http://opencuny.org/religionandthesacred21/
Although the birth of Modernity coincides with the all too famous Nitzschean declaration “God is dead”, and with a resolutely critical stand against the Sacred (as being involved with a pre-critical/magical way to deal with the problem of personal belief), Religion (as institutionalized practices) and the sacred (as a subjective approach to transcendence) nonetheless play a very important role in the way in which our “postmodern” time understands itself. Conscious of such a discrepancy, Religion and the Sacred in Art and Critical Theory Studies (RSACT) seeks to engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue concerning the presence of religion and the sacred in various art forms and paradigms of humanistic thought throughout time and space, e.g. Byzantine to Modern, Early Christian to Postmodern, etc. RSACT aims to provide an interdisciplinary lens through which the function, form, value, and significance of religion and the sacred within various artistic and intellectual expressions can be reflected upon, analyzed, and discussed. RSACT also aims to provide a suitable setting for both graduate students and professors who wish to present and discuss papers, articles, books, dissertation sections, and reflections on works of art that reflect a scholarly engagement with the subject matter. Meetings and discussions with other study groups present at the Graduate Center (e.g. Feminist studies, Postcolonial studies, Cinema studies, etc.) will be fostered in order to keep with the interdisciplinary breadth of this project. RSACT seeks to unite different perspectives on the presence of religion and the sacred in art and theory.
