George Michael
The 'Faith' CD of religious music from around the world I bought today, and that 3 other contributors are also enjoying (I hope), has raised a question within my household. Can a non-member of a religion engage with, understand or enjoy the music (or other artistic creation) of that religion?
Although I was christened CoE, I have never felt any great affiliation to it, and I have no great religious feelings. I can appreciate religion on an aesthetic level (although this may be due to reading far too much Leontiev), and I have a real interest in the belief systems behind religions, their histories, etc. I can also appreciate that people do have strong religious convictions, and although I may not share, or may be opposed, to their views, the faith a great many people display does astound me.
But is religion necessarily different from any other aspect of a culture I am not part of - I've never been to South Central LA, yet I can listen to hiphop. I've studied Russian, and I think I can engage with most aspects of Russian culture, yet there will always be gaps in my knowledge a native Russian would never experience. At the same time there are so many parts of British culture, or even more specifically the culture of people of my age with similar backgrounds, that I am removed from. The seeming growth of 'world' culture and the internet, despite its negative connotations, such as the omnipresence of Coca Cola and Fox TV, surely also libertes the individual and allows them to engage with just about anything they can imagine (and many things they may never have imagined).
Enough teenage angst-style ramblings from me, anyway (thank God there weren't blogs when I was 14!). Someone else post something. I'm off to have beer.
Here is a nice man busking outside the main department store in Petrozavodsk
Although I was christened CoE, I have never felt any great affiliation to it, and I have no great religious feelings. I can appreciate religion on an aesthetic level (although this may be due to reading far too much Leontiev), and I have a real interest in the belief systems behind religions, their histories, etc. I can also appreciate that people do have strong religious convictions, and although I may not share, or may be opposed, to their views, the faith a great many people display does astound me.
But is religion necessarily different from any other aspect of a culture I am not part of - I've never been to South Central LA, yet I can listen to hiphop. I've studied Russian, and I think I can engage with most aspects of Russian culture, yet there will always be gaps in my knowledge a native Russian would never experience. At the same time there are so many parts of British culture, or even more specifically the culture of people of my age with similar backgrounds, that I am removed from. The seeming growth of 'world' culture and the internet, despite its negative connotations, such as the omnipresence of Coca Cola and Fox TV, surely also libertes the individual and allows them to engage with just about anything they can imagine (and many things they may never have imagined).
Enough teenage angst-style ramblings from me, anyway (thank God there weren't blogs when I was 14!). Someone else post something. I'm off to have beer.
Here is a nice man busking outside the main department store in Petrozavodsk
posted by lukeski at 11:18 pm
3 Comments:
I'm a confused Jewess and I like Gospel. My so-called religion doesn't change my ears.
To a point, yes, I think there's no reason why a non-Christian can't enjoy, say, the HEAVEN - yes, with capital letters, and this is an atheist talking - of an Orthodox chanted service (or of the church itself, and I've got a feeling our host may have rather a soft spot for ikons) or why a Jew couldn't adore and appreciate everything Buddhist or why a Muslim couldn't love a dreary old English hymn (I love them too). But of course my appreciation of Orthodoxy is purely aesthetic and, no doubt, a true believer's adoration will have other connotations. But I think you're right to lump religions in with other cultural phenomena. Many of faith would say, perhaps, it was wrong to do so, that a greater understanding is required to appreciate religious culture, and I don't deny that the heritage is great. Christianity, the religion I know best, in 2000 years has, for example, bequeathed the world a staggeringly broad artistic legacy. (Andrew Kenny, an atheist, said he would have his children christened merely for the cultural side-benefits.) And while I would hesitate at mentioning the cultural legacies of Britney Spears and, say, what the Reformation gave us, in the same sentence, I still think culture is culture is culture, religious or otherwise, and while you may not appreciate the nuances of the beauty of a Mosque as much as a Muslim might, there is nothing to prevent you, intellectually, from appreciating it all the same.
Further thought on this post has lead me to Dostoevskii's (in)famous Pushkin speech (can't find a link to the text - can anyone help?) - some artists/works of art, like dear Fedor Mikhailovich himself raise themsleves above the milieu in which they were created.
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