Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen has assembled this title as the basis of a course on Judaism and aesthetics. It encompasses both pieces addressing the theory of this subject as well as analysis of examples of the work of major Australian Jewish artists - in painting (Victor Majzner), writing (Richard Freadman) and music (Felix Werder). He also has a segment addressed to practical issues of the pedagogy, the teaching and encouragement of the arts, informed by traditional Judaism.
This work presents the content of the Biblical ethical covenant between humanity and its Creator. This covenant is known as the Seven Laws of the descendants of Noah, the survivor of the Flood and ancestor of humanity. The Noahide laws stand at the root of the great world religions and constituted the ethical code by which Abraham lived. This code was later definitively reiterated at Mount Sinai as part of the revelation around the Ten Commandments. In the secularized zones of contemporary society these values offer a much needed and much sought “moral compass” in an often felt cultural void and drift. Indeed in 1991, in the preamble to a Bill establishing "Education Day, USA", the foundational position of the Noahide laws was affirmed by the US Congress which termed them the moral "bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization"--Back cover.
Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning sold over 10 million copies and was translated into over 30 languages and was deemed by a survey of the Library of Congress one of "the ten most influential books in America". This volume introduces and presents translations of a number of important but less well-known writings by Viktor Frankl, translated from the original German, in which he forthrightly relates psychology to religious concepts. These cast a strong, new light on the generally received understanding of Frankl's contribution to psychology - "logotherapy" - and its relationship to the soul and universal ethics.
Rabbi Cowen's creative engagement with these contemporary artists reveals how spirituality can enhance the power of the visual image, the emotional persuasiveness of the literary text, and the neurological impact of music ..." - Mel Alexenberg, formerly Professor of Art at Columbia University In the realm of contemporary aesthetic high culture, there are many painters, writers and composers of great talent, but few with deep religious knowledge and belief. In the realm of faith, there are many with deep belief and religious knowledge, but very few with developed great artistic talent. Is there some way of making good the absent but essential combination of artistic prowess and religious depth required to produce great religious artworks in the various artistic media? In response to this question, this book addresses the theory and practice of engaging significant artists – not necessarily religiously learned or committed – to draw forth from them genuinely religious high art. After exploring the concept of the religious artwork, it documents three religious-creative encounters through which important religious artworks emerged, in the realms of painting, literature and music. It concludes with thoughts on the methodology and kinds of successful engagements between religion and aesthetics – with broader implications for education to religious art.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.