Art, New Media, And The Case For God

Over the past two years I’ve posted more than once about the interaction between new media, outreach, and sparking creative projects within the community. Here, at Iconia Menachem Wecker has written a post well worth reading. In it he observes that many religious communities using new media are failing to take the opportunity to present a different take on the message; instead they simply package the old message for a new delivery system.

More interesting still, is how in our age of growing radicalism, and vocal atheism, he raises the idea of art and creativity as a means – on its own – of inspiring a reconsideration of faith and religion. If, for example, we don’t view the paintings of the great masters as art about religous imagery, but instead as a participating element in religious life – how does that change our perspective? How too can a discussion on the product, and praxis of contemporary and historical religious artists bring about a transformation in the way we build community?