierkegaard, Cognitivism, and the Case for Truth's Literary Value
  • Caleb Zimmerman
• 1.30 Lunch
• 2.30 Sensory Beauty and the Spiritual Life
  • Mark Wynn
• 3.45 T & C
• 4.15 Music, Religion, and Engagement with Nature
  • David E. Cooper
• 5.30 end, informal drinks at The Orchard
• 7 Conference dinner

Thursday 27th

• 10 T & C
• 10.30 Admiration, Attraction, and the Aesthetics of Religious Exemplarity
  • Ian James Kidd
• 11.45 T & C
• 12.15 God and Sensibility: On the Relationship between Aesthetic Experience and Moral Faith in Kant's Third Critique
  • Moran Godess-Riccitelli
• 1.30 Lunch
• 2.30 God and the Nature of Aesthetic Properties
  • Jon Robson
• 3.45 close - informal drinks at The Orchard